Episode 44 - National Poetry Month, Luis Alberto Urrea and books, lots of books!

Luis Alberto Urrea discussing his book The House of Broken Angels at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Episode Forty Four Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

It’s National Poetry Month and we are celebrating with a poetry video project.
Check out our Book Tube Channel to see a recitation of a poem every day of April.

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Tornado Weather – Deborah E. Kennedy (CW)
Do Not Become Alarmed: A Novel – Maile Meloy (EF)
The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success: How to Use Your Brain’s Executive Skills to Keep Up, Stay Calm, and Get Organized at Work and at Home – Peg Dawson, Richard Guare (CW)
Chameleon Moon:Poems – Antonia Clark (EF)
Chicago Poems – Carl Sandburg (CW)
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit – Michael Finkel (CW) (audio)

– Just Read –
The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory (EF)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide Open Heart – Scott Stabile (EF)
The Paris Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #7) – Susan Elia MacNeal (CW)
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit – Michael Finkel (EF)
Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily visited several California bookstores:
Books Inc. in Alameda
Rocket Reuse in Alameda
Coastside Books in Half Moon Bay
Bookshop Santa Cruz on March 26th to see Luis Alberto Urrea discuss his book The House of Broken Angels

Chris tried to go to an author event in Stonington, CT but it was canceled. She did, however, come across a nice Little Free Library where she found a copy of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman (The Two Mrs Lloyd #1) by Elizabeth Buchan. Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America by Vegas Tenold event she was trying to attend will be rescheduled.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
April 4th – We are heading on a joint jaunt to Jeff Kinney’s bookstore An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe to see Michael Finkel discuss his book Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

April 7th – Chris is heading to Bookclub Bookstore & More to join John Valeri in conversation with R.C. Goodwin to discuss his new book Model Child

April 7th – Chris won’t be able to make the event with Emily Anhalt discussing her book Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths at The Yale Bookstore but wishes she could.

April 12th – We are going on a joint jaunt to Savoy Bookshop and Cafe for the Reading Across Road Island sponsored event with Angie Thomas and her book The Hate U Give.

April 22nd – Emily is heading to New Haven for the RJ Julia Booksellers sponsored event with Cecile Richards to discuss her new book Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, Finding the Courage to Lead – My Life Story.

Her tour is selling out across the country for tickets click here.

April 27-28th – We are considering a joint jaunt to the Newburyport Literary Festival

– Upcoming Reads –
Beyond the Beach: The Allied War Against France – Stephen A. Bourque (CW)
The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders – Stuart Kells (CW)
Up From the Blue: A Novel – Susan Henderson (EF)
The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin (EF)
How to Love the Empty Air – Christine O’Keefe Aptowicz (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
The Wishing Spell Series – Chris Colfer

Ann Hood books:
Morningstar: Growing Up With Books
The Book That Matters Most
The Knitting Circle

Episode 43 - A Jaunt To See Two NY Times Bestselling Authors!

Chloe Benjamin author of The Immortalists and Jill Santopolo author of The Light We Lost  in conversation at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT.

Episode Forty Three Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Windham Campbell Awards –
See the 2018 winners: http://windhamcampbell.org/recipients

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

 – Currently Reading/Listening –
Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide Open Heart – Scott Stabile (EF)
Chicago Poems – Carl Sandburg (CW)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Broken Girls – Simone St. James (CW) 
      Chris has a review of the book and a giveaway for you to win a copy on her blog.
Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook – Ina Garten (EF)
“16 Bean” Pasta Fagioli recipe here
     *Changes made by Emily: Did not puree any of the beans, drained all of them and threw them into the soup whole. Cooked pasta separately and added to each bowl of soup as it was devoured. Put cooked pasta into the individual servings that were put into freezer. Delish – enjoy!

– Just Read –
Tangerine – Christine Mangan (CW)
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas (EF)
The Light We Lost – Jill Santopolo (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
On March 12th, Emily went to see Chloe Benjamin author of The Immortalists and Jill Santopolo author of The Light We Lost at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT.

Chris saw the play Murder on the Orient Express at Hartford Stage for her birthday.

Chris visited the Peterborough Town Library in New Hampshire touts itself as the first tax supported library in the country. Literary Monadnock – Peterborough is known as a literary mecca. Read about it here.

Toadstool Bookshop – Peterborough, NH

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is excited about the University of Nebraska live stream event on March 26 at 3:30CT– Our Cather Heritage: Willa Cather’s Modern Relevance.

