Episode 170 - 2022 Holiday Gift Ideas and Author Spotlight with Malinda Lo

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

– Giveaways! –
Episode 170 marks our SIXTH ANNIVERSARY! It’s also another 10th episode which means it's GIVEAWAY time! Become a subscriber to our free monthly newsletter by December 15th to be automatically entered to win a copy of My Brilliant Life by Ae-Ran Kim and Death on a Winter Stroll by Francine Mathews. 

We host a monthly book giveaway for our Patreon supporters. If you join our Patreon Community by December 15th you will be automatically entered to win a copy of The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger.

– Currently Reading – [2:38]
The Foulest Things: A Dominion Archives Mystery – Amy Tector (CW)
Learn more about Amy here.
The Light We Carry – Michelle Obama (EF)(audio)

– Just Read – [5:00]
Take What You Need – Idra Novey (EF) release date 3/14/2023
No, N-O-E, No: The Cicero Riot Story – H.M. Edwards (CW)
Foster – Claire Keegan (EF)
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (CW)
“Rape Fantasies” – Margaret Atwood (CW)
The Collected Regrets of Clover –Mikki Brammer (EF) release date 5/9/2023
You Could Make this Place Beautiful: A Memoir – Maggie Smith (EF) release date 4/11/2023

– Biblio Adventures – [33:43]
Chris and Emily drove up to Amherst, MA and went on a tour of the newly renovated Emily Dickinson Museum. Afterword they browsed Amherst Books where Chris found a copy of Alcuin: A Fierce and Elegant Plea for the Rights of Women by Charles Brockden Brown. In the evening they attended a screening of the pop opera Emily & Sue at Amherst College.

While in Colorado, Emily visited the Basalt Regional Library, the Carbondale Public Library where she picked up a copy of The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, and White River Books where she got a copy of How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope by James Crews.

Emily is watching From Scratch on Netflix based on the novel by Tembi Locke.

Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure watching Spirited based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

– Upcoming Reads – [54:38]
A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny (CW)

– 2022 Holiday Gift Ideas – [55:52]
· Buy Author Swag – for example Louise Penny items at Brom Lake Books
· Simply Julia Cookbook paired with her online Sundays with Julia Cooking Classes
· Biblio Adventure to an Author Home – for example Emily Dickinson Museum or National Steinbeck Center
· Book Gift Subscriptions – for example Trust Me You’ll Love It from the Bookworm of Edwards, CO
· A Donation to an Organization: for example BINC, EveryLibrary, and DiverseBooks.org
· Make a Bookmark that highlights the titles in a book series or favorite author’s entire booklist
· The Remarkable Life Deck created by Debbie Millman
· Record an Audiobook or Short Story
· Subscription to Libro.fm or a set of audiobook Gift Bundles
· Act as technical support, helping someone learn to better utilize their smart phone or tablet
· Book Pairings, for example: Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change and the companion Keep Moving: The Journal by Maggie Smith, The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy by Ross Gay, Finding Freedom paired with the new issue of Cherry Bombe featuring Erin French on the cover.
· A signed copy or first edition of a book

– Author Spotlight with Malinda Lo – [01:07:22]
We had a great time chatting with Malinda about her new book A Scatter of Light and Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Malinda has a fantastic website.

– Also Mentioned –
The Camille DeRose Story – Camille DeRose
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
Susan Orlean
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change – Maggie Smith
The Overstory – Richard Powers
Three Pines – the television series based on the novels by Louise Penny

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter.

Episode 169 - Author Spotlight with Marcia Clark and Our Mystery Man John Valeri

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

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.

Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, December 4th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Currently Reading – [1:40]
Take What You Need – Idra Novey (EF) release date 3/14/2023
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (CW)

– Just Read – [4:19]
Constance Fenimore Woolson: Collected Stories – Constance Fenimore Woolson (CW)
The Seas – Samantha Hunt (EF)
Chris dnf’d The Archivist – Rex Pickett (CW)
On Writing: A Memoir Of the Craft – Stephen King (EF)(CW)(audio)
Check out the essay: Reading Audiobooks for my Dad, Stephen King by Owen King.
Sweet Thursday (Cannery Row #2) – John Steinbeck (CW)
Shame – Annie Ernaux (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [27:30]
Chris and Emily visited the Lenox Library in Lenox, MA when they went north to visit The Mount.

