Episode 228 - Q1 Readalong: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Episode 228 Show Notes

Click here to follow everything Ghost Stories 2025.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
Hungerstone – Kat Dunn (CW)
Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create – Elissa Altman (EF) release date 3/11/25
A Web of Obsidian –Lydia M. Hawke (CW) (audiobook)
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF) (audiobook)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin (EF)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF) (audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the movie Lee starring Kate Winslet about photographer Lee Miller. It reminded Emily of reading Whitney Scharer’s novel The Age of Light. Whitney designed the Book Cougars logo and was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 130.

Chris watched Season One, Episode Four of Roar: The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin based on the Roar, a book of short stories by Cecelia Ahern.

Emily attended an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT. Kristan Higgins was in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel Good Dirt.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
March 19 at 6pm, Chris is registered for an event via American Ancestors. Megan Marshall will be sharing her new book After Lives, featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 227, in conversation with Janice Nimura, author of The Doctor’s Blackwell featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 139. Register for the event here.

April 3 at 4pm, Chris is registered to participate in a virtual book club event via The Mount discussing Edith Wharton’s A Son at the Front and Willa Cather’s One of Ours. Register for the event here.   

March 1 at 5pm, Emily will be attending an event at Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, CT with Elissa Altman and her book Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create. She will be in conversation with Kerri Arsenault, Author of Mill Town featured on Episode 123.

– Upcoming Reads –
Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde – Thomas Wright (CW)
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America – Martin Duberman (CW)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce up next is What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.
Lone Women – Victor LaValle (EF)
Swept Away – Beth O’Leary (EF) release date 4/1/25

– Out Now –
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler

– Also Mentioned –
The Crone Wars by Lydia M. Hawke
Judy Blume Forever documentary
Forever by Judy Blume
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
The Militia House by John Milas
Adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House:
The Haunting (1963)
The Haunting (1999)
The Haunting of Hill House serialized (2018)
On the Road with Penguin Classics: The Haunting of Hill House
On the Road with Penguin Classics: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Flatshare by Beth O’ Leary
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

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!

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Episode 227 - Spotlight with Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Megan Marshall

Episode 227 Show Notes

Click here for information about our year of reading Ghost Stories and to download your Bingo card!

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 1st Quarter Book –
Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

The 1st Quarter Readalong is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, February 16th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

We will also be doing a companion read of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

– Currently Reading –
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
O Pioneers! – Willa Cather (CW)
Learn more about Colleen’s Cather reading challenger here and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/.
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Ruth Franklin (EF)(audiobook)
Good Dirt – Charmaine Wilkerson (EF)

– Just Read –
The Grey Wolf – Louise Penny (CW)
I’ll Be Right Here – Amy Bloom (EF) release date 6/24/25
Bloom was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 153
A New Home, Who Will Follow? – Caroline Kirkland (CW)
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 3/4/25
The Vanishing Kind – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 3/4/25
Henderson was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 141
Fortune Favors the Dead – Stephen Spotswood (EF)
How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith – Mariann Edgar Budde (CW)(audiobook)
My Life in France – Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme (EF)(audiobook)
The Inn – Guy De Maupassant (CW)
After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart – Megan Marshall (CW)(EF)
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce year-long read, first short story “The Old Nurse’s Story” by Elizabeth Gaskell (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor –
The Left Hand by Brittnay J. Sears
Learn more about Brittnay and the novel here.

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the film The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse based on the book by Charlie Mackesy.

Chris participated in the Women’s Prize Book Club book club with Sarah Waters in conversation with Simon Savidge about her novel Fingersmith.

Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to The New York Society Library where they participated in a virtual event via the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism featuring Ruth Franklin in conversation about her new book The Many Lives of Anne Frank. Then they attended the in-person event with The New Relic Theatre presenting Lord Byron’s Manfred.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On February 12, Emily is registered to attend an event at RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT. Kristan Higgins will be in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel Good Dirt. You can register here.

On February 17, Chris is registered for an event via Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: Belle da Costa Greene and Modern Art with Deborah Parker. Learn more and register here.

On February 20, Jenn Bouchard will be signing copies of her book Considering Us at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT.

– Upcoming Reads –
Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing – Abigail Thomas (EF)
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF)
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…A Love Story – Jason Reynolds (EF)      
The Cheesemaker’s Daughter – Kristin Vukovic (EF)
The Secret of Secret’s: A Novel – Dan Brown (CW) release date  
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy – Ta-Nehisi Coates (CW)
Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era – Tiya Miles CW)

– Author Spotlight with Megan Marshall –
We chat with Megan about her book After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart.
Learn more about Megan and her writing here.

– Also Mentioned –
Learn more about Bookshop.org e-books
Black Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
In Love by Amy Bloom (audiobook)
Author Roxane Gay
Learn more about Alice Henderson’s Alex Carter series
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins
Author Rachel Held Evans
Next Penguin Ghost Story: “What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
The Singular Tragedy of Anne Frank – Guest Op-Ed in the NY Times by Ruth Franklin
The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition
The Oneg Shabbat Archive
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Author Octavia Butler
John Updike’s Rabbit Series
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romantism by Megan Marshall
Margaret Fuller: Collected Writing (LOA #388) co-edited by Brigitte Bailey, Leslie Eckel, and Megan Marshall

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 226 - A Book-Packed Episode including Listener Top Ten Reads of 2024

Episode 226 Show Notes

– 2025 Readalong Theme and 1st Quarter Book –
Our theme for 2025 is Ghost Stories! There is a ghost story discussion thread on Goodreads. Come tell us about your favorite ghost stories or those you are interested in reading.

