Episode 200 - Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read (times 18!)

Episode Two Hundred Show Notes

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can also join the Indigo Goodreads discussion online anytime!

We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Listener Top Ten –
You can find these books on the Listener Top Ten of 2023 list on our Bookshop.org page
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett
Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride
Yellowface – R.F. Kuang
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt
The Fraud – Zadie Smith
Unlikely Animals – Annie Hartnett
Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro
Absolution – Alice McDermott
The Postcard – Anne Berest

– Currently Reading –
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)
River of the Gods: Genius Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile – Candice Millard
The Sicilian Inheritance – Jo Piazza (EF) release date 4/2/24
Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines – Joy Buolamwini (CW)
Upstream: Selected Essays – Mary Oliver (EF)

– Currently Reading –
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk (CW) release date 3/5/2024
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (audiobook) (EF)
Chris read the short story “Behind the Singer Tower” by Willa Cather. Learn more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project.
Emily read the short story “These are the Meditations of My Heart” from the collection Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks and “Old Crimes” from the collection Old Crimes: And Other Stories by Jill McCorkle
Erasure – Percival Everett (EF)
The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris went to Illinois to pay her respects and bid farewell to the Barnes and Noble in Naperville that is closing. She also got a good browse at her favorite used bookstore, The Frugal Muse. She picked up Hudson River Bracketed by Edith Wharton, Writing a Jewish Life: Memoirs by Lev Raphael, and The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton.

Emily went to Colorado and attended an event via Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken.

Books recommended by Elizabeth:
Night Wherever We Go – Tracey Rose Peyton
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It – Greg Marshall
Mrs. Caliban – Rachel Ingalls

Books recommended by Ann:
So Big – Edna Ferber
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year – Margaret Renkl
Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar
James – Percival Everett
This is Happiness – Niall Williams

Emily visited White River Books in Carbondale, CO where she picked up a copy of The Last Ranger by Peter Heller and the Carbondale Public Library.

Chris watched the movie The Princess Bride based on the novel by William Goldman.

Emily watched the movie Boys in the Boat based on the novel by Daniel James Brown. The audiobook is narrated by Edward Herrmann.

Chris participated in an online forum about craft via the Biography Lab. There was a panel with Janice P. Nimura, “Nasty Women: Making a Good Story out of Bad Behavior.” Janice is the author of The Doctors Blackwell and was a guest on Episode 139. Other panels included James McGrath Morris and Ray A. Shepard. You can watch the video with the keynote speaker, Kai Byrd.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are going on a Joint Jaunt to Bank Square Books for the launch of Luanne Rice’s new book Last Night.

Emily is planning to see the movie American Fiction at Madison Art Theatre based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Chris will be attending a reading of her wife Laura’s work-in-progress at the Chester Arts & Literary Weekend on February 11th at 5pm

– Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read –

Chris Wolak
Imagination: A Manifesto – Ruha Benjamin release date 2/6/24
Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy – Cait West release date 4/30/24

Emily Fine
How to End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang release date 4/2/24
The Paris Novel – Ruth Reichl release date 4/23/24

Michael Kindness
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmerans release date 3/12/24
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore release date 6/11/24

Ann Kingman
Service by Sarah Gilmartin release date 6/4/24
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister release date 10/1/24

Author Amy Tector
Death At the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson release date 9/3/24
Honor the Dead: A Dominion Archives Mystery  by Amy Tector release date 4/16/24

Author Andrea Wang
Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang release date 3/5/24
Next Stop: A Graphic Novel by Debbie Fong release date 3/19/24

Author Bianca Marais
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio release date 4/2/24
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rawley release date 5/21/24
Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo release date 6/18/24
Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman release date 4/16/24

Author Caroline Leavitt
Splinters by Leslie Jamison release date 2/20/24
Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt release date 4/23/24

Davina from BookBrowse
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray release date 3/12/24
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung release date 5/7/24

Author Fiona Davis
Anna Bright is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall release date 6/4/24
A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner release date 7/16/24

Author Hank Phillippi Ryan
One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan release date 2/6/24
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter and her DI Fawley series starting with Close to Home

Author Jennifer Savran Kelly
Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir by Zoe Bossiere release date 5/21/24
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24

Author Jenna Miller
We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller release date 2/20/24
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao release date 4/`16/24

Author Rachel Barenbaum
Flyboy by Kasey LeBlanc release date 5/14/24

Author Kelcey Ervick
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris release date 5/28/24
Victory Parade by Leela Corman release date 4/2/24

Author Luanne Rice
Last Night by Luanne Rice release date 2/1/24
If Anything Happens to Me by Luanne Rice release date 9/17/24
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames release date 7/23/24

Author Jung Yun
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24
Bear by Julia Phillips release date 6/25/24

Our Mystery Man John Valeri
A Killing on the Hill: A Thriller by Roberrt Dugoni release date 4/9/24
Shadowheart by Meg Gardiner release date 6/18/24
An Upcoming Release from Marcia Clark….