Emily attended a virtual Biblio Adventure via the San Francisco Public Library in celebration of their One City One Book selection, This is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life; with Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods, moderated by Piper Kerman author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. A video of the event is available here.

Chris went on a walkabout in New Haven visiting The Institute Library, Grey Matter Books where she found a copy of A Backward Glance by Edith Wharton, and Barnes and Noble-The Yale Bookstore.

Emily visited The Bookworm of Edward’s Colorado.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [1:02:52]
Chris and Emily have a joint jaunt planned to Amherst, MA on November 30th to go to a screening of the pop opera Emily & Sue at Amherst College hosted by the newly renovated Emily Dickinson Museum. They plan to take a tour of the museum earlier in the day.

– Upcoming Reads – [40:21]
Deliverance – James Dickey (CW)
Inciting Joy – Ross Gay (EF)

– Out Now – []
A Ghost of Caribou – Alice Henderson
Dark Rivers to Cross – Lynne Reeves (EF)
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family – Rabia Chadry

– Author Spotlight with Marcia Clark and Our Mystery Man John Valeri – [45:30]
We talk with Marcia about her new novel The Fall Girl. Learn more about Marcia here.

– Also Mentioned –
The Lottery – Shirley Jackson
The Book of Delights – Ross Gay
Central Booking with John Valeri

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter.

Episode 168 - Author Spotlight with Blair Braverman

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

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.

Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, December 4th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Currently Reading – [3:12]
Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics – Marion Nestle (EF)
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (CW)
On Writing: A Memoir Of the Craft – Stephen King (EF)
A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo (EF)
Sweet Thursday (Cannery Row #2) – John Steinbeck (CW)

– Just Read – [10:56]
The Midcoast – Adam White (EF)
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake – Tiya Miles (CW)
Flight – Lynn Steger Strong (EF)
The Bookstore Sisters – Alice Hoffman (EF)
Eric Hermannson’s Soul – Willa Cather (CW)
You can join the Willa Cather short story project on Chris’s blog.

– Biblio Adventures – [31:24]
Chris and Emily visited The Mount in Lenox, MA. In preparation for our visit we read three ghost stories from Wharton’s New England: Seven Stories and Ethan Frome: The Triumph of Night, Bewitched, and All Souls. Chris purchased a copy of The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton in The Mount’s gift shop.
You can view the video we took of her library on our YouTube channel.
We also visited the The Bookstore & Get Lit Wine Bar in Lenox, MA that was featured in the documentary. Hello Bookstore.

Emily made a tip to Maine and visited Elements Books Coffee Beer in Biddeford and Longfellow Books in Portland.

Chris stopped at Barbara’s Bookstore when she was walking through O’Hare airport in Chicago.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [46:51]
Emily is looking forward to watching the series From Scratch based on the book by Tembe Locke that was one of her top reads of 2020. Emily talked about the book on Episode 97 and Episode 120.

Chris is headed to Loyola University’s Library at the Lakeshore Campus to do some archival research.

– Upcoming Reads – [48:31]
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon (CW)(EF)
The Seas – Samantha Hunt (EF)
Guarded by Dragons: Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People – Rick Gekoski (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Blair Braverman – [51:20]
We talk with Blair about her debut novel Small Game.
You can learn more about Blair here.
Here’s the link to the Outside Magazine article that Blair wrote about her experience on Naked and Afraid.
You can keep up with Blair and her BraverMountain mushing team on Twitter. If you are interested in supporting her team financially, check out her Patreon page.

