Episode 221 - Trial by Ambush with Marcia Clark and John Valeri

Book Cougars Episode 221

Episode 221 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin (CW)
Be Ready When the Luck Happens – Ina Garten (EF)(audiobook)
Advice for New Faculty Members – Robert Boice (CW)
Walking Well: A New Approach for Comfort, Vitality, and Inspiration in Every Step – Michael J. Gelb and Bruce Fertman

– Just Read –
Emily read short stories:
“The Statue and the Bust” from The Collected Short Stories of Shirley Hazzard edited by Brigitta Olubas
“Let the Chips Fall” by Emily Ross from the collection Devil’s Snare: Best New England Crime Stories by 2024 edited by Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler, and Susan Oleksiw
“Debris” from the collection A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo
“Good Enough” from the collection A Small Thing to Want by Shuly Cawood

This Cursed House – Del Sandeen (CW)
Shred Sisters – Betsy Lerner (EF) (audiobook)
Armadale – Wilkie Collins (CW)
The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts – Mary Claire Haver, MD (EF)
Read the recent article about Dr. Mary Claire Haver in the New York Times.
A Little Bit Country – Brian D. Kennedy (CW)
Where They Last Saw Her – Marcie R. Rendon (EF)
What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking – Tina Oziewicz, illustrated by Aleksandra Zajac and translated by Jennifer Croft (CW)
Something, Someday – Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Christian Robinson (CW)

– Biblio Adventure –
Emily went with her daughter Rachel and granddaughter Neena to the Guilford Free Library. Where they picked up a copy Miss MacDonald Has a Farm by Kalee Gwarjanski, illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic.

Chris virtually attended an event via Concord Festival of Authors, “The Scrolls of the Past Burn My Fingers”: Reviving Margaret Fuller with Professors Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall co-editors of the forthcoming Margaret Fuller: Collected Writing (LOA #388).

Chris went to Breakwater Books where the owner gave her a copy of The Lilac People by Milo Todd.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily will be attending the Cherry Bombe member book club of Ina Garten’s memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

On Wednesday, November 20th, Chris is planning to attend an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers with Karen Olson in conversation with Elizabeth Hobbs and her novel Misery Hates Company: A Novel.

– Upcoming Reads –
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters (CW)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Bronte (CW)
Night Side of the River – Jeanette Winterson (EF)

– Spotlight with Marcia Clark and Our Mystery Man –
You can learn more about Marcia Clark here.
Her new book is Trial By Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham.
You can learn more about John here.
You can also follow his interviews with mystery authors on his YouTube Channel Central Booking.

– Poem Read by Emily –

Don’t Hesitate by Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy
Please join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.
The Zoom readalong discussion will take place on Sunday, December 8h at 7:00 pm (ET). Please send an email if you would like to join.

– Also Mentioned –
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin
Check out the Book Cougars Nonfiction November Video
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
Drafting the Past podcast
The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis
Also by Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White and The Moonstone
Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon
O Beautiful by Jung Yun
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Proof of Guilt: Barbara Graham and the Politics of Executing Women in America by Kathleen A. Cairns

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.

Episode 174 - Author Spotlight with Jenna Miller

Author Spotlight with Jenna Miller

Episode One Hundred Seventy Four Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Listener Top Eleven of 2022 –
We collected the Top Ten Reads of 2022 from our listeners. There were over 70 respondents with a total of 427 books! If you are interested in receiving a copy of the spreadsheet please send an email. We created a shop on our Bookshop.org page for you to learn more about the Top Eleven Books.

The top author mentions included: Maggie O’ Farrell, Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Kate Quinn, Colson Whitehead, Louise Erdrich, Louise Penny, Richard Powers, Stephen King, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and William Kent Kreuger.

– Announcing our 24th Readalong –
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
. The paperback is available from Bookshop.org, the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.

In order to be entered into the giveaway for a copy, join our newsletter by February 1st.

Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, February 26th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Our 2023 Reading Intentions – [7:30]
Chris and Emily both set a Reading Challenge with a goal of 52 books.
Emily hopes to read more Maggie O’ Farrell. (9 novels, 1 memoir, 2 kids picture books)
Chris joined the TBR Pile Challenge via Adam at Roof Beam Reader.
Emily wants to read from one new-to-her cookbook per month with a challenge to cook one recipe from each cookbook.
Chris plans to continue the Willa Cather Short Story project with one story per month. Learn more about it here.
Emily wants to read more non-fiction and she wants to try to read an hour each morning uninterrupted by technology.

Please join in the conversation about 2023 Reading Intentions on our Goodreads thread.

– Currently Reading – [20:00]
People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks (CW)
This Must be the Place – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)

– Just Read – [23:22]
Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People – Tracy Kidder (EF)(audio)
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with Slavery Across America – Clint Smith (CW)(audio)
A Heart that Works – Rob Delaney (EF)(audio)
The Winter of Our Discontent – John Steinbeck (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [37:20]
Chris and Emily met with the Vintage Book Club at the Wood Memorial Library & Museum in South Windsor, CT to discuss The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Boston where they browsed at Brattle Bookshop, Beacon Hill Books & Cafe, and Commonwealth Books.

Emily went to Northampton, MA to see Tracy Kidder in conversation with Dr. O’Connell discussing his new book Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People.

Chris has started her new (and last!) semester of Library School. The History of the Book with two books: The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others by Sidney E. Berger and The Book by Amaranth Borsuk.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [54:28]
Chris and Emily are hoping to go on a joint jaunt to RJ Julia in Madison on Tuesday, February 21 at 7pm to see Will Schwalbe and his new book We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship.

Emily is hoping to catch Laura Zigman on book Tour with her newest novel, Small World.

– Upcoming Reads – [55:12]
Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir – Iliana Regan (EF)
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death – Maggie O’ Farrell (EF)(audio)
Speak for the Dead: A Dominon Archives Mystery – Amy Tector (CW) release date March 14, 2023
Endpapers – Jennifer Savran Kelly (CW) release date February 7, 2023

Out Now: [57:16]
Small World – Laura Zigman
Decent People – De’shawn Charles Winslow
Georgie, All Along: An Uplifting and Unforgettable Love Story – Kate Clayborn
Exiles – Jane Harper
Moonrise Over New Jessup – Jamila Minnicks

– Author Spotlight with Jenna Miller – [57:55]
We had a great time chatting with Jenna about her debut novel Out of Character which is available for pre-order now!
Learn more about Jenna.
Jenna’s literary inspirations include: Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Julie Murphy, and Becky Albertalli.

– Episode Sponsor – [1:28:13]
Today’s Episode sponsored by Shuly Cawood and her book A Small Thing to Want.
We spoke with Shuly about the book on Episode 100.

– Also Mentioned –
LibraryThing – a place to catalog reading
There is a group reading the 8 novels of Louise Erdrich – contact @katie_sikkes on Instragram
True Grit – Charles Portis
Crying in H Mart – Michelle Zauner
Also by Geraldine Brooks – Horse and March
Also by Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet and The Marriage Plot
Television series Catastrophe and Bad Sisters
Something Rotten! musical
A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway
Mountain Beyond Mountains – Tracy Kidder
Agate Publishing
The Foulest Things: A Dominion Archives Mystery – Amy Tector
Malinda Lo
Rainbow Rowell

You can 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, please email for instructions.

Join our
Goodreads Group!

Check out our
BookTube Channel and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our
email newsletter.