Our literary bling (necklaces).

March 20th – Emily is heading to Providence, RI for the Point Street Reading Series.
Laura & Emma – Kate Greathead
Start Without Me – Joshua Max Feldman
Girls Burn Brighter – Shobha Rao
Only Child – Rhiannon Navin
The Cloister – James Carroll

Emily is heading to Bookshop Santa Cruz on March 26th to see Luis Alberto Urrea discuss his book The House of Broken Angels and on March 28th to see Leslie Karst discuss her book Death Al Fresco

April 4th – We are heading on a joint jaunt to Jeff Kinney’s bookstore An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe to see Michael Finkel discuss his book Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

– Upcoming Reads –
The Dog Healers: A Novel – Mark Winik (CW)
Eats of Eden – Tabitha Blankenbiller (EF)
Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory (EF)
Goodbye, Vitamin – Rachel Khong (EF)
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future  and The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World –  Chris Guillebeau (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Check out Ryan Ludman:
This Charming Rant Newsletter /// Instagram: my.books.my.shelf
His Maurice read along cocktail can be found here
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
All things Pat Conroy
Live by Night (Coughlin #2) – Dennis Lehane
Chris Guillebeau's podcast is called Side Hustle School
The Readers Podcast
How Reading Changed My Life – Anna Quindlin

__________________________________________________________________

i like my body when it is with your
by E.E. Cummings

i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body.  i like what it does,
i like its hows.  i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones,and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz
of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh….And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new

Episode 42 - No Power, No Problem! Our Maurice Read Along Conversation

A Nor'easter can't stop us! Chris and Emily recording Episode 42.

Episode Forty Two Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Our 4th Giveaway –
The winner is Sally – entrant #42. Thank you to everyone that entered!

Choicemagazinelistening.org – A free talking magazine service.

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page. 

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas (EF)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Chicago Poems – Carl Sandburg (CW)
Tangerine – Christine Mangan (CW)

– Just Read –
Echo Killing (Harper McClain #1) – Christi Daugherty (CW) (release date March 13)
White Houses – Amy Bloom (EF)       
Anatomy of a Miracle – Jonathan Miles (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library to hear Amy Bloom speak about her new book – White Houses – sponsored by Breakwater Books.

Chris attended the book club for the Witness Stones Project at the Guilford Library where they discussed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

Chris and Laura watched the movie October Sky based on the book Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is going to see the play Murder on the Orient Express

March 12th – Nathaniel Philbrick presents his new book Second Wind: A Nantucket Sailor’s Odyssey in partnership with Bank Square Books at Mystic Congregational Church

March 12th – Chloe Benjamin author of The Immortalists will be at RJ Julia’s in Madison with Jill Santopolo author of The Light We Lost.

April 19th – Chris and Emily are planning a visit to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT for Cozy Mystery Night featuring Liz Mugavero, Wendi Corsi Staub and Shari Randall hosted by Our Mystery Man – John Valeri! Look for his byline at Mystery Scene Magazine and Suspense Magazine.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Dog Healers: A Novel – Mark Winik (CW)
Broken Girls – Simone St. James (CW)
Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide Open Heart – Scott Stabile (EF)
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II – Liza Mundy (CW)

– 4th Read Along –
Maurice – E.M. Forster (CW) (EF)
The Goodreads Discussion can be found here.

– Also Mentioned –
Thomas Otto – The Readers Podcast and Hogglestock Blog

Joyce Carol Oates – Go Listen to Eric Karl Anderson at LonesomeReader.com (blog) for his A Beginner’s Guide to Reading (video)

Chris has read three Joyce Carol Oates books:
The Accursed
Beasts
Middle Age: A Romance

Night School – C.J. Daugherty

Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution – Nathaniel Philbrick

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeannette Winterson
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit – Jeannette Winterson

The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall

The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster and the Year that Changed Literature – Bill Goldstein

Episode 41 - A Joint Jaunt with Min Jin Lee author of Pachinko!

Chris and Emily with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko.

Episode Forty One Show Notes

You can donate to the Book Cougars at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookCougars
Thank you!

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Biblio Adventure –
We take you on a joint jaunt to RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT!
On January 25, 2018 we had the pleasure of co-hosting Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko.
The episode also appears on the second half of Just the Right Book Podcast – episode 64.

