Episode 25 - Our Mystery Man!

Recording at the Russell Library in Middletown with Our Mystery Man - John B. Valeri

Episode Twenty Five Show Notes

Our Mystery Man – John Valeri  
http://www.johnbvaleri.com/
Twitter: @OyeJohn52  
#MysteryMan

– Books That Are Out Now –
Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13) – Louise Penny  #LouisePenny
Snap Judgement (Samantha Brinkman, #3) – Marcia Clark
The Late Show (Renée Ballard, #1) – Michael Connelly
The Good Daughter – Karin Slaughter
I Know a Secret (Rizzoli & Isles, #12) – Tess Gerritsen
All By Myself, Alone (Alvirah and Willy #11) – Mary Higgins Clark

– Upcoming Releases –
The Devouring (Billy Boyle World War II, #12) – James R. Benn   release date September 12, 2017
Purring Around the Christmas Tree – Liz Mugavero   release date September 26, 2017
Every Breath You Take (Under Suspicion, #5) – Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke   release date November 7, 2017
Tango Down (Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery, #8) – Chris Knopf   release date November 30, 2017
Dead of Winter (Lily Dale Mystery #3) – Wendi Corsi Staub   release date November 7, 2017

– Books That Influenced John –
Nancy Drew: #1-64 – Carolyn Keene
All Around the Town – Mary Higgins Clark
All the Way Home – Wendi Corsi Staub
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express / And Then There Were None
Murder, She Wrote series – Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain

– John’s Number One Book of All Time –
Without a Doubt – Marcia Clark

– John’s Fiction –
Tricks and Treats: A Collection of Spooky Stories by Connecticut authors – edited by Stacey Longo

Episode 24 - Berry, Cather, Steinbeck and more!

Chris went to Governor's Island, NY for Cather Weekend. 

Episode Twenty Four Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Just Read –
The Talented Ribkins – Ladee Hubbard (CW)
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (EF) (CW)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley – Hannah Tinti (EF)
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture – Wendell Berry (EF)
Jane Austen: A Brief Life – Fiona Stafford (CW)
Willa Cather: A Memoir – Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant (CW)

 – Biblio Adventures –
August 10 – Chris moderated a discussion with Sarah Praeger about her book Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World at Bookclub Bookstore & More
Emily stopped at Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, VT.
August 19-20 – Chris enjoyed a Cather Weekend on Governors Island sponsored by the Willa Cather Foundation

– Upcoming Jaunts –
September 15 – Chris and Emily will be heading to the New Haven Public library for a discussion with winners of the Windham-Campbell prize. Check out the winners of the Windham-Campbell prize here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Leavers – Lisa Ko (EF)
On Kingdom Mountain – Howard Frank Mosher (EF)
Glass Houses – Louise Penny (CW)
Idyll Fears: A Thomas Lynch Novel – Stephanie Gayle (CW)

 – Also Mentioned –
We discussed an editorial in the NY Times written by Daniel Handler entitled: Want Teenage Boys to Read? Give Them Books About Sex.
War is a Racket – Major General Smedley Butler
(Free full text of War is a Racket: https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt)
The Art of Fermentation: An in-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World – Sandor Ellix Katz
Willa Cather exhibit at NY Society Library
Karl Ove Knausgard

Episode 23 - Chris joins the Criminal Element book review team. Emily reads a steamy poem.

Emily's daughter, Rachel, admiring the Trinity Library in Dublin, Ireland.

Episode Twenty Three Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Grapes of Wrath Read-Along –
Chris and Emily will be doing a joint read of John Steinbeck’s the Grapes of Wrath. The discussion of the book will be live on August 22nd. If you have any questions or comments you would like us to address, please get in touch via email or social media by August 17th.

Norfolk Library in Norfolk, Connecticut is modeled on Trinity Library in Dublin, Ireland.

