Episode 205 - Author Spotlight with Yulin Kuang

Episode 205 Show Notes

– Giveaways –
Patreon: Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan. You have until April 14th to become a Patreon member.

Newsletter Winner: Congratulations to Calloway, who won The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts.

– 2nd Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book One by Nora Roberts. 

Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, June 2nd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join The Awakening Goodreads Discussion anytime and we’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

Download the Romance Bingo Card!

– Currently Reading –  
Chris dnf’d The Maiden – Kate Foster (CW)
Emily dnf’d Interesting Facts about Space – Emily Austin (EF)
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (CW)
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World – edited by Ada Limón (EF)
Emily read the poem “Canine Superpowers” by Michael Kleber-Diggs
Boats for Women – Sandra Yannone (CW)
Chris read “Providence April 14, 1998”
Piglet – Lottie Hazell (EF)
The Highest Apple: Sappho and the Lesbian Poetic Tradition – Judy Grahn (CW)
Break the Cycle: A Guide to Breaking Intergenerational Trauma – Dr. Mariel Buqué (EF)(audiobook)
Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential – Tiago Forte (CW)
Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stuart Gardner – Natalie Dykstra (EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
This episode is sponsored by Clitapalooza: Her flower blooms power by Billie Best.
You can learn more about Billie here.

– Just Read –
Wake Up With Purpose! What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years – Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (CW)(audiobook)
You can read Chris’s review here.
Intimacies – Katie Kitamura
Deprog: Volume 1 – Tina Horn, Gab Contreras, Dani Strips, and Lisa Sterle – (CW)
A Baker’s Year: Twelve Months of Baking and Living the Simple Life at the Smoke Signals Bakery – Tara Jensen (EF)
Chris read a preview of River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure
When Cicadas Cry – Caroline Cleveland (EF) release date 5/7/2024

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to RJ Julia’s Bookseller to see Rachel Slade discussing her new book Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How It Got That Way).

Chris had a lovely conversation with a student at the library about The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Emily watched the movie Adaptation, about a screenwriter trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris has purchased a ticket for the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair taking place April 4-7.

Thank you to a listener who called in to tell us about the movie Shirley a biopic about the author Shirley Jackson, Chris and Emily are both planning to watch it.

Chris and Emily are going on a joint jaunt to Nyack, NY to see the home of Carson McCullers. They are also planning to read the short story “Reflections in a Golden Eye” and the new Mary Dearborn biography Carson McCullers: A Life.

– Upcoming Reads –
Bride – Ali Hazelwood (CW)
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon (CW)
The Twilight Garden – Sara Nisha Adams (EF)

– Out Now –
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza
The Husbands – Holly Gramazio
Victory Parade – Leela Corman
A Killing on the Hill: A Thriller – Robert Dugoni

– Author Spotlight with Yulin Kuang –
We chat with Yulin about her new novel How to End a Love Story.
You can learn more about Yulin here and here, and be sure to check out her book tour.

– Also Mentioned –
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Gracy Hendrix
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs
The Glass Studio by Sandra Yannone
Salmon Poetry Press
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Flour Power: The Practice and Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread by Tara Jensen
Tara Jensen
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro by Rachel Slade
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
NaNoWriMo
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
North & South Elizabeth Gaskill adaptation with Richard Armitage

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Episode 171 - Author Spotlight with Marcie R. Rendon

Book Cougars Episode 171

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

Chris read the poem “The Margin” from the poetry collection The Historians: Poems by Eavan Boland.

– Currently Reading – [3:31]
The Writing Retreat – Julia Bartz (CW) release date 2/21/23
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age – Katherine May (EF) release date 2/28/23
The Library Book – Susan Orlean (CW)
Listen to Episode 62 when Chris and Emily chat about seeing Susan on a Biblio Adventure in New York City back in 2018
How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope – edited by James Crews (EF)
Emily read the poem “Improvement” by Danusha Laméris.

– Just Read – [14:36]
Reef Road – Deborah Goodrich Royce (EF) release date 1/10/23
The Foulest Things: A Dominion Archives Mystery – Amy Tector (CW)
Night Wherever We Go – Tracey Rose Peyton (EF) release date 1/3/23
The Light We Carry – Michelle Obama (EF)(audio)
Murder on the Red River – Marcie. R. Rendon (CW)(EF)(audio)

– Biblio Adventures – [30:26]
Chris started watching Three Pines based on the novels by Louise Penny.
Emily watched From Scratch on Netflix based on the novel by Tembi Locke.
Emily tuned in to via the Library of Congress to watch Jason Reynolds: Closing Celebration for National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.   

– Upcoming Jaunts – [54:38]
Chris is hoping to watch Kindred, the series based on the novel by Octavia Butler.

Emily is hoping to watch Bullet Train based on the novel by Kotaro Isara.

Chris and Emily are planning a joint jaunt to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. In preparation, Emily is planning to read Stowe’s short story “The Pearl of Orr’s Island.” Stowe is best known for her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

– Upcoming Reads – [41:24]
A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny (CW)
Moonrise Over New Jessup – Jamila Minnicks (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Marcie R. Rendon – [01:07:22]
We chat with Marcie about our fourth quarter readalong:  Murder on the Red River. The next two books in the series are Girl Gone Missing and Sinister Graves.
You can learn more about Marcie here.

– Also Mentioned –
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times – Katherine May
Elizabeth Gilbert
White River Books
Speak for the Dead – Amy Tector
Alice Henderson
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake – Tiya Miles
Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer
Jacqueline Woodson
Mark Twain House
Firekeeper’s Daughter – Angelline Bouilley
Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl
Stephen King
Kurt Wallender Series by Henning Mankell
John Sanford
John Grisham
Shutter – Ramona Emerson

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