– Also Mentioned –
Chad Harbach – MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction

– Thank You –
Min Jin Lee
Roxanne Coady
Just the Right Book Podcast
Christina Torres
Pat Keogh

Episode 40 - Our 4th Giveaway!

Another ten episodes under our belt means another GIVEAWAY! Email us at bookcougars@gmail.com before March 1st in order to enter - good luck!

Episode Forty Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Our 4th Giveaway –
Another ten episodes means it is time for another giveaway.
These four books will be sent to one lucky listener:
Stay with Me – Ayobami Adebayo
Sweetgirl – Travis Mulahauser
Love and Other Consolation Prizes – Jamie Ford
Saints for All Occasions – J. Courtney Sullivan
In order to enter, please email bookcougars@gmail.com before March 1, 2018.

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Chicago Poems – Carl Sandburg (CW)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Anatomy of a Miracle – Jonathan Miles (EF)
White Houses – Amy Bloom (EF)              

– Just Read –
Labor Day – Joyce Maynard (EF) (audio)
Kindred – Octavia E. Butler (CW)
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation – Damian Duffy, John Jennings, Octavia E. Butler (CW)
The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 – edited by Joyce Carol Oates (EF)
specifically the story “Until Gwen” by Dennis Lehane – you can read it HERE.
The Trawler – James B. Connolly (CW)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to NYC to see Eve Ensler’s new play In the Body of the World based on her memoir of the same name.

Chris caught up with Our Mystery Man – John Valeri. Keep your ears open he will be appearing on the podcast again soon. And look for his byline in Mystery Scene Magazine and Suspense Magazine

– Upcoming Jaunts –
February 17 – Chris will head to New London, NH to see the musical Kindness and Cruelty: Willa Cather in Jaffrey

February 18th – Emily will be going to the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library to hear Amy Bloom speak about her new book – White Houses.

February 21st – Chris will be attending the book club for the Witness Stones Project at the Guilford Library where they will discuss Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

March 1st – Chris and Emily are planning a visit to Bank Square Books in Mystic, RI for Cozy Mystery Night featuring Liz Mugavero, Wendi Corsi Staub and Shari Randall hosted by Our Mystery Man – John Valeri!

– Upcoming Reads –
Maurice – E.M. Forster (CW) (EF)
Tangerine – Christine Mangan (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
The Best of Us – Joyce Maynard
Russell at Ink and Paper Blog
The Drop – Dennis Lehane
The Drop – Michael Connelly
Mystery Scene Magazine
Suspense Magazine

Episode 39 - Surprise! A Roadside Meetup with Michael Kindness

The Book Cougars chat with Michael Kindness - Sales Rep for Penguin Random House

Episode Thirty Nine Show Notes

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Recommendations from Michael Kindness –
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (audio – narrated by Will Wheaton)
More about the movie here

Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain – Peter Shankman

Need to Know – Karen Cleveland

Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (release date: February 20, 2018)

Anatomy of a Miracle – Jonathan Miles (release date: March 13, 2018)

Neverworld Wake – Marisha Pessl (release date: June 5, 2018)

Check out this cool cover! Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (release date: February 20, 2018)

Providence – Caroline Kepnes (release date: June 13, 2018)

– Also Mentioned –
Faster Than Normal Podcast

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood – Edward Hallowell

NY Times Authors Podcast

The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin

Episode 38 - A Cookbook Recall - Who Knew?!

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to hear Patrick Lynch speak about the Long Island Sound and his book A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife.
 

Episode Thirty Eight Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

Information regarding the conversion problem with Sweet by Yotem Ottolenghi and Helen Goh can be found here.

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Detonator – Vincent Zandri
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality – Pema Chodron (EF)(audio)
Labor Day – Joyce Maynard (EF)(audio)
Man’s Search for Meaning  - Victor Frankel (CW)

– Just Read –
The Arrangement – Sarah Dunn (EF)
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) – Jane Harper (CW)
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye (EF)(audio)
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW) -- Chris watched the movie Smilla’s Sense of Snow
American Housewife – Helen Ellis (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
On January 25, 2018 we had the honor of being in conversation with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, at RJ Julia’s Booksellers. The evening was recorded and will appear on an upcoming episode of Just the Right Book Podcast.
Check out Min Jin Lee’s website to follow her paperback tour and various speaking events.

Chris and Emily with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko.