– Just Read –
A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Bachman (EF)
The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (CW)
The Tincture of Time: A Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty – Elizabeth L. Silver (EF)
Mothers and Other Strangers – Gina Sorell (EF)

 – Currently Reading/Listening –
Jack Be Quick – Benjamin Thomas (CW)
Emma – Jane Austen (CW)
The Talented Ribkins – Ladee Hubbard (CW)
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World – Sarah Praeger (CW)
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley – Hannah Tinti (EF)
Leavings: Poems – Wendell Berry (EF)
The Gift of Good Land – Wendell Berry (EF)
Intimate Kisses: The Poetry of Sexual Pleasure – edited by Wendy Maltz (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily had a joint jaunt to the Pequot Library book sale
July 29 – Benjamin Thomas author of Jack Be Quick at Bookclub Bookstore & More
August 3 – Chris attended New Haven Noir book launch at The Institute Library in New Haven, CT
August 3 – Emily went to SpeakUp Storytelling at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT
She also visited the beautiful Norfolk Library
Chris wrote a blog post about her visit to the Norfolk Library. Read it here.

 – Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is hoping to visit Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, VT.
August 10 – Chris will be moderating Sarah Praeger as she discusses her book Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World at Bookclub Bookstore & More
August 19-20 – Chris will be heading to Cather Weekend on Governors Island sponsored by the Willa Cather Foundation
August 22 – Emily will be heading to an event sponsored jointly with Bank Square Books and Mystic Museum of Art to hear Camille Aubrey discuss her book Cooking for Picasso.  

– Upcoming Reads –
Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (EF) (CW)
The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying – Nina Riggs (EF)
The Arrangement – Sarah Dunn (EF)
Glass Houses – Louise Penny (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
Links to where Laura's book Mastering the Art of Self Expression is available:
Amazon ,  Barnes and Noble ,  Lulu, Breakwater Books and Book Club Bookstore & More

Chris is now reviewing books for Criminal Element. Check out her first review of Stasi Child by David Young.
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton – debut novel by Elizabeth Silver
Empire State Center for the Book – events on Governor’s Island

Episode 22 - Author Spotlight with Shuly Xochitl Cawood

Author Shuly Cawood talks with Chris and Emily about her new memoir The Going and Goodbye.

Author Spotlight with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir

 Shuly’s blog can be found here: http://www.shulycawood.com/blog-1/

About the book and how to purchase it:
http://www.shulycawood.com/memoir/

– Also Mentioned –
The poem “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur

Mary Oliver is one of Shuly’s favorite poets. She suggests her poem “Thirst.”

Shuly also recommends the poet Ada Limón and her book Bright Dead Things.

Shuly is currently reading Mandy Len Catron’s book How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays.

Episode 21 - Bookswap, Bookworm, Colfer, Roorbach and Twain

Bookworm Bookstore in Surf City, Long Beach Island, New Jersey. 
Super cute store with an excellent selection.

Episode Twenty One Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Grapes of Wrath Read-Along –
Chris and Emily will be doing a joint read of John Steinbeck’s the Grapes of Wrath. The discussion of the book will be live on August 22nd. If you have any questions or comments you would like us to address, please get in touch via email or social media by August 17th. 

– Just Read –
Stay With Me – Ayòbami Adébáyò (EF) release date August 22
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula – Loren D. Estleman (CW)
     Chris has a review on her blog: read it HERE
The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (EF)
Stasi Child (Karin Müller #1) – David Young (CW)
Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything In Between – Lauren Graham (EF) (audio)
Who Killed Piet Barol? – Richard Mason (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Tincture of Time: A Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty – Elizabeth L. Silver (EF)
Emma – Jane Austen (CW)
A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Bachman (EF)
Island: The Complete Stories – Alistair MacLeod (EF)
Sea Kayaking and Stand Up Paddling Connecticut, Rhode Island and the Long Island Sound - David Fasulo (CW)

– Biblio Adventures –
July 12 – Chris Colfer author of The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
July 17 – Bill Roorbach author of The Girl of the Lake: Stories at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
Emily went to Long Beach Island, New Jersey where she visited two bookstores: The Bookworm and LBI Bookswap
Chris visited the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, CT