Also Mentioned
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken
Vlad – Carlos Fuentes translated by Alejandro Branger
Telephone – Percival Everett
My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
Also by Lev Raphael: The Edith Wharton Murders
Also by Ann Patchett: Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars
Jacqueline Woodson
Viral Justice – Ruha Benjamin
Long Bright River – Liz Moore
Dinner Party – Sarah Gilmartin
Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danler
We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh
The Virgin Suicides – Jefrey Eugenides|
99% Invisible podcast Episode 445 – The Clinch
Louise Penny
The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo
Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips

Episode 199 - Our 2024 Reading Intentions

Episode One Hundred Ninety Nine Show Notes

– Listener Top Ten –
Let us know your Top Ten Books of 2023
Please fill the form out by January 22nd.

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  
Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Indigo Goodreads discussion here.

We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

– Chris and Emily 2024 Reading Intentions –
· Both Chris and Emily set their Goodreads Reading Challenge to 52 Books.
· Emily will continue to read books written by Maggie O’Farrell.
· Chris has eight stories left in the Willa Cather Short Story project.
· Emily has started a Monday morning short story project.
· Chris plans to focus on reading books when she wants, following the whim of her desires.
· Emily plans to read one new-to-her cookbook each month and cook one recipe from the book.
· Chris will read 19th Century literature including The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Silas Marner, and A Tale of Two Cities.
· Chris is planning to focus on reading books by Margaret Fuller starting with Summer on the Lakes.
· Emily is aiming to watch one book to film adaptation per month.
· Biblio Adventures wish list: Sarah Orne Jewett House in South Berwick, Maine; a trip to Long Island to visit the newly opened Barnes and Noble along with other indie bookstores and paying tribute to the place where Margaret Fuller perished; Omnivore Books on Food in San Francisco; Bold Fork Books and Politics and Prose in Washington DC.

– Currently Reading –  
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)(audiobook)
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
The Hero of This Book – Elizabeth McCracken (EF)
Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America – Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst (CW)
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (EF)(audiobook)
Thirst – Marina Yuszczuk (CW) release date 3/5/2024
The Boy Who Lost His Spark – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)
The Hand That First Held Mine – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)(audiobook)

– Just Read –
Emily read two short stories “The End of the World is a Cul de Sac” by Louise Kennedy and “Powder” by Tobias Wolff
Archives 101 – Lois Hamill
You can read Chris’s review of this book in the Volume 86, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2023 issue.
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai (EF) release date 2/13/2024
Emily Dickinson Face to Face – Martha Dickinson Bianchi (CW)
A Winter in New York – Josie Silver (EF)
Freegift – James R. Benn (CW)
The Book of Magic – Alice Hoffman (CW)
Comfort Food – Kate Jacobs (EF)
The Para Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life – Tiago Forte (CW)
The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez (EF) release date 2/13/2024
Last Night – Luanne Rice (CW) release date 2/1/2024
Family Lore – Elizabeth Acevedo (EF) (audiobook)
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food – Ann Hood (EF)
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese (EF)(audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum for 2024 Moby-Dick Marathon. She also visited the New Bedford Free Library.
Thanks to listener recommendations, Emily listened to two NPR Book of the Day podcasts:
· Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan
· Big Heart Little Stove by Erin French

Emily participated in Katherine May’s Book Club where she was in conversation with Diana Henry speaking about her cookbook Roast Figs Sugar Snow.

Chris watched The Martian based on the novel by Andy Weir. She also participated in a group discussion about The Iliad by Homer. Listen to translator Emily Wilson reading from The Iliad. If you would like to join the conversation, send an email.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On Saturday, January 20th Chris is participating in an online forum about craft via the Biography Lab. She’s particularly excited about a panel with Janice P. Nimura, “Nasty Women: Making a Good Story out of Bad Behavior.”

Emily is heading to Colorado to visit her son and attend an event via Aspen Words featuring Ann Patchett in conversation with Elizabeth McCracken.