Our 1st Quarter Readalong is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The Zoom conversation will take place on Sunday, February 16th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join. You can join the online conversation via the Goodreads discussion thread.

We will also be doing a companion read of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin.

Over the course of the year, we will be reading The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, one story at a time. If you would like to join us there is a schedule available on Goodreads or we can email a copy.

Listener Top Tens! There were a few ties so we have a listener top fourteen. There is a list on Bookshop.org where you can learn more about the books. (*We are an affiliate of Bookshop.org and receive a commission when you purchase books through our affiliate links.)
1.     James by Percival Everett
2.     The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
3.     The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
4.     The Women by Kristin Hannah
5.     Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
6.     North Woods by Daniel Mason
7.     Clear by Carys Davies
8.     Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
9.     Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
10.   Go As a River by Shelley Read
11.   The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
12.   My Friends by Hisham Matar
13.   Sandwich by Catherine Newman
14.   The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

– Currently Reading –
Winter Swimming: The Nordic Way Towards a Healthier and Happier Life – Susanna Søberg (EF)
A New Home, Who Will Follow? – Caroline Kirkland (CW)
Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories – Jeanette Winterson (EF)(audiobook)
The Vanishing Kind – Alice Henderson (CW)
Alice Henderson was featured in an Author Spotlight on Episode 141
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler (EF) release date 2/11/2025

– Just Read –
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout – Cal Newport (CW)(audiobook)
Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns and Encountering Naked Reality – Pema Chödrön(EF)(audiobook)
The Book of Shadow Work: Unlock the True You: The Must-Have Guide to Inner Healing and Authenticity – Keila Shaheen (CW) (audiobook)
Speak to Me of Home – Jeanine Cummins (EF) release date 5/13/2025
The Last Room on the Left – Leah Konen (CW)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy (EF)
Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel – Kiersten White (CW)
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern – Lynda Cohen Loigman (EF)(audiobook)
The Militia House – John Milas (CW)
Heartwood – Amity Gaige (EF) release date 4/1/2025
A Son at the Front – Edith Wharton (CW)
What Are You Going Through – Sigrid Nunez (EF)(audiobook)
Alexander’s Bridge – Willa Cather (CW)

– Biblio Adventure –
Emily watched the movie The Devil Wears Prada based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger.

Chris went to see the film Nosferatu loosely based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Emily listened to a conversation between Charlotte Wood and Sigrid Nunez via the American Writer’s Museum. The video is available here.

Chris went to Chicago and had two Biblio Adventures. The first was a resale shop with lots of books where her mom purchased a copy of Envy by Sandra Brown. Next, she met Colleen at Anderson Bookshop in Naperville. She got a copy of Woodworm by Layla Martinez, translated by Annie McDermott.

Emily and The Gentleman Caller watched the six-part series American Primeval on Netflix written by Mark L. Smith, who also wrote The Revenant.

Chris participated in the first Zoom conversation with Colleen and her monthly Willa Cather reading challenge, starting with Alexander’s Bridge. Follow Colleen: https://www.instagram.com/colleenka/ to learn more.

Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt to Providence, Rhode Island to visit the Providence Athenaeum. They also popped into the Rockefeller Library on Brown University campus.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is going to see the movie The Room Next Door based on the novel What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez.

On January 28, Chris is participating in the Women’s Prize Book Club book club with Sarah Waters in conversation with Simon Savidge about her novel Fingersmith. You can register for the event here.

On February 5, Chris and Emily are registered for the virtual event: The Many Lives of Anne Frank. Learn more and register here.

On February 5, Chris and Emily are registered for an in-person event at the New York Society Library. The New Relic Theatre presents Lord Byron’s Manfred. You can purchase register for the event here. 

On February 12, Emily is registered to attend an event at RJ Julia’s in Madison, CT. Kristan Higgins will be in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel Good Dirt. You can register here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Good Dirt – Charmaine Wilkerson (EF)
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (CW)(EF)
O Pioneers! – Willa Cather (CW)
Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust (CW)
Robin is doing a buddy read, follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinlgustafson/ and via #ProustPilotProject
The Grey Wolf – Louise Penny (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Author Louise Erdrich
Author Richard Osman
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
Author Edith Wharton
Author S.A. Cosby
Author William Kent Kreuger
Author Willa Cather
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Author Pat Conroy
Author Edgar Allan Poe
Author Nevada Barr
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
American Dirt by Jeannine Cummins
The Shining by Stephen King
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
Also by Willa Cather: One of Ours and O Pioneers!
Also by Sigrid Nunez: The Friend and The Vulnerables
Charlotte Wood novels: The Weekend and Stone Yard Devotional
Oh Reader Magazine

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.