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris and Emily are off on a joint jaunt to the annual Pequot Library book sale in Southport, CT
July 29 – Benjamin Thomas author of Jack Be Quick at Bookclub Bookstore & More
August 3 – Emily is heading to SpeakUp Storytelling at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT
August 3 – Chris will attend New Haven Noir book launch at The Institute Library in New Haven, CT

– Upcoming Reads –
Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (EF) (CW)
Jack Be Quick – Benjamin Thomas (CW)
The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (CW)

– Also Mentioned –
History of a Pleasure Seeker – Richard Mason
Stasi Wolf (Karin Müller #2) – David Young
Someday, Someday, Maybe – Lauren Graham’s novel
October Road – a television series that Chris has been enjoying
Chris is participating in Austen in August which will be hosted by https://roofbeamreader.com/

Episode 20 - Another giveaway! Upcoming Grapes of Wrath Read Along and more...

To celebrate our 20th episode we are giving away books!

Episode Twenty Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Giveaway –
In order to enter please email us via our contact page with the message “Giveaway”: https://www.bookcougars.com/contact/
– The 10th emailer will receive –
Shiver Hitch – Linda Greenlaw
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
– The 20th emailer will receive –  
The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World’s Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler – Jessica Speart
The Constitution of the United States of America

– Grapes of Wrath Read Along –
Chris and Emily will be doing a joint read of John Steinbeck’s the Grapes of Wrath. The discussion of the book will be live on August 22nd. If you have any questions or comments you would like us to address, please get in touch via email or social media by August 17th.

 – Just Read –
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (EF) release date January 2018
New Haven Noir – edited by Amy Bloom (CW) release date August 3
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home – Rhoda Janzen (EF) (audio)
Tokens of Affection: The Letters of a Planter’s Daughter in the Old South – Maria Bryan, Bryan Harford Connell, Carol K. Bleser (Editor) – (CW)
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng (EF) release date September 12

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Tincture of Time: A Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty – Elizabeth L. Silver (EF)
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula – Loren D. Estleman (CW)
Stay With Me – Ayòbami Adébáyò (EF) release date August 22

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the BFG based on the Roald Dahl book. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
June 29 – Chris and Emily went to Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore to see Weike Wang author of Chemistry
July 7 – Laura Thoma author of Mastering the Art of Self-Expression in conversation with John Valeri at Bookclub Bookstore & More

COMING IN AUGUST: Chris and Emily are doing a read along of the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
The next author spotlight with Shuly Cawood to discuss her new memoir: The Going and Goodbye.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
July 12 – Chris Colfer author of The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
July 17 – Bill Roorbach author of The Girl of the Lake: Stories at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT
July 29 – Benjamin Thomas author of Jack Be Quick at Bookclub Bookstore & More
Emily is headed to Long Beach Island, New Jersey where she will visit: The Bookworm and LBI Bookswap
Then she is headed to Quoque, Long Island where she will visit: Open Book and Burton’s Book Store

– Upcoming Reads –
The Farm in the Green Mountains – Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer (EF)
Black Orchid Blues – Persia Walker (CW)
The Going and Goodbye: A Memoir – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (CW) (EF)
http://www.shulycawood.com/memoir/
Available from the UK Publisher: http://platypuspress.co.uk/thegoingandgoodbye
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-going-and-goodbye-shuly-x-chitl-cawood/1126550596?ean=9780993532191
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Going-and-Goodbye-Shuly-Xochitl-Cawood/9780993532191

– Also Mentioned –
Episode 90 of Reading Envy where they discuss East of Eden – John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck Museum
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, MI

Episode 19 - Our first author spotlight with Laura Thoma

Laura Thoma author of Mastering the Art of Self Expression: A Creative Journaling Workbook stops by for a chat with the Book Cougars.