– Upcoming Reads –
Erasure – Percival Everett
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki release date 3/19/2024
The Grey Wolf – Louise Penny

– Also Mentioned –
The Giant’s House – Elizabeth McCracken
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World – Peter Wohlleben
Also by Louise Kennedy – Trespasses and The End of the World is a Cul de Sac
The Best American Short Stories 1997 series edited by Katrina Kenison, guest edited by E Annie Proulx
Fish Stories – Tobias Wolff
Trigger Warning Database
The Dictionary of the Book – Sidney E. Berger
The Friday Night Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez
Luanne Rice – Last Day and The Shadow Box
Laurie Colwin
American Prometheus – Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
James – Percival Everett
American Fiction movie

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 198 - Top Ten Reads of 2023 with BookTuber Russell Gray of Ink and Paper Blog

Episode One Hundred Ninety Eight Show Notes

– 1st Quarter 2024 Readalong –
Our first quarter readalong is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins.  

Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, March 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

We’ve also created a Goodreads thread for general romance chit chat.

You can stream the documentary Love Between the Covers for free.

– Listener Top Ten –
Let us know your Top Ten Books of 2023

– Episode Sponsor –
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Chris chose a hard cover: No One Can Know – Kate Alice Marshall
Emily chose a hard cover: A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Use the code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5

– Russell’s Top Ten Reads of 2023 –  (Follow Russell on his Booktube Channel: Ink and Paper Blog)
The Road to Dalton – Shannon Bowring
Little Monsters – Adrienne Brodeur
Alice Sadie Celine – Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
Day – Michael Cunningham
Wellness – Nathan Hill (audiobook)
North Woods – Daniel Mason ((audiobook)
The Only One Left – Riley Sager
The Late Americans – Brandon Taylor
The Daughter Ship – Boo Trundle
In Memoriam – Alice Winn
Family Meal – Bryan Washington

– Chris’s Top Ten Reads of 2023 –
The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others – Sidney E. Berger
Wilma Rogers – Sophia Belzer Engstrand
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin (audiobook)
Endpapers – Jennifer Savran Kelly (listen to the Author Spotlight on Episode 178)
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese (listen to the Author Spotlight on Episode 189)
The September House – Carissa Orlando
People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
How Can I Help You – Laura Sims
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism – Meghan Marshall
Emily Dickinson Face to Face – Martha Dickinson Bianchi

– Emily’s Top Ten Reads of 2023 –
Lark Ascending – Silas House
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (NPR Book of the Day conversation with Donal Ryan)
Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough – Shuly Cawood  (listen to the Author Spotlight on Episode 191)
Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life – Homa Dashtaki
Morning in This Broken World – Katrina Kittle (listen to the Author Spotlight on Episode 188)
Rough Sleepers – Tracy Kidder (audiobook)
Zorrie – Laird Hunt
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell
Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward
Moonrise Over New Jessup – Jamila Minnicks
Properties of Thirst – Marianne Wiggins

– Favorite Biblio Adventures –
City Arts & Lectures in San Francisco – Brandon Taylor
A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, CA with Lauren Groff talking about The Vaster Wilds
The Old Manse in Concord, MA
The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA
Galivanting around Berkeley, CA with Aunt Ellen

– Upcoming Reads We Are Excited About –
James – Percival Everett release date 3/19/24
The Fury – Alix Michaelides release date 1/16/24
Real Americans – Rachel Khong release date 4/30/24
Last Night – Luanne Rice release date 2/1/24
Memory Piece – Lisa Ko release date 3/19/24
Finding Margaret Fuller – Allison Pataki release date 3/19/24
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks – Crystal Wilkinson release date 1/23/24
The Twilight Garden – Sara Nisha Adams release date 4/9/24

– Also Mentioned –
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Flame and the Flower – Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Parnassus on Wheels – Christopher Morley
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
Southernmost – Silas House
Read Appalachia
Ann Patchett
The Institute Library of New Haven
Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize
The Hours film
The White Mustache Yogurt Company
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook – Sohla El-Waylly
The Nix – Nathan Hill
Ryan – ReadbyRyan on Instagram
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Vulnerables – Sigrid Nunez
Lucy by the Sea – Elizabeth Strout
The Woman in Me – Brittany Spears
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
March – Geraldine Brooks
Also by Brandon Taylor: Real Life and Filthy Animals
Also by Paul Tremblay: The Cabin at the End of the World, The Beast You Are: Stories, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, and A Head Full of Ghosts
The Mad Women’s Ball – Victoria Mas (translated by Frank Wynne)
John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, and The Absolutist
Pip Williams – The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder
McNally Editions
Barbara Kingsolver
Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel
Also by Bryan Washington: Lot and Memorial
Evidence of Things Unseen – Marianne Wiggins
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Also by Percival Everett – The Trees, Erasure, and Telephone
Documentary about Percival Everett: Through the Writer’s Mirror
The Silent Patient – Alix Michaelides
Goodbye, Vitamin – Rachel Khong
The Leavers – Lisa Ko
The Birds of Opulence – Crystal Wilkinson
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams

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 197 - Author Spotlight with Pip Williams

Episode One Hundred Ninety Seven Show Notes
|KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Update on Chris and Emily’s 2023 Reading Intentions – [1:23]
· Both Chris and Emily set their Reading Challenge on Goodreads to 52 books. To date, Chris has read 62 and Emily has read 84.

· Emily’s 2023 year-to-date Cookbook List:
o   Cooking with Mushrooms – Andrea Gentl
o   Snacking Cakes – Yossy Arefi
o   The Wok – J. Kenji López-Alt
o   Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico – Rick Martínez
o   What’s for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People – Claire Saffitz
o   Budmo! Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen – Anna Voloshyna
o   Dark Rye & Honey Cake: Festival Baking from Belgium, The Heart of Low Countries – Regula Ysewjin
o   Yogurt & Whey: Recipes from an Iranian Immigrant Life – Homa Dashtaki
o   Bavel: Modern Recipes Inspired by the Middle East – Ori Menashe, Genevieve Gergis, and Lesley Sutter
o   Big Heart Little Stove – Erin French
o   Tenderheart: A Cookbook about Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds – Hetty McKinnon
o   Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul – Diana Henry

· Chris’s progress on Adam’s TBR challenge:
o   People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
o   The Warden – Anthony Trollope
o   A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay

· Find out more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project.
o   A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Willa Cather by Sheryl L. Meyering
o   Uncle Valentine and Other Stories by Willa Cather

· Check out the 2023 Reading Intentions Thread on Goodreads

– Currently Reading – [10:00]
The Hand That First Held Mine – Maggie O’Farrell (EF)
The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love – Rachel Feder (CW)
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood (EF) release date 2/13/2024

– Just Read – [14:03]
The Helsinki Affair – Anna Pitoniak (CW)
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (EF)
Unnatural Death – Patricia Cornwell (CW)
The Maid – Nita Prose (EF)
The Bookbinder – Pip Williams (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [34:55]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Chris chose a hard cover: No One Can Know – Kate Alice Marshall release date 1/23/2024
Emily chose a hard cover: A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Use the code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [37:36]
Chis and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt in celebration of their seventh anniversary. They had lunch at Chez Ben Diner in Manchester, CT and went shopping at River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, CT. They also strolled through the newly renovated Welles-Turner Memorial Library.

Emily visited Bay Books in Suttons Bay, MI where she purchased a copy of The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman.

Chris attended a virtual Author Talk via the Boston Athenaeum, “Robert Darnton: The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1790.”

Chris is joining an online event via the Harry Ransom Center titled “Lost Books: The Dark Matter of the Early Modern English Book Trade” featuring Alan B. Farmer. The video is available here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [48:55]
Chris is planning a trip to NYC to visit the current exhibits, The Best-Read Army in the World and Whodunit? Key Books in Detective Fiction, at  The Grolier Club and to dig into more archival research at The New York Society Library.

Emily is planning to catch up on two virtual author interviews:
Crime Time with host Hank Phillippi Ryan interviewing Nita Prose about The Mystery Guest, the second book in the Molly Maid series. Watch it here.
Launch of Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island via the Glucksman Ireland House at New York University. Watch it here.

– Upcoming Reads – [51:10]
Good Taste: A Novel in Search of Great Food – Caroline Scott (EF)
Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science – Catherine McNeur (CW)

– Announcing our 2024 Readalong Theme – [56:22]
We are excited to share that our readalong theme for 2024 is ROMANCE!
Read the NY Times article about Nora Roberts here.

– Author Spotlight with Pip Williams – [01:01:45]
We had a chance to chat with Pip about her two companion novels The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder.
Learn more about Pip here.

The video referred to in the conversation: Oxford University Press and The Making of a Book.