– Also Mentioned –
Librovox public domain audiobooks
Bookshop.org gift cards
University of California Press
Last Night at the Telegraph Club – Malinda Lo
A Thin Ghost and Others – M R James
In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
Henry James
Theodore Roosevelt
The Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde
Herman Melville’s Arrowhead
Honest Dog Books
Parnassus Books
The Concord Bookshop
Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter.

Episode 167 - Author Spotlight with Kelcey Ervick

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

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.

Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, December 4th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Currently Reakding – [1:15]
Sweet Thursday (Cannery Row #2) – John Steinbeck (CW)(EF)
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake – Tiya Miles (CW)

– Just Read – [4:11]
Cannery Row – John Steinbeck (CW)(EF)
The Fall Girl – narrated by Marcia Clark and Cathy LePard (CW)(EF)
Small Game – Blair Braverman (CW)(EF)
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan (EF)
The Mad Women’s Ball – Victoria Mas (translated by Frank Wynne) (EF)
Library Girl: How Nancy Pearl Became America’s Most Celebrated Librarian – Karen Henry Clark (illustrated by Sheryl Murray)(CW)
Dark Rivers to Cross – Lynne Reeves (EF) release date 11/8/2022
Miss Grief and Other Stories – Constance Fenimore Woolson (edited by Anne Boyd Rioux) (CW)
Open Water – Caleb Azumah Nelson (EF)
Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff (CW)
The Salt Path – Raynor Winn (audio)(EF)
The Lunar Housewife – Caroline Woods (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –  [44:02]
Emily was in Martha’s Vineyard where she visited Bunches of Grapes bookstore and four of the public libraries on the island: West Tisbury, Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, and Edgartown libraries.

Chris attended a virtual event through the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library about The World in Maps.

Chris and Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure via Simmons University with Malinda Lo discussing her book Last Night at the Telegraph Club.

Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt meeting Aunt Ellen in Brooklyn. They made stops at The Center for Fiction, Books Are Magic bookstore, the Brooklyn Public Library at Carroll Gardens, then to an event at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church with Maggie O’ Farrell talking about her book The Marriage Portrait.
Books purchased:
Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry – David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli  
Laserwriter II – Tamara Shopsin
The Between – Tananarive Due
Yellow Jessamine – Caitlin Starling

Food Eaten:
Smith Street Bagels
La Vara NYC
Magnolia Bakery

– Upcoming Jaunts – [1:02:52]
Emily is heading to Savoy Bookshop & Cafe on November 3rd at 5:30 to hear James Hannaham discuss his new book Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta.

Emily is headed back to Brooklyn on November 5th & 6th to attend Cooks & Books hosted by Cherry Bombe at the Ace Hotel.

Chris and Emily are headed to The Mount in Lenox, MA. The hope to read some stories from Wharton’s New England: Seven Stories and Ethan Frome. The ghost stories include The Triumph of Night, Bewitched, and All Souls.

– Upcoming Reads – [1:06:00]
The Foundling – Ann Leary (EF)
The Midcoast – Adam White (EF)
His Only Wife – Peace Adzo Medie (EF)
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family – Rabia Chadry (EF) release date 11/8/2022
Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics – Marion Nestle (EF)
Inciting Joy: Essays – Ross Gay (EF)
Hotel Cartagena – Simone Buchholz (translated by Rachel Ward) (CW)
Blue Night – Simone Buchholz (translated by Rachel Ward) (CW)
Carmilla – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Out Now: 
Signal Fires – Dani Shapiro

– Author Spotlight with Kelcey Ervick – [1:10:10]
We talk with Kelcey about her new graphic memoir The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives.

You can learn more about Kelcey here.

– Also Mentioned –
BOOK CLUB On the Go   
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
Jane Austen
Tattered Cover Bookstore
Lovecraft Country series
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed
A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo
Bleak House – David Copperfield
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
Hamnet – Maggie O’ Farrell
The Good House – Ann Leary
Book of Delights: Essays – Ross Gay
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter.

Episode 166 - All Things Audiobooks

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

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.
Please send an email if you would like to participate in the Zoom conversation on Sunday, December 4th at 7 PM (ET). And we would love for you to join the online conversation on the Goodreads thread.

