Episode 220 - A Shocking Buddy-Read with Our Mystery Man John Valeri

Episode 220 Show Notes

– Giveaways –
Patreon:
Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir edited by Tod Goldberg

Tenth Episode:
The Gardener’s Plot: A Mystery by Deborah J. Benoit
The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

– Currently Reading –
Armadale – Wilkie Collins (CW)
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary – Alice Hoffman (EF) (audiobook)
“The Bolted Door” from the collection Tales of Men and Ghosts – Edith Wharton (CW)
A Bit Much: Poems – Lyndsay Rush (EF)

– Just Read –
Birding with Benefits – Sarah T. Dubb (EF) (audiobook)
The Dead Romantics – Ashley Poston (EF)
Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall (CW) (audiobook)
The Rom-Commers – Katherine Center (EF) (audiobook)
“Afterward: A Ghost Story for Christmas” or from the collection Tales of Men and Ghosts– Edith Wharton (CW)
Real Americans – Rachel Khong (EF) (audiobook)
What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking – Tina Oziewicz, illustrated by Aleksandra Zajac and translated by Jennifer Croft (EF)

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris took an unexpected trip to Nebraska for a funeral. She happened upon a lovely bookstore at the Charlotte airport with a nice sitting area. She also found a little free library in Omaha, Nebraska.

Both Chris and Emily enjoyed the monthly Patreon Reading Salon discussion about recently read books. In November we will be chatting about our favorite author.

On National Louise Penny Day, Chris purchased her copy of The Grey Wolf at Breakwater Books in Guilford, CT.

Emily attended the virtual event "Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: Examining the Truths and Fictions we Tell Ourselves with Lori Gottlieb" via the North Haven Memorial Library. You can watch the video here.

Sue Jackson shared a vlog of her Biblio Adventure to two bookstores in New York. You can watch it here.

Emily binged season three of The Lincoln Lawyer based on the novel The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly. 

Emily and The Gentleman Caller stopped at Bennett’s Books in Deep River, CT where she got a copy of Girl at War by Sara Nović.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
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.

Emily is planning to attend the Connecticut Book Festival on Saturday November 23rd from 10-4.

– Upcoming Reads –
The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts – Mary Claire Haver (EF)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Bronte (CW)
The Illustrated Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood - In Two Volumes - Volume I: Original Title: Varney the Vampyre – James Malcolm Rymer, Thomas Preskett Prest, edited by Finn J. D. John (CW)

– Spotlight with Our Mystery Man –
A conversation with Our Mystery Man, John Valeri, about our buddy read of the novel Murder in the Smithsonian by Margaret Truman.

You can learn more about John here. Follow his informative and fun interviews with mystery authors over at Central Booking.

– 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 –
Author Shuly Cawood
Author Jessica Pryde
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
One Bright Book podcast
Author Donald Bain
Also by Margaret Truman: Murder at Ford’s Theatre and Murder at the Library of Congress

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 219 - Exploring Picture Book Art

Episode 219 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
Armadale – Wilkie Collins (CW)
The Dead Romantics – Ashley Poston (EF)
This Cursed House – Del Sandeen (CW)
Birding with Benefits – Sarah T. Dubb (EF) (audiobook)
Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall (CW)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Mighty Red – Louise Erdrich (EF) (audiobook)
If I Stopped Haunting You – Colby Wilkens (CW) (audiobook)
Sandwich – Catherine Newman (EF)

Chris read several picture books:
The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs – written by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal
The City Tree – Shira Boss illustrated by Lorena Alvarez
I Am Bat – Morg Hood
The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt – written by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein – written by Lynn Fulton, illustrated by Felicita Sala

Emily read two short stories written by Nobel Prize winners:
“Loot” by Nadine Gordimer from the collection Loot and Other Stories.
“Seams” by Olga Tokarczuk from The Best Short Stories 2022: The O. Henry Prize Winners. You can read the story here.

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris and Emily went north to Massachusetts. The first stop was The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. They spent time in the giftshop where Emily purchased a copy of Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle and Chris purchased Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson, translated by Kingsley Hart. Next stop was the Montague Book Mill. Emily purchased a copy of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones and The Collected Stories of Shirley Hazard edited by Brigitta Olubas. Chris purchased A New Home, Who Will Follow? by Caroline Kirkland, Thinking and Writing about Literature by Michael Meyer, and Writing Creative Nonfiction edited by Philip Girard. The last stop was the Montague Public Library. You can watch a quick video of our day here.

Emily attended an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers with Betsy Lerner and her debut novel Shred Sisters.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are heading to NYC to see Aunt Ellen.