– Also Mentioned –
Sapphira and the Slave Girl – Willa Cather
Maggie O’ Farrell
The Spinning Heart – Donal Ryan
Sue Grafton
The Mystery Guest – Nita Prose
Parnassus on Wheels – Christopher Morley
The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester – Laurie Lico Albanese
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman
Drafting the Past podcast
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine – Janice P. Nimura
Russell at Ink and Paper Blog
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester

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 196 - Trying Not To Go Viral

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

– Patreon Giveaway –
House of Caravans by Shilpi Suneja
Become a member of our Patreon Community by December 15th to be automatically entered to win.

– Currently Reading – [1:50]
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America – Heather Cox Richardson (CW)(audiobook)
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea – Debra Magpie Earling (EF)
Librarians Guide to Online Research – Christopher C. Brown (CW)
Tenderheart: A Cookbook about Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds – Hettie Lui McKinnon (CW)

– Just Read – [6:23]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester (EF)(audiobook)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (CW)
Sea Change – Frank Viva (EF)
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin (CW) (audiobook)
The Last Love Note – Emma Grey (EF)
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism – Megan Marshall (CW)
Grief is for People – Sloane Crosley (EF) release date 2/27/2024
The Bookbinder – Pip Williams (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [47:36]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Emily chose an audiobook: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey narrated by Leeanna Walsman. Chris chose a hard cover: The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak.
Use code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [56:41]
Chris had a Zoom conversation with her fellow buddy readers of The Paradiso by Dante Alighieri.

Emily went to the Guilford Library to hear Adres Dubus III discuss his new novel Such Kindness. Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [01:01:07]
Chris and Emily are heading to Drama Works Theater to see Laura Thoma’s play “Miss Margaret’s Barton Cottage Christmas Surprise.” The show runs from December 15-17. Tickets are available here.   

Chris is joining an online event via the Harry Ransom Center titled “Lost Books: The Dark Matter of the Early Modern English Book Trade” featuring Alan B. Farmer. The video is available here.

Chris is attending a virtual Author Talk via the Boston Athenaeum, “Robert Darnton: The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1790.” Online tickets are available here.

Emily is looking forward to watching the third season of Slow Horses on Apple TV based on the Slough House series by Mick Herron. This season is based on the third novel, Real Tigers.

Emily is planning to see Ileana Douglas at the Durham Public Library discussing her new book Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia.

– Upcoming Reads – [01:05:35]
The Iliad – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) (CW)
If you are interested in joining The Iliad buddy read, send an email or get in touch via Instagram.
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (EF)
Are You Somebody – Nuala O’Faolain (EF)

– Out Now – [01:09:29]
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac: Stories – Louise Kennedy

– Also Mentioned –
Milkweed Editions
Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize
I Was Told There’d Be Cake – Sloane Crosley
Dirty Love – Andre Dubus III
Jane Austen
Nothing Good Can Come From This: Essays – Kristi Coulter

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 195 - Hooked by Nonfiction November & 2023 Holiday Gift Ideas

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

– Currently Reading – [:25]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals & Moments from the Lost Kitchen – Erin French (EF)(audiobook)
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism – Megan Marshall (CW)
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family – Rabia Chaudry (EF)
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America – Heather Cox Richardson (CW)(audiobook)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary – Simon Winchester (EF)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (CW)
Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior – Troy Swanson (CW)

Head over to our Booktube channel to hear about our Nonfiction November reads.

– Just Read – [16:22]
After Annie – Anna Quindlen (EF) release date 3/12/24
Moby-Dick Hidden Treasures found poetry – discovered by Stephen Durkee (CW)
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden – Camille T. Dungy (EF) (audiobook)
“Like a Winding Sheet” a short story within Miss Muriel and Other Stories – Ann Petry (CW)(EF)

– Episode Sponsor – [28:34]
Book of the Month curated monthly book subscription service
Emily chose an audiobook: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey narrated by Leeanna Walsman
Chris chose a hard cover: The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak
Use the code FORYOU to receive your first delivery for $5.

– Biblio Adventures – [30:36]
Emily went to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT to see Sigrid Nunez discuss her newest novel, The Vulnerables, with Willard Spiegelman whose most recent book is Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt.

Chris had a lovely visit to Mystic Seaport Museum where she walked aboard The Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in the world. She’s considering a re-read of Moby Dick.

Emily took a jaunt to RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT to see Michael Cunningham discuss his new novel, Day, with Amy Bloom. On Episode 153, we spoke with Bloom about her memoir In Love.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [40:45]
Chris is heading into New York City to see a play and is hoping to renew her NYPL library card.  

Emily plans to attend an event at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT on Tuesday, November 28th at 6PM (ET).  Lauren Acampora will be in conversation with Mona Awad discussing her new novel, Rouge.