– Favorite Audiobooks –
Becoming – Michelle Obama (CW)
Firekeeper’s Daughter – Angeline Bouilley (narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc) (EF)
My Sister the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite (narrated by Adepero Oduye) (CW)
In Love – Amy Bloom (EF)
True Grit – Charles Portis (narrated by Donna Tartt) (CW)
Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson (EF)
Girls & Boys – Dennis Kelly (narrated by Carey Mulligan) (EF)

– Current Listen –  
The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism – James Loewen

– Upcoming Listen –  
We are doing a buddy listen with Our Mystery Man, John Valeri. Join us as we listen to the audiobook, The Fall Girl, by Marcia Clark (narrated by Marcia Clark and Cathy Lepard).

– Other Audiobooks Mentioned –
Moby Dick
Biography of Malcolm X
Warmth of Other Suns
Sinister Graves
Crying in H Mart
I’m Glad My Mom Died

– Conversation with Co-Hosts of the Libro.fm podcast Karen and Craig –
Check out the new podcast from our affiliate Libro.fm.

– Also Mentioned –
Hoopla
Libby
Audible
Audiobooks.com
How I Built This with Don Katz
Patricia Cornwell
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong – James Loewen
Nancy Drew
It's A Clue podcast
Emma Straub
Julia Whelan
George Saunders
Neil Gaiman
Invisible Life of Addie Larue – V.E. Schwab
Liberty Hardy

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter.

Episode 165 - Author Spotlight with Diane Wilson

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

– Announcing our 23rd Readalong –
Murder on the Red River – Marcie R. Rendon
You can purchase an e-book directly from Soho for $7.99, the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm to support the Book Cougars.
Join the Goodreads conversation here.

– Currently Reading – [1:09]
How to Read Now: Essays – Elaine Castillo (CW)
The Rabbit Hutch – Tess Gunty (EF) (audiobook)
Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, an Address Book, a Life – Brigitte Benkemoun, translated by Jody Gladding (CW)

– Just Read – [6:43]
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘em Dead: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano (EF)
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson (CW)(audiobook)
“Pig” the short story in The Best of Roald Dahl – Roald Dahl (EF)
The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives – Kelcey Ervick (EF)
The Seed Keeper – Diane Wilson (CW)(EF)(audiobook)

– Biblio Adventures – [29:55]
Chris attended a virtual event with Jenn Shapland discussing her book My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir with Robert Kesten, Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives. You can watch the video here.

Emily visited Pop! Art Books Culture in Boardman, Ohio where the Gentleman Caller picked up a copy of Magic Terror: 7 Tales by Peter Straub.

Chris watched an episode of Lovecraft Country based on the novel by Matt Ruff.

Emily attended an event at Madison Art Cinema sponsored by R.J. Julia Booksellers, a showing of the documentary Hello, Bookstore.

Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt to the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library for some worktime together. Emily picked up a copy of Simply Julia: 110 Recipes for Easy Comfort Food by Julia Turshen.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [40:53]
Emily is heading to Martha’s Vineyard and hopes to visit Bunch of Grapes Bookstore and Edgartown Books as well as Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, MA.

Chris is planning to attend an event at the Mark Twain House& Museum on September 27th at 7pm with Nikki Woolfolk in conversation with Alex Jennings discussing the novel The Ballad of Perilous Graves.  

– Upcoming Reads – [44:27]
Small Game – Blair Braverman (CW)(EF) release date November 1, 2022
The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle – Sarah Krasnostein (EF)
All that She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake – Tiya Miles (CW)
After Sappho – Selby Wynn Schwartz (CW)
The Bread the Devil Knead – Lisa Allen-Agostini (EF)

Out Now:
Lucy by the Sea – Elizabeth Strout

– Author Spotlight with Diane Wilson author of The Seed Keeper Our 22nd Readalong – [49:39]
We chat with Diane Wilson author of our Third Quarter readalong, The Seed Keeper.
Learn more about Diane.