Chris and Emily are planning to attend an author signing with Penny Goetjen and her newest novel Deadly Ripples at Breakwater Books in Guilford on October 17th between 1-3pm (ET).

On October 30th Chris and Emily are heading to the Concord Library to attend an event via the Concord Festival of Authors, “The scrolls of the past burn my fingers”: Reviving Margaret Fuller. You can learn more about the event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Read Between the Lines – Rachel Lacey (CW)
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking – Caroline Chambers (EF)
Murder in the Smithsonian – Margaret Truman (CW)(EF)

– 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 –
Audio version of The Decameron Short Story Project
Single All the Way movie
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
There Once Was a Town documentary narrated by Edward Asner
The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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 217 - Author Spotlight with James R. Benn

Episode 217 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (CW)
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Bookseller’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend – Rebecca Romney (CW)
Listen to our conversation with Rebecca Romney on Episode 207.
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in American – Amanda Jones (CW) (audiobook)
The Mighty Red – Louise Erdrich (EF) release date 10/1/2024

– Just Read –
Envy – Sandra Brown (CW)(EF) (audiobook)
The Most – Jessica Anthony (EF)
The Gathering – C.J. Tudor (CW)
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver (EF) (audiobook)
Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story – Lynn Ames (CW)

Emily read two short stories:
“The Miracle Years of Little Fork” by Rebecca Makkai from the collection Music for Wartime and published in Summer 2015 Ploughshares literary magazine. “Why Were They Throwing Bricks?” by Jenny Zhang from the collection Sour Heart and published in Spring 2017 n+1 literary magazine.

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris and Laura continue to rewatch the Harry Potter movies.

Emily had two couch biblio adventures, Slow Horses season four based on the book Spook Street by Mick Herron and she finished Presumed Innocent based on the novel by Scott Turow.

Emily visited the New Canaan Public Library.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily will be attending portions of the Windham Campbell festival. The Lydia Davis lecture “Why I Write” is available to watch here.  

Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Chester, CT for the grand opening of Montgomery & Taggert, Connecticut’s first Romance Bookstore!

On October 9th Chris and Emily are heading to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.

– Upcoming Reads –
Murder in the Smithsonian – Margaret Truman (CW)(EF)
Swan Song – Elin Hildebrand (EF)
Classic’s Club is doing a “sync read” of all of Jane Austen’s novels. Learn more here.

– Out Now –
Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book – Kate Atkinson
So Thirsty – Rachel Harrison
If Anything Happens to Me – Luanne Rice

– Author Spotlight with James R. Benn –
We talk with James R. Benn about his new novel The Phantom Patrol
Learn more about James and his book tour here.

– Also Mentioned –
Download the Romance Bingo Card!
Author Marcie Rendon
Author Cal Newport
Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony
James by Percival Everett
The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Broadstairs in Kent
McNally Jackson booksellers
The New Yorker Magazine
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust [check out #ProustPilotProject and ]
Why I Write by George Orwell
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Author David Niven
Author J.D. Salinger; The Stranger short story and Catcher in the Rye
Author Jean Conan Doyle
Author Philip Kerr
Author Ian Fleming

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 216 - Guest Spotlight with Michael Kelleher, Director of the Windham Campbell Prizes

Episode 216 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh – Claudia Gray (CW)
Envy – Sandra Brown (EF) (audiobook)
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading – James Patterson and Matt Eversmann (CW)

– Just Read –
Envy – Sandra Brown (CW)
Just for the Summer – Abby Jimenez (EF) (audiobook)
The Truth’s We Hold: An American Story – Kamala Harris (CW) (audiobook)
Big – Vashti Harrison (EF)

Chris and Emily did a buddy read of the short story “Double Birthday” by Willa Cather from the collection The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike.

You can read Chris’s blog post here.

Emily also read “Disaster Stamps of Pluto” by Louise Erdrich from the collection The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Otto Penzler.

Mrs. Saint and the Defectives – Julie Lawson Timmer (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
Deadly Ripples by Penny Goetjen publishes on 9/17/2024.
Learn more about and follow Penny’s book tour here.

– Big Book Summer Reading Challenge Reflection –
Emily read:
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames
The Awakening by Nora Roberts

Chris read:
The Awakening by Nora Roberts
Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames
Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition by the American Psychological Association
MLA Handbook, 9th edition by The Modern Language Association of America

Chris wrote a blog post about her Big Book Summer Challenge 2024 plans.

Watch our BookTube video about our Big Book Summer Hopefuls.

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris had a lunch date with Kate at Knot Norm’s in Norwalk, CT to talk about their Moby Dick buddy read.

Emily watched the film The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat based on the novel by Edward Kelsey Moore via Hulu.