– Upcoming Reads – [42:24]
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac: Stories – Louise Kennedy (EF) release date 12/5/2023
The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading about Eating, and Eating While Reading – Dwight Garner (EF)
Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want – Ruha Benjamin

– Episode Sponsor – [45:02]
Liv Macy, author of the Infinites Universe Novels. Learn more about Macy and her series here.

– 2023 Holiday Gift Ideas – [45:42]
Head over to our Booktube channel to see visual representations of some of these gift ideas
🎁 A Bookbrowse Gift Membership
🎁 North American Reciprocal Museum Association Membership
🎁 Book Letters derived from vintage books
🎁 Reading Headlights. Emily has a Petzl from LL Bean and Chris has a Glocusent
🎁 Decorate paper and transcribe a poem or quote upon it
🎁 The 2023 New York Public Library Holiday Gift Catalog
🎁 Literary Board game: Really Loud Librarians
🎁 Book Embosser
🎁 Author Bobblehead (Bram Stoker) and custom bobbleheads via Bobble for a Cause
🎁 Custom Family Recipe Tea Towels
🎁 Create a Biblio Adventure Car Kit

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Also Mentioned –
Finding Freedom – Erin French
The Old Manse
Mystic Seaport Museum
Adnan’s Story – Rabia Chaudry
Undisclosed podcast
Also by Sigrid Nunez: The Friend and What Are You Going Through
The Hours – Michael Cunningham
Trespasses – Louise Kennedy

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 194 - Author Spotlight with Sarah MacLean

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

Emily read the poem “Only Love” by James Crews. The poem is available in the collection The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy. Follow this link to learn more about the collection and the poem.

– Currently Reading – [1:50]
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century – Josh Cook (CW)
Family Lore – Elizabeth Acevedo (CW)
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire – Kerrelyn Sparks (CW)

– Just Read – [5:22]
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (EF)
Starling House – Alix E. Harrow (CW)
The Golden Gate – Amy Chua (EF)(audiobook narrated by Robb Moreira)
Country Place – Ann Petry (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [20:45]
Chris and Emily both had a Couch Biblio Adventure: Emily binged the second season of Slow Horses based on the novel Dead Lions by Mick Herron on Apple TV+. Chris watched Renfield loosely based on the classic Dracula story.

Emily went to see Killers of the Flower Moon based on the novel by David Grann. You can watch a conversation with the cast at the Cannes Film Festival. Two books that are written from the Osage point of view: A Pipe for February by Charles H. Red Corn and Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [32:27]
Chris is excited to attend some of the events celebrating Willa Cather’s 150th Birthday on December 7th. The Willa Cather Center has a list of events celebrating her sesquicentennial.

Emily is going to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT on Thursday, November 9th to see Sigrid Nunez in conversation about her new book, The Vulnerables.

– Upcoming Reads – [34:13]
Julia – Sandra Newman (EF)
Old Crimes – Jill McCorkle (EF) release date 1/9/2024
Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather – Benjamin Taylor (CW) release date 11/14/2023
A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers – edited by Joyce Carol Oates (CW)

– Out Now – [38:40]
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education – Stephanie Land
You can find the recent NY Times article about Stephanie’s experience in publishing here.

– Author Spotlight with Sarah MacLean – [39:15]
Learn more about Sarah MacLean here. Her newest book is Knockout: A Hell’s Belles Novel, the third book in the Hell’s Belle’s series. The first book is Bombshell, and the second is Heartbreaker.

Check out this vast list of recommended reading on Sarah’s website.

Sarah co-hosts the podcast Fated Mates with romance critic Jen Prokop.

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Also Mentioned –
John Valeri Central Booking
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
Other books by Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows, and Miss Muriel and Other Stories
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
Other books by Sarah Maclean: The Rogue Not Taken and Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Lee Child
Stephen King
John Irving

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 193 - Book Club Fundamentals with Davina Morgan-Witts Founder & Publisher of BookBrowse

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

– Currently Reading – [:38]
Land of Milk and Honey – C. Pam Zhang (EF)
The Paradiso – Dante Alighieri (CW)
Country Place – Ann Petry (EF)

– Just Read – [3:58]
Country Place – Ann Petry (CW)
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez (EF)
My Roommate Is a Vampire – Jenna Levine (CW)
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth – Elizabeth Rush (EF)The Purgatorio – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Goth House Experiment – SJ Sindu (CW)

– Biblio Adventures – [25:50]
Emily went to Maine where she got to stop in at two different public libraries. The Curtis Library in Brunswick had a Robert McCloskey exhibit featuring his books Blueberries for Sal, Time of Wonder, One Morning in Maine, and Burt Dow Deep-Water Man, and Make Way for Ducklings. She also browsed the Wiscasset Public Library where there was a permanent exhibit featuring local artist Bernard Langlais.