Emily and Chris went on a joint jaunt to hear Patrick Lynch speak about the Long Island Sound and his book A Field Guide to Long Island Sound: Coastal Habitats, Plant Life, Fish, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, and Other Wildlife.

Emily visited Burgundy Books in Westbrook, CT

Emily went to a SpeakUp Storytelling event at Infinity Hall in Hartford, CT.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
February 11th Chris is heading to see a musical in Jaffrey, New Hampshire: “Kindness & Cruelty: Willa Cather in Jaffrey”

Future joint jaunt on February 18 to Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Stony Creek to see Amy Bloom speaking about her new book White Houses.

Emily is going with Aunt Ellen to see Eve Ensler’s new play In The Body of the World

February 21st at Guilford Library Chris will be attending the bookclub for the Witness Stones Project

Join Chris on April 19th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT for the quarterly Willa Cather book club discussion of The Song of the Lark.

– Upcoming Reads –
White Houses – Amy Bloom (EF)
Kindred – Octavia Butler (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Connecticut Library Consortium – Cookbook Book Club
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
Worst Bestsellers Podcast
Yum’s the Word Show
Live Lit Story Club
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism – Joan Acocella
Ink and Paper Blog
She Reads
Booktopia – May 4-5,2018 at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT – author line up and registration can be found here.

Episode 37 - Boyne, Cather, Harper, Hoeg, Patel and a Joint Jaunt Re-enactment

Chris discussing My Antonia at Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT.

Episode Thirty Seven Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

The 2018 Edgar Awards were announced. Check out the list here – your TBR is about to grow!

Chris and Emily - joint jaunting at Whitlock’s Book Barn in Bethany, CT.

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) – Jane Harper (CW)
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye (EF)(audio)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook – Ina Garten (EF)
Ingredienti : Marcella’s Guide to the Market – Marcella and Victor Hazan (EF)

– Just Read –
My Friend Fear: Finding Magic in the Unknown – Meera Lee Patel (EF)
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne (EF)
My Ántonia – Willa Cather (CW) (100 year anniversary!)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris kicked-off the Willa Cather Book Club at the Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT.
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Whitlock’s Book Barn in Bethany, CT. Chris wrote about it on her blog.
                Chris bought two Peter Hoeg books:
                History of Danish Dreams
                Borderliners

Chris put in another volunteer day at the Institute Library in New Haven, CT.
Feb 17-18 – Pequot Library Mid-Winter Booksale

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 25, 2018 - Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, will be at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in conversation with the Book Cougars!
February 7, 2018 – Emily is taking her gentleman caller to Wesleyan RJ Julia to see Jeffers Lennox discuss his book Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1763.
Join Chris on April 19th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT for the quarterly Willa Cather book club discussion of The Song of the Lark.

– Upcoming Reads –
Free Food for Millionaires – Min Jin Lee (CW)
The Versions of Us – Laura Barnett (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – Anna Jeffers
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear – Elizabeth Gilbert
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) – Stieg Larsson
The Absolutist – John Boyne

Episode 36 - Chris and Emily Discuss Their Reading Goals for 2018

Emily reading to her kids, Rachel and Jacob, circa 1996.

Episode Thirty Six Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

Willa Cather Bookclub:
Join Chris on January 18th at 2:00 at  Bookclub Bookstore & More in South Windsor, CT where she is kicking off a quarterly Willa Cather book club starting with My Antonia.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster
    Send in questions or comments by March 1st – we will discuss on March 6th episode

– Reading Goals for 2018 –
Emily
1. 52 book reading challenge on Goodreads
2. Read “book of shame” on bookshelf : Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
3. Clean up Currently Reading shelf on Goodreads
4. Establish a volunteer relationship with a literary organization – read to kids!
5. Read excerpts from the many short story collections on the bookshelf
6. Send cards/letters once/week
7. Work on joint podcasts with authors, other literary podcasts, etc.
8. Go on an epic book related adventure

Chris
1. 52 book reading challenge on Goodreads
2. TBR 2018 reading challenge – hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader
          Chris blogged about her 12 books here
3. Australian Women Writers Reading Challenge 2018
          Chris blogged about her anticipated reading here 
4. Willa Cather quarterly book club at Bookclub Bookstore & More
5. One book challenge – Anna in April – reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
          Sponsored by Amanda of Fig and Thistle Books.
6. Write and submit work

– Currently Reading/Listening –
My Ántonia – Willa Cather (CW) (100 year anniversary!)
Sweet – Yotem Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (EF)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne (EF)

– Just Read –
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (CW)
Someone – Alice McDermott (EF)
Sweetgirl – Travis Mulhauser (EF)
Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook – Alice Waters (EF)
The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays & Stories – Marina Keegan edited by Anne Fadiman(EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily had at home adventures watching the movie Mudbound based on the novel, Mudbound, by Hilary Jordan and starting the series Good Behavior based on the Letty Dobesh Chronicles by Blake Crouch.