Her new picture book, Where We Come From, publishes on October 4th.

Reminder that you can join the Goodreads discussion here, anytime.

– Also Mentioned –
The Ski Jumpers by Peter Geye
National Book Awards
The Booker Prizes
Shutter – Ramona Emerson
James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
Provincetown Book Festival
The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis – Melissa Homestead
Also by Blair Braverman: Dogs on the Trail: A Year in the Life and Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube:
Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter here.

Episode 164 - Talking About the Booker Prizes with Russell Gray from Ink and Paper Blog

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

– 22nd Readalong –
Our Third Quarter readalong is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 18th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join in. You can join the Goodreads discussion here. You can purchase directly from Milkweed Press with free shipping using the Promo Code: SEEDKEEPERCOUGARS

– Currently Reading – [1:27]
How to Read Now: Essays – Elaine Castillo (CW)
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘em Dead: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano (EF)
Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, an Address Book, a Life – Brigitte Benkemoun, translated by Jody Gladding (CW)

– Just Read – [6:52]
We Are Water Protectors – Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade (EF)
A Ghost of Caribou – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 11/6/2022
Listen to our conversation with Alice Henderson on Episode 141
Small World – Laura Zigman (EF) release date 1/10/2023
Are They Women?: A Novel Concerning the Third Sex – Aimée Duc, translated and edited by Margaret Sönser Breen and Nisha Kommattam (CW)
Black, White, and the Grey: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant – John O. Morisano and Mashama Bailey (EF)
Miss Nobody from Nowhere – Elizabeth Jordan (CW)
Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship – Annabel Abbs narrated by Ell Potter, Bianca Amato (EF)
The Displacements – Bruce Holsinger (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [40:00]
Chris met Kate in Norwalk to eat lobster rolls and discuss Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Kate gave her a copy of Exiles by Jane Harper (release date 1/31/2023).

Emily and The Gentleman Caller visited several little free libraries by foot and by bike.

Chris is watching The Outlander series on Netflix based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [44:36]
Chris and Emily are looking forward to The Zoom discussion of the The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson which will take place on Sunday, September 18th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join in.

Emily is hoping to get to Pop! Art Books Culture in Boardman, Ohio.

Chris is planning to attend the Provincetown Book Festival, particularly the session with Melissa Homestead and Scott Bane discussing his book A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney.

– Upcoming Reads – [47:20]
The Seed Keeper – Diane Wilson (CW)(EF)
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures – Merline Sheldrake  (EF)
On the Rooftop – Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (EF)

Out Now:
Sweet and Sour – Debbi Michiko Florence
Lucky Girl: How I Became a Horror Writer – M. Rickert

– The Booker Prize conversation with Russell Gray – [50:10]
You can watch Russell on his YouTube channel.

Learn more about The Booker Prizes.

The 2022 Short List of Books:
Glory – Noviolet Bulawayo
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
Treacle Walker – Alan Garner
The Trees – Percival Everett
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka
Oh William! – Elizabeth Strout

– Also Mentioned –
The Ski Jumpers by Peter Geye
University of Minnesota Press
Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power – Deirdre Mask
Also by Alice Henderson: A Solitude of Wolverines and A Blizzard of Polar Bears
Broadview Press
Miss Nobody From Nowhere – Elizabeth Ashton
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis – Melissa J. Homestead
The Revisioners – Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Trust – Hernan Diaz

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter here. 