Episode Nineteen Show Notes

Author Spotlight with Laura Thoma

Mastering the Art of Self-Expression: A Creative Journaling Workbook

Learn more about Laura’s workbook and online buying options here.

You can also purchase the book via Book Club Bookstore & More (860-432-7411)

Chris and Laura’s business with online self-development classes can be found at: RoadToSuccess.live

– Upcoming Adventure –
July 7 – Laura will be at Book Club Bookstore & More participating in a Q&A with John Valeri

– Currently Reading/Listening –
Laura is currently reading: The Right - Brain Business Plan: A Creative, Visual Map for Success – Jennifer Lee and Chris Guillebeau

– Also Mentioned –
Mastering the Art of French Cooking – Julia Child and Simone Beck
My Life in France – Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living – Julie Powell

Episode 18 - We won a raffle from New York Review Books - yay more books!

We got a surprise in the mail! Dropping a business card at the New York Review Books booth at BookExpo paid off. We won the raffle and received this amazing box of sixteen books. See the show notes below for book titles and authors.

Episode Eighteen Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Just Read –
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (CW)(EF)
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones (EF) release date February 2018
The Gypsy Moth Summer – Julia Fierro (CW)

books we Just Couldn’t Read (or DNF’d)
The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry (CW)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
This I Believe: Life Lessons – edited by Dan Gediman, Mary Jo Gediman and John Gregory (EF)
New Haven Noir – edited by Amy Bloom (CW) release date August 3
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (EF) release date January 2018
The Tincture of Time: A Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty – Elizabeth L. Silver (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
June 14 – Annual Meeting of The Community Fund for Women & Girls of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Guest Speakers: Linda Sarsour and Rebecca Traister
Rebecca is the author of: All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation and Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women
Look into donating to your local community foundation!
June 14 – Chris went to RJ Julia Bookstore to see Linda Greenlaw author of Shiver Hitch

– Upcoming Jaunts –
June 29 – Chris and Emily will head to Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore to see Weike Wang author of Chemistry
July 7 – Laura Thoma author of Mastering the Art of Self-Expression in conversation with John Valeri at Bookclub Bookstore

– Upcoming Reads –
Jack be Quick – Benjamin Thomas (CW)
Hack-Proof Your Life Now! – Sean M. Bailey and Devin Kropp (EF)
Love and Other Consolation Prizes – Jamie Ford (EF)

– New York Review Books Raffle Booklist –
Agony – Mark Bayer
Wish Her Safe at Home – Stephen Benatar
The New York Stories of Elizabeth Hardwick – Elizabeth Hardwick
In Love – Alfred Hayes
Loving – Henry Green
Don’t Look Now – Daphne Du Maurier
Tolstoy, Rasputin, Others, And Me – The Best of Teffi
The Dud Avocado –Elaine Dundy
Family Lexicon – Natalia Ginzburg
The If Borderlands: Collected Poems – Elise Partridge
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia – Joan Chase
The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe – D.G. Compton
The Vet’s Daughter – Barbara Comyns
The Farm in the Green Mountains – Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer
The Invention of Morel – Adolfo Bioy Casares
A Month in The Country – J.L. Carr

– Also Mentioned –
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World’s Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler – Jessica Speart  
Rachel Porter mystery series – Jessica Speart
My Cousin Rachel – Daphne Du Maurier
Stoner – John Williams

Episode 17 - The Cougars go bicoastal visiting both Portland's in the same week!

Episode Seventeen Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

– Just Read –
It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too) – Nora McInerny (EF)
     Aaron Joseph Purmort’s obituary
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis – J.D. Vance (CW)
History of Wolves – Emily Fridlund (EF)
Shiver Hitch – Linda Greenlaw (EF & CW)
The Grand Central Baking Book – Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson (EF)
Georgia – Dawn Tripp (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
The Gypsy Moth Summer – Julia Fierro (CW)
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home – Rhoda Janzen (EF) (audio)