Chris and Laura are enjoying rewatching the Harry Potter movies; helping Chris get reacquainted with the stories.

Chris is on the search for the episode and book The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is planning a trip to the Sterling Library at Yale to see the exhibit Whaling Logbooks: Records of a Maritime Industry. She is also studying the new tri-fold pamphlet in preparation for the upcoming Guilford, CT library book sale from September 27-29th.

Emily is signed up to attend "Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: Examining the Truths and Fictions we Tell Ourselves with Lori Gottlieb"! via the North Haven Memorial Library on October 22 at 2pm (ET). Register here.

We will be in conversation with James R. Benn about his new novel The Phantom Patrol, on Thursday, September 19th, at 6 pm (ET)! Bank Square Books is hosting the event, and because they are in the middle of a move, it will be held at the gorgeous Mystic Noank Library in Mystic, CT. The event is free, register here to save your spot.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Most – Jessica Anthony (EF)
The Mesmerist – Caroline Woods (EF)
The Mighty Red – Louise Erdrich (EF) release date 10/1/2024
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Bronte (CW)
Old New York – Edith Wharton (CW)
Silas Marner – George Elliot (CW)
The Turn of the Screw – Charles Dickens (CW)
The Red and the Black - Stendhal (CW)
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (CW)
Armadale – Wilkie Collins (CW)
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW) [check out #ProustPilotProject]
Murder in the Smithsonian – Margaret Truman (CW)(EF)

– Guest Spotlight: Michael Kelleher with the Windham Campbell Literary Awards –
Learn more about the Windham Campbell Prizes.
The 2024 Festival takes place from September 17-20. You can find the schedule here. 
You can follow the awards on Instagram and YouTube

– 3rd Quarter Readalong –
Envy by Sandra Brown.
Please join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.
The Zoom readalong discussion will take place on Sunday, September 15th at 7:00 pm (ET). Please send an email if you would like to join.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Also Mentioned –
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Also by Abby Jimenez: Part of Your World and Yours Truly
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky release date 3/18/2025
Also by Willa Cather: One of Ours and The Song of the Lark
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA for the exhibit Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick running through January 4, 2026
The Supremes Sing The Happy Heartache Blues by Edward Kelsey Moore
The Lunar Housewife by Caroline Woods
Books and Things host of Victober 2024
Also by Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone and The Woman in White
Murder in the CIA by Margaret Truman
The Book Barn in Niantic, CT
Babel Literary Series

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 215 - The Midwest Episode

Episode 215 Show Notes

– Currently Reading –
The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh – Claudia Gray (CW)
Margo’s Got Money Trouble – Rufi Thorpe (EF) (audiobook)
The Truth’s We Hold: An American Story – Kamala Harris (CW) (audiobook)

– Just Read –
Hot Air – Marcy Dermansky (EF) release date 3/18/2025
So Thirsty – Rachel Harrison (CW) release date 9/10/2024
Emily read two short stories:
“The Hexter Girls” from the collection Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones (audiobook)
“The Many Taste Grooves of the Chang Family” by Allison King via LeVar Burton Reads
Sulwe – Lupita Nyong’o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison (EF)

– Biblio Adventure –
Chris forgot to mention that she and Colleen stopped at the Odyssey Bookshop when they were gallivanting around Massachusetts.

Chris visited a friend at the Tunxis Community College Library. Afterwards she drove further north to the Unionville Historical Society which is housed in a Carnegie Library built in 1917 that is a miniature of the Boston public library. Afterward she found a double little free library under a gazebo and found a copy of Murder in the CIA by Margaret Truman.

Although she didn’t take a copy of the Truman book, it did inspire her to search for a copy of Murder in the Smithsonian at Frugal Muse Books and Half Price Books in Downer’s Grove.

Emily was strolling through downtown Traverse City, MI and passed an historic building that was the original location of the Lady’s Library Association.

Chris visited the new Barnes & Noble in Oswego, IL where she purchased a copy of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. She also found a new-to-her bookstore, Harvey’s Tale’s Books & Other Diversions, in Geneva, IL.   

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are planning to visit the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, CT. Horace Walpole wrote the novel The Castle of Otranto.  

Emily is excited to watch the film The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat based on the novel by Edward Kelsey Moore via Hulu.

– Upcoming Reads –
Envy – Sandra Brown (CW)(EF)
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking – Caroline Chambers (EF)

– 3rd Quarter Readalong –
Envy by Sandra Brown.
Please join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.
The Zoom readalong discussion will take place on Sunday, September 15th at 7:00 pm (ET). Please send an email if you would like to join.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Also Mentioned –
Author Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Audacity of Hope – Barack Hussein Obama
Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance – Barack Obama
Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

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.