Chris had a few Couch Biblio Adventures. She watched Eye of the Needle via Kanopy, it is an adaptation of the Ken Follett novel of the same name; the first episode of Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus; and The Fall of the House of Usher inspired by the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [39:29]
Chris is attending a live reading of her wife’s play in New York City! On Monday, October 30th at 6:30 pm (ET), The Bechdel Group will feature Writer’s Block by Laura Thoma and Literary Girls Obsessed with Death by Libby Heily. Both plays will be read by professional actors and there will be a discussion afterwards You can reserve a free ticket here.

Chris and Emily will be going to The Vintage Bookclub where they will discuss Country Place by Ann Petry.

– Upcoming Reads – [41:00]
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride (EF)
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams (EF)
The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-First Century – Josh Cook (CW)
The Tattooed Woman – Marian Engel (CW)
Blackouts – Justin Torres (CW)

– Out Now – [45:04]
The Best American Short Stories 2023 – edited by Heidi Pitlor and Min Jin Lee
Death Valley – Melissa Broder

– Guest Spotlight with Davina Morgan-Witts – [45:22]
We chat with Davina Morgan-Witts Founder & Publisher of BookBrowse.
Learn more about how to become a member and subscribe to the free newsletter.
Learn more about BookBrowse for libraries.
Take a look at the book club research reports, blog posts based on the findings, and the book club health check.

Davina recommends North Woods by Daniel Mason and Julia by Sandra Newman inspired by George Orwell’s 1984.

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Also Mentioned –
How Much of These Hills Is Gold – C. Pam Zhang
The Inferno of Dante – Dante Alighieri
The Street – Ann Petry
Cleat Cute – Meryl Wilsner
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore – Elizabeth Rush
Mystic Seaport Museum
Ulysses – James Joyce
May Massee children’s book editor
The movie Hidden Figures based on the novel by Margot Lee Shetterly
Other shows by Mike Flanagan: Midnight Mass  and The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
The Color of Water – James McBride
Porter Square Books
Author Laura Sims
Author Paul Tremblay
Central Booking with John Valeri
We the Animals – Justin Torres
Books by Paul Gallico: The Man Who Was Magic and Snow Goose
The Phantom Toll Booth – Norton Juster
The Complete Little World of Don Camillo – Giovanni Guareschi
Author Judy Blume

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 192 - Author Spotlight with Fancy Feast

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

– 4th Quarter Readalong –
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

Watch the video of Pip talking about the inspiration for The Bookbinder. If you are interested, her debut novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

– Currently Reading – [6:14]
The Purgatorio – Dante Alighieri (CW)
The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy – edited by James Crews (EF)
Emily reads “Turning” by Julie Cadwallader Staub
The Goth House Experiment – SJ Sindu (CW) (release date 10/17/2023)

– Just Read – [14:24]
Adversity for Sale – Jay Jeezy Jenkins (CW)
Wellness – Nathan Hill (EF)
Monsters: A Fans Dilemma – Claire Dederer (CW)
Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques – Fancy Feast (CW)(EF)
The September House – Carissa Orlando (CW)
When a Pet Dies – Fred Rogers (CW)
Stairway to Doom – Robert Quackenbush (CW)

– Biblio Adventures – [39:30]
To wrap up Scarlet Summer, Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to Boston to visit Hawthorne-related sites including Brook Farm in West Roxbury, MA, the Boston Athenaeum, a meal at the Chipotle located at the site of the original Old Corner Bookstore, strolled down Pinckney Street to visit the sites where prominent 19th-centuryliterary figures lived throughout. We also got a chance to see The Embrace, a new bronze sculpture honoring Coretta Scott Kind and Martin Luther King Jr., located on Boston Common. Watch the slideshow of our day in Boston.

Emily went to Cape Cod and stopped at Herridge Bookstore in Wellfleet where she purchased The Book of Salt by Monique Truong, the Provincetown Bookshop, Tim’s Used Books, Provincetown Public Library where she grabbed a free copy of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken, and the Eldredge Public Library in Chatham, MA.