We discuss the passing of Sue Grafton author of the Kinsey Millhone series.

Chris adventured to NYC to hunt for a copy of Maurice. She walked and came upon a sign: Melville Square, she wrote about the adventure on her blog. Read about it here.

Chris ventured to the North Haven Memorial Library to pick up movies and books. Tragedy struck and her dog ate two of the books:
    The Woman on the Stairs – Bernard Schlink
    Laureates of Connecticut – edited by Ginny Lowe Connors

December 30, 2017 - Chris met “Our Mystery Man” John Valeri at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore for a final shop of 2017.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 11, 2018 – Chris and Emily are finally taking a jaunt to the Noah Webster House in West Hartford, CT.

Chris's dog, Buddy, ate two of her library books!

January 25, 2018 - Min Jin Lee will be at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in conversation with the Book Cougars!

– Upcoming Reads –
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Hoeg (CW)
Free Food for Millionaires – Min Jin Lee (CW)
Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) – Gretchen Rubin (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures – Anne Fadiman
Inside the Wave – Helen Dunmore
Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
Harry Dresden Series – Jim Butcher
The Reader – Bernard Schlink
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

Episode 35 - Chris & Emily Discuss Their Top Reads Of 2017

The Book Cougars recording Episode 35

Episode Thirty Five Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Join our Goodreads Group!
Let us know what you want us to choose as the next read along. You can email, tweet or join the discussion on the Goodreads page.

We have an upcoming read-along:
February – Maurice by E.M. Forster.

– Just Read –
Chris DNF’d a book: Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay
The Rules of Magic – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival – Velma Wallis (CW)
Cove – Cynan Jones (EF)
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II – Liza Mundy (CW) (audio)
The Selected Letters of Willa Cather – Willa Cather, Andrew Jewell (CW)
Someone – Alice McDermott (EF)
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky – Lesley Nneka Arimah (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to both the Guilford Library and the Glastonbury Welles Turner Library
Chris is volunteering and spending time at the Institute Library in New Haven

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is heading to RJ Julia in Madison to see Paul Kix discuss his book The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France’s Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando
Savoy Bookshop & Café has a New Year’s Day sale with 25% off everything
Jan 8 – Kelly Corrigan in Conversation with Ariel Levy at the 92nd St Y

– Upcoming Reads –
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (CW)
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality – Pema Chödrön (EF) (audio)

– Top Reads of 2017 –
Emily’s favorite reads:
Top Nonfiction
B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good – Ryan Honeyman (EF)
Favorite Memoirs
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (EF)
It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool, Too) – Nora McInerny Purmort (EF)
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (EF)
Favorite Fiction
The Mothers – Brit Bennett (EF)
News of the World – Paulette Jiles (EF)
Plainsong (Plainsong #1) – Kent Haruf (EF)

Chris’s favorite reads: See Her Blog Post On Gift Ideas
Mastering the Art of Self-Expression & More – Laura Thoma (CW)
Young Adult-ish
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World – Sarah Prager (CW)
Favorite Mysteries
The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) – Jane Harper (CW)
And Fire Came Down (Caleb Zelic #2) – Emma Viskic (CW)
New Haven Noir – edited by Amy Bloom (CW)
Favorite Fiction
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee (CW)
The Leavers – Lisa Ko (CW)
The Gypsy Moth Summer – Julia Fierro (CW)
Non-Fiction
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (CW)(audio)
Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (CW)
OSS Operation Black Mail: One Woman’s Covert War Against the Imperial Japanese Army – Ann Todd (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Libro.fm – audiobook subscription service
Zora Neale Hurston –  Barracoon // Their Eyes Were Watching God
Chicago Review of Books
Velma Wallis – Bird Girl & the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska
Alice McDermott – The Ninth Hour: A Novel  // Charming Billy
Road to Success with Laura Thoma
Dave Eggers – What is the What
Jennifer Egan – Manhattan Beach