– Biblio Adventures –
May 23 – Girls Write Now Awards
     Awards were given to: Zadie Smith, Sophia Amoruso, Ilana Glazer, Melissa Harris-Perry, Abbi      Jacobson
     Melissa Harris-Perry’s most recent OpEd in the NY Times
     Girls Write Now Anthologies
May 26 – Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore and Russell Library
May 31-June 2 – Book Expo    
Chris went to her niece’s graduation at Williams College where the commencement speaker was Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Listen to it here.
Chris went out West and visited three bookstores:
     Godfather’s Books and Espresso in Astoria, OR
     Powell’s in Portland, OR
     Green Bean Books in Portland, OR
Emily went up to Maine and visited three bookstores (and chased Linda Greenlaw to no avail):
     Library Bookstore in Bath, ME
     Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops and Cafe in Damariscotta, ME
     Print: A Bookstore in Portland, ME

– Upcoming Jaunts –
June 14 – Chris will head to RJ Julia Bookstore to see Linda Greenlaw author of Shiver Hitch
June 29 – Emily will head to Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore to see Weike Wang author of Chemistry

– Upcoming Reads –
Foxlowe – Eleanor Wasserberg (CW)
The Standard Grand – Jay Baron Nicorvo (CW)
The Immortalists – Chloe Benjamin (EF)
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic - Colum McCann
Silver Sparrow – Tayari Jones
Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World – Sarah Prager
Plainsong – Kent Haruf
Honey Paw Restaurant in Portland, OR
 

Episode 16 - Biblio Adventures galore (and books)

Episode Sixteen Show Notes
CW = Chris Wolak
EF = Emily Fine

Follow up: Kathleen Rooney’s Poems While You Wait proceeds go to her imprint Rose Metal Press

 – Just Read –
Schadenfreude, A Love Story: Me, the Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunications, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For – Rebecca Schuman (CW)
Anything is Possible – Elizabeth Strout (EF)
Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940’s & 50’s: A Library of America Boxed Set edited by Sarah Weinman. In A Lonely Place – Dorothy B. Hughes (CW)
Saints for All Occasions – J. Courtney Sullivan (EF)
Red Car – Marcy Dermansky (EF)

books we Just Couldn’t Read (or DNF’d)
Into the Water – Paula Hawkins (CW)
One in a Million Boy – Monica Wood (EF)
Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (CW)
Blue Light Yokohama – Nicolás Obregón (EF)

– Currently Reading/Listening –
History of Wolves – Emily Fridlund (EF)
Connecticut Valley Tobacco – Brianna Dunlap (CW)
The Gypsy Moth Summer – Julia Fierro (CW)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris, Emily and their friend Russell had a trifecta visiting Breakwater Books, RJ Julia Bookseller and the Book Barn all in one day!
Chris, Emily and their friend Julia visited the Emily Dickinson Museum while Russell visited Amherst Books.
Emily went to Powell’s Books in Portland, OR both the main store and the store on Hawthorne to see David Callahan author of The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age.
Emily saw the outside of the bookstore Another Read Through but didn’t get to visit so there is a reason to go back to Portland!
Emily went to RJ Julia Booksellers to see Cathryn Jakobson Ramin discuss her book Crooked: Outwitting the Back Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery.
Emily went to RJ Julia Booksellers to see the Connecticut Coalition of Poets Laureate. They performed readings from Laureates of Connecticut: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily and Chris are planning a joint jaunt to Yale’s Beinecke Library to see an exhibit.
May 23 – Emily is headed into NYC to attend a gala event for the Girls Write Now Awards
May 24 – Chris is headed to Bookclub Bookstore & More to see Brianna Dunlap author of Connecticut Valley Tobacco.
May 31-June 2 – Book Expo America

– Upcoming Reads –
Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World – Sarah Prager (CW)
The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Guilded Age – David Callahan (EF)
It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too) – Nora McInerny (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (CW)
Maine – J. Courtney Sullivan (EF)
Inside Philanthropy is an online resource to learn Who’s Funding What, and Why
Terrible, Thanks for Asking podcast