Episode 163 - Author Spotlight with Shelley Puhak

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

 – 22nd Readalong –
Our Third Quarter readalong is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 18th at 7pm (ET).
Send us an email if you would like to join.
Find the Goodreads discussion here.
You can purchase directly from Milkweed Press with free shipping using the Promo Code: SEEDKEEPERCOUGARS


– Currently Reading – [2:06]
A Ghost of Caribou – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 11/6/2022
The Electricity of Every Living Thing – Katherine May (EF)(audio)
Young Mr. X – Elizabeth Jordan (CW)
Small World – Laura Zigman (EF) release date 1/10/2023

– Just Read – [6:20]
Oh William! – Elizabeth Strout (EF)
Lucy by the Sea – Elizabeth Strout (EF) release date 9/20/2022
The Barrens – Kurt Johnson and Ellie Johnson (CW)
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (EF)
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen (CW)
The Battle of Little Bighorn – Mari Sandoz (CW)

– Biblio Adventures – [36:09]
Chris and Emily went on a joint jaunt to New Hampshire to visit all three Toadstool Bookshops.
They also stopped at the Peterborough Public Library and their Friends of the Library Used Bookstore, the
Dublin Public Library, and Yankee Publishing.

Emily attended a virtual event with Elizabeth Strout and Cynthis D’Aprix Sweeney author of The Nest via Harvard Bookstore, Politics and Prose, and Books & Books. You can watch it here.

Emily had a Couch Biblioadventure via Episode 133 of Friends & Fiction with Jamie Ford author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and Jason Mott author of Hell of a Book.

Chris has been doing some accessioning work at the Coast Guard Academy Library and came across a copy of My Heart Leaps Up and Other Poems by William Wordsworth. (The poem “My Heart Leaps Up”) She also went to the Institute Library in New Haven to search for books by Elizabeth Jordan where she found a copy of Young Mr. X.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [59:23]
The Newberry Library in Chicago is offering a course Contemporary Native American Detective Fiction starting on October 5th. Learn more about it here. The reading list includes Murder on the River by Marcie R. Rendon.

Coming up on September 10th at 3:00 pm (ET),  Bank Square Books is hosting a book launch for Sweet and Sour by Debbi Michiko Florence.

Grab tickets for the world premiere of Magpie by Laura Thoma on September 9-11 at Drama Works Theatre in Old Saybrook. Purchase tickets here.

– Upcoming Reads – [1:03:02]
The Seed Keeper – Diane Wilson (CW)(EF)
Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship – Annabel Abbs (EF)
Buffalo Calf Road Woman: The Story of a Warrior of the Little Bighorn – Rosemary Agonito and Joseph Agonito (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Shelley Puhak – [01:09:09]
We had the opportunity to chat with Shelley about her book The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World.

You can learn more about Shelley here.

– Also Mentioned –
Also by Alice Henderson: A Solitude of Wolverines and A Blizzard of Polar Bears
Separation Anxiety – Laura Zigman
My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout
Mansfield Park directed by Patricia Rozema
The Killer Angels – Michael Shaara
Entangled Life: How Funghi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures – Merlin Sheldrake
Edith Wharton’s House – The Mount
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts – Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member.
You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

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Episode 162 - Just Us and the Insects (or not)

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

– 22nd Readalong –
Our Third Quarter readalong is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 18th at 7pm (ET). Send us an email if you would like to join in.
Join the Goodreads discussion here.
Purchase directly from Milkweed Press with free shipping using the Promo Code: SEEDKEEPERCOUGARS

– Currently Reading – [:22]
Lucy by the Sea – Elizabeth Strout (EF) release date 9/20/2022
The Warmth of Other Suns – Elizabeth Wilkerson (CW)(audio narrated by Robin Miles)
You can join Chris’s buddy read here.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing – Katherine May (EF)(audio)
The Electricity of Every Living Thing dramatic adaptation – Katherine May (EF)(audio)
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen (CW)
Read Chris’s guest blog post on Roof Beam Reader.

– Just Read – [9:26]
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus (EF)
Vampire Slayer, The Vol. 2 – Sarah Gailey, Michael Shelfer (Illustrations), Sonia Liao (Illustrations) (CW)
When Women Could Fly – Megan Giddings (EF) (audiobook narrated by Angel Pean)
A Lost Lady – Willa Cather (CW)
You can listen to Chris chat about the book on The Mooks and The Gripes – Episode 34
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy – Jamie Ford (EF)(audio)
Natures Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard – Douglas W. Tallamy (CW)
Learn about his event at Guilford High School here.

