Episode 129 - Author Spotlight with Chris Tebbetts

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

Chris read a poem by Lucille Clifton titled “why some people be mad at me sometimes.”

– Currently Reading –
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe (CW)
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver (CW)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(EF)(audio)
Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead (EF)

– Just Read –
The Cask of Amontillado – Edgar Allan Poe (CW)
That Summer – Jennifer Weiner (EF)
Ghosts of Harvard – Francesca Serritella (CW)
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones – James Clear (CW)(audio)

– Biblio Adventures –
Via the Writers League of Texas, Chris attended an event with Heather Harper Ellett, author of Ain’t Nobody Nobody, about Channeling Anxiety and Depression into Creativity. You can watch a recording of the event here. You can also watch our chat with Heather on the Book Cougars YouTube page here.

Emily moderated an event via the Newburyport Literary Festival with Deirdre Mask author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. You can watch the event here.

Chris attended an event via the London Library Lit Fest with Sarah Waters in conversation with Hallie Rubenhold. You can watch a recording of the event here.

Emily attended an event with Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle, in conversation with Bethanne Patrick via Politics and Prose Bookstore. You can watch a recording of the event here.

Chris watched the movie Who Will Write Our History based on the book by Samuel D. Kassow, Who Will Write Our History?: Emanuel Ringelbaum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily will be attending a joint event with Chris Bohjalian, author of Hour of the Witch, in conversation with Wally Lamb on May 11 at 6pm via Savory Bookshop and Café / Bank Square Books.

Chris plans to attend the Lambda Literary Awards on June 1. You can register for the event here.
Emily is registered for an event through McNally Jackson with Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground, in conversation with Lucy Tan. The event is free, you can register here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë (CW)
I Thought You Said This Would Work – Ann Garvin (EF)
Middletown – Sarah Moon (EF) You can see Sarah describe her book here.

– Author Spotlight with Chris Tebbetts –
We had the chance to chat with Chris about his book Me Myself & Him.
You can learn more about Chris and his books here.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.
You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe
More details about the readalong can be found on the Reading Envy Goodreads discussion thread.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Also Mentioned –
Lesbian Herstory Archives
Ann Patchett
Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities – Craig Steven Wilder
Lisa Scottoline
Downton Abbey
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
Women’s Prize for Fiction
Patience & Sarah – Isabel Miller
Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
Amy Bloom
Virginia Hamilton
Arnold Adoff
Suzanne Clauser
Struwwelpeter
Tanya Lee Stone
James Patterson
1st Case – James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

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 128 - Author Spotlight with Melissa Homestead

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

– Currently Reading –
The Age of Light – Whitney Scharer (EF)
Leaving Coy’s Hill – Katherine A. Sherbrooke (CW) release 5/4/2021
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power – Deirdre Mask (EF)(audio)

– Just Read –
Brood – Jackie Polzin (EF)
Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking a Life from Scratch – Erin French (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris enjoyed a virtual adventure via a joint event with the Emily Dickinson Museum and The Emily Dickinson Collection at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Emily watched to Lisa Marie Donovan, author of Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, and Phyllis Grant, author of Everything Is Under Control talk about breadcrumbs.

Chris attended an event via the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. The topic was Archiving Lesbian Memory, Stewarding Lesbian Futures. You can watch a recording of the event here.
Panelists included:
Jen Jack Giesking – A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers, and the website An Everyday Queer New York.
Cait McKinney Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies and Inside Killjoy’s Kastle: Dykey Ghosts, Feminist Monsters, and other Lesbian Hauntings
Briona Simone Jones – Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought
Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz

Emily attended the Reading Across Rhode Island event with Jason Reynolds discussing his book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Ibram X. Kendi.

Emily moderated an event via the Newburyport Literary Festival with Deirdre Mask author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. You can watch a video of the event here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On Saturday, May 1, Chris is signed up to attend an event via the London Library Lit Fest with Sarah Waters in conversation with Hallie Rubenhold. You can sign up for the event here.

Emily will be attending a joint event with Chris Bohjalian, author of Hour of the Witch, in conversation with Wally Lamb on May 11 at 6pm via Savory Bookshop and Café / Bank Square Books.

