Author Spotlight with Pamela D. Toler

Episode 224 Show Notes

Listener Top Tens! We would love to hear about your favorite reads of the year. You can find the form here.

– 2024 Reading Intentions Recap –

Emily:
· Read 9 out of 12 Maggie O’ Farrell books
· Enjoyed the Monday Short Story Reading Project
· Met the Goodreads goal of 52 books read
· Book to film adaptation goal of one/month didn’t go well
· Successfully read one new cookbook/month and cooked from them but didn’t document well
· Fun year of Biblio Adventures but didn’t get to some of the hoped for bookstores focused on cookbooks

Chris:
· Met the Goodreads goal of 52 books read
· Finished the Willa Cather Short Story Project
· Read what she wanted to read at the time she wanted
· Read two 19th Century novels: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
· Delayed The Year of Margaret Fuller to 2025, but successfully focused on Moby Dick by Herman Melville
· Read more Romance than she expected

– 2025 Reading Intentions –

Chris
· Open to Buddy Reads but try not to overcommit
· Read more 19th Century novels including Old New York by Edith Wharton, Silas Marner by George Eliot, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and The Red and the Black by Stendhal
· It will be the Year of Margaret Fuller, including reading within Margaret Fuller: Collected Writing (Library of America #38)
· Read fewer books and write about them including journaling, blogging, and professional reviews (Read Chris’s review of Trial by Ambush in Criminal Element)

Emily:
· Explore becoming a completist with favorite authors including Anna Quindlen, Alice Hoffman, Erica Wood, Catherine Newman, and Jeanine Cummins
· Consider a Monday essay reading project
· Write about cookbooks and food memoirs on Ingredient One
· Combine reading with Biblio Adventures including museum exhibits
· Set Goodreads goal to 52 books
· Start a book to film adaptation club

Two listener projects:
1. Colleen is starting a monthly Willa Cather reading challenge beginning with Alexander’s Bridge in January. Learn more about it here. And follow Colleen: https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/
2. Robin is doing a buddy read of Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject

– Currently Reading –
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White (CW)
Speak to Me of Home – Jeanine Cummins (EF) release date 5/13/2025
Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create – Elissa Altman (EF) release date 3/11/2025

– Just Read –
Emily read two short stories from her Hingston and Olson Advent Calendar: (watch the video)
“In the Stacks” by Robin Sloan and “The Hookup” by Katherine Heiny
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters (CW) (audiobook)
We All Want Impossible Things – Catherine Newman (EF)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë (CW)
You can watch Tina’s video here.
Little Great Island by Kate Woodworth (EF) release date 5/6/2025
Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey – Ngozi Ukazu (EF)

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris and Emily enjoyed the December reading salon with Patreon’s discussing their top reads of 2024. We would love to hear about your favorite reads of the year, you can find the form here.

Chris watched Conclave based on the novel by Robert Harris.

Emily binged season six of Virgin River based on the novels by Robyn Carr.

Emily listened to an interview with Miranda July on Fresh Air and is not sure if she will finish the novel All Fours.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
The next Patreon Reading Salon will take place on January 26th at 7pm (ET) we will be discussing reading intentions.

Chris is heading to Chicago for a visit.

Chris and Emily have purchased in-person tickets for Selected Shorts: Classics with a Twist with Meg Wolitzer and Friends taking place on April 30th. There are virtual tickets available.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin (EF)
The Heart of Winter – Jonathan Evison (EF) release date 1/7/2025
Alexander’s Bridge – Willa Cather (CW)
A New Home, Who Will Follow? – Caroline Kirkland (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Pamela Toler –
We talk with Pamela about her book The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany.

Check out Pamela’s website.

– Also Mentioned –
Georgia O’ Keeffe: A Life by Roxana Robinson
Georgia by Dawn Tripp
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing by Elissa Altman
The Epic of Gilgamesh by Andrew George
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Sybilline Press
Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link and use promo code: bookcougars
Shop on Bookshop.org – support the Book Cougars and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. If you would prefer to donate directly, email for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

Check out our BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.