– Biblio Adventures – [35:11]
Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt to the Madison Art Cinemas to see the movie Where the Crawdads Sing based on the novel by Delia Owens.

Emily took the Gentleman Caller to the Book Barn in Niantic to search for Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Which they didn’t find but Emily found a copy of Black, White, and the Grey by Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano.

Chris and Laura went on a road trip to New Hampshire where she came across an historical marker for Sarah Josepha Buell Hale located in Newport, New Hampshire.

Emily went to Barnswallow Books in Rockport, Maine for a workshop with Elissa Altman and Katherine May authors of Wintering and Motherland.  She also spent a workday at the Camden Public Library.

Chris attended a virtual event through Savoy Bookshop & Café with Dr. Mark Harper about his book Chill: The Cold Water Swim Cure. You can watch the video here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [1:07:04]
Chris and Emily are heading to Mystic to work at the Mystic & Noank Library and an in-person event at the Westerly Library sponsored by Bank Square Books, Savoy Bookshop & Café, and The New London Day with Jamie Ford discussing his book The Many Daughters of Afong Moy.

– Upcoming Reads – [1:09:27]
The Great Bridge – David McCullough (EF)
Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six  – Maya Payne Smart (EF)
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Also in the Amgash Series by Elizabeth Strout: My Name is Lucy Barton, Anything is Possible, and Oh William!
Roof Beam Reader
Buffy comics fan world: https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_comics
Dark Star Comics
Lakewood – Megan Giddings
Margaret Atwood
Octavia Butler
A Lost Lady 1934 film
Bringing Nature Home – Douglas W. Tallamy
Pat Conroy
Katherine May’s the Wintering Sessions
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age – Katherine May

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter here.

Episode 119 - Author Spotlight with Bill Goldstein

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

You can read our Blog Post with Redfin Real Estate on How to Create the Perfect Home Reading Nook here.

– Currently Reading –
Faviken: 1415 Days Beginning to End – Magnus Nilsson (EF)
Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day – Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (CW)
Hamnet – Maggie O’ Farrell (EF)
The House on Vesper Sands – Paraic O’ Donnell (CW) release date 1/12/2021

– Just Read –
Legends of the North Cascades – Jonathan Evison (EF) release date 6/8/21
Hide Away – Jason Pinter (CW)
Send for Me – Lauren Fox (EF) release date 2/2/21
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead – Brené Brown (CW) (audiobook)
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times – Katherine May (EF) (audiobook)
A Granted Prayer – Edith Wharton (CW)
Olive, Again – Elizabeth Strout (EF)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched two conversations with Elizabeth Strout in conversation with Meg Wolitzer through The Strand, watch it here and with the Book Maven (Bethanne Patrick) via Politics and Prose Bookstore, watch it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
January 14, 7:30 pm (EST) - Chris and Emily both plan to attend a conversation between Min Jin Lee & Jennifer Buehler focused on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The event is being hosted by Greenlight Bookstore and is free but you need to register here.

Emily is planning to watch the television series Olive Kitteridge starring Frances McDormand based on the book by Elizabeth Strout.

– Upcoming Reads –
Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 2/2/21
Breast and Eggs – Mieko Kawakami (translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd) (EF)
Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Bill Goldstein –
Bill is an author, book critic, editor, journalist, and moderator extraordinaire. His book is  
The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, and the Year that Changed Literature.
You can learn more about Bill here.

– 16th Readalong discussion –
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault
The discussion will drop on February 16th via Episode 123, please get questions/comments to us by February 11th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, Feb 7th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join us please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
A Stranger at the Door - Jason Pinter
Xingu – Edith Wharton
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
The Wife – Meg Wolitzer
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
Norman Mailer
Lolita – Vladimir Nobokov
Lincoln – Gore Vidal
Robert Caro
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Larry Kramer
Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. Follow this link for the 3, 6, or 12 month membership. (promo code: bookcougars)

Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click HERE to start shopping.

Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

Purchase Book Cougars Swag on Zazzle!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter here.