Chris appeared on Shawn the Book Maniac’s BookTube channel chatting about bookmarks from her childhood (that were made in Emily’s hometown!). You can watch it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [01:03:07]
Emily is heading to Maine and is hoping to do some bookstore browsing. She plans to watch Lessons in Chemistry an Apple TV series based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus.

– Upcoming Reads – [01:04:14]
The Iliad – Homer translated by Emily Wilson (CW) If you would like to join Chris in a buddy read beginning in January 2024, send an email.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death – Amanda Flower (CW)
Afterlife – Julia Alvarez (EF)

– Out Now – [01:08:42]
Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir – Safiya Sinclair
Nothing is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly – Nicole Walters

– Author Spotlight with Fancy Feast– [01:09:06]
We chat with Fancy Feast about her essay collection Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques. You can learn more about Fancy on her website, via her Instagram feed and Facebook page. We encourage you to watch the documentary Fancy Feast – The Fat Burlesque Performer.

– Also Mentioned –
National Book Awards 2023
Chain Gang All Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Blackouts – Justin Torres
Also by SJ Sindu: Blue Skinned Gods and Marriage of a Thousand Lies
The Nix – Nathan Hill
The Second Shelf BookTube channel with Britta Böhler
The House Guest – Hank Phillipi Ryan
How Can I Help You – Laura Sims
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters

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 191 - Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough with Poet Shuly Cawood

Episode One Hundred Ninety One Show Notes

KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Currently Reading – [5:53]
Adversity for Sale – Jay Jeezy Jenkins (CW)
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin (EF)(audiobook)
Listen to Rick Rubin in conversation with Debbie Millman on Design Matters
Monsters: A Fans Dilemma – Claire Dederer (CW)
Consider the Oyster – M.F.K. Fisher (EF)

– Just Read – [12:43]
Properties of Thirst – Marianne Wiggins (EF)
The Inferno of Dante – Dante Alighieri translated by Robert Pinsky (CW)
Thin Places – Kerri Ní Dochartaigh (EF) (audiobook)
Cleat Cute – Meryl Wilsner (CW)
Zorrie – Laird Hunt (EF)
Bombshell: A Hell's Belles Novel – Sarah MacLean (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [36:46]
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to New York City to have a visit with Aunt Ellen. First stop was a delicious brunch at Maman. Then the New York Society Library where they took a tour and spent time with the current exhibit: the Quack! Quack! The Wonderful World of Robert Quackenbush. They stopped at two bookstores: The Corner Bookstore and Kitchen Arts & Letters. The capstone event was dinner at Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant before catching the train home.

Chris watched the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature. You can watch it here.

Chris and Emily attended the Popular Romance Conference: The Literature of Hope at Yale University where they watched the documentary Love Between the Covers. (Watch the documentary here.) There were two days of panels that included: Beverly Jenkins, Eloisa James, owners of The Ripped Bodice bookstore, Monique Patterson publisher with TOR/Bramble, Fated Mates podcast, and the Black Romance podcast, and Roxane Gay.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [01:11:35]
To wrap up Scarlet Summer, Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to Boston on September 21 to visit Hawthorne-related sites including the Boston Athenaeum and have  a meal at the Chipotle located at the site of the original Old Corner Bookstore.

Emily is heading to Cape Cod where she hopes to attend parts of the Provincetown Book Festival.

– Upcoming Reads – [01:12:35]
Wellness – Nathan Hill
Heartbreaker: A Hell’s Belles Novel – Sarah MacLean
Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques – Fancy Feast
And a Dog Called Fig: Solitude, Connection, the Writing Life – Helen Humphreys

– 4th Quarter Readalong – [01:14:35]
The Bookbinder by Pip Williams is the official book for the last quarter of the year reading within our theme of Books about Books. Our Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 3rd at 7pm (ET), send an email if you would like to reserve a spot. You can join the Goodreads discussion here.

– Author Spotlight with Shuly Cawood– [01:17:20]
We chat with Shuly Cawood about her new poetry collection Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough.

You can learn more about Shuly and her writing workshops and purchase signed copies of her books here.

– Also Mentioned –
The Invisible Hour – Alice Hoffman
Ron Charles review of The Invisible Hour
The Second Shelf BookTube channel with Britta Böhler
House of Books in Kent, CT
Cacophony of Bones: The Circle of a Year – Kerri Ní Dochartaigh
Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
Ink and Paper Blog booktube channel with Russell Gray
Vincent Virga author of the Gaywycke series
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M.  Auel
Radclyffe
Bold Strokes Books
The Nix – Nathan Hill
Ann Patchett

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.