– Upcoming Reads –
Ghosts of Harvard – Francesca Serritella (CW)
That Summer – Jennifer Weiner (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Dr. Melissa Homestead –
Dr. Homestead’s book is now available: The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis
You can learn more about Dr. Homestead and her other publications here.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.

You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe

More details about the  readalong can be found on the Reading Envy Goodreads discussion thread.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Also Mentioned –
Check out our friend Ryan’s Instagram page: @readbyryan
Check out the Lost Kitchen website        
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Other books by Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith, The Night Watch, The Little Stranger
Sarah Orne Jewett
Chronicling of America – Library of Congress Newspaper Directory
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of Gay Male World, 1890-1940 – George Chauncey
The Lavender Scare: The Cold War, Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government – David K. Johnson
Epistemology of the Closet – Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick
My Antonia – Willa Cather
Stylish Academic Writing – Helen Sword
The Minister’s Wooing – Harriet Beecher Stowe

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 127 - Flies & Magpies: Playwright Spotlight with Laura Thoma

Episode One Hundred Twenty Seven Show Notes

KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

Emily read a poem by Nila Northsun titled “99 Things To Do Before You Die” from her When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by Joy Harjo.  

– Currently Reading –
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by Joy Harjo
The Finest Hours The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue – Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias (CW)(audio)
Bird in Hand – Christina Baker Kline (EF)(audio)
Blessing the Boats New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 – Lucille Clifton (CW)
Chris read “poem to my uterus”
Bean by Bean: A Cookbook – Crescent Dragonwagon (EF)

– Just Read –
We had two books we DNF’d:
So Others May Live: Coast Guard’s Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death – Martha Laguardia-Kotite and Tom Ridge (CW)(audio)
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro (EF)
These Women – Ivy Pochoda (CW)(audio)
Beautiful & Full of Monsters – Courtney LeBlanc (EF)
Emily Read the poem “Forest Fires”
Green – Melissa Fite Johnson (EF) release date 5/1/2021
Emily Read the poem “The Immediacy” and “Visitation”
Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles – Mara Rockliff (CW)(audio)
Somebody’s Daughter – Ashley C. Ford (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
We had a joint jaunt to Old Saybrook, CT to visit author Ann Petry’s, childhood home and the Acton Public Library. You can watch a video of the biblio adventure here.

Emily went to Savoy Bookshop and Café in Westerly, RI. Two books were purchased: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power by Deirdre Mask. Watch the video of our chat with bookstore owner Annie Philbrick here.

Chris participated in a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon. If you are interested in becoming an editor, check out the Wikipedia information page here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is attending a lecture on April 15 with Laura Millar titled Just, Temperate, and Brave: The Importance Evidence – and Evidence Keepers – In Chaotic Times via IUPUI. You can register for the event here. Dr. Millar’s book is A Matter of Facts: The Value of Evidence in an Information Age.

Emily is moderating an event via the Newburyport Literary Festival. The festival will take April 23-25, 2021.
Emily’s event is on April 24 at 9am EST with Deirdre Mask author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. Register for the event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power – Deirdre Mask (EF)
A Poetry Handbook – Mary Oliver (EF)
Fast Funny Women – edited by Gina Barreca (EF)
The Age of Light – Whitney Scharer (CW)(EF)
Leaving Coy’s Hill – Katherine A. Sherbrooke (CW)

– Playwright Spotlight with Laura Thoma –
Laura’s new play, Magpie, was just published from Next Stage Press.
Learn more about Laura and her many projects here.
Check out Episode 66 to hear Laura’s radio play: Yours In Words.
Honor Roll! is an advocacy and action group of women playwrights over forty.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd. The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.
You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe

More details about the  readalong can be found on the Reading Envy Goodreads discussion thread.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Also Mentioned –
Also by Christina Baker Kline: Orphan Train and Exiles
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Riot in Your Throat press
Playwright Lauren Gunderson
Steel Magnolias
Jane Austen      

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 126 - Saltwater in Our Veins: Author Spotlight with Luanne Rice

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

Chris read a poem by Emily Dickenson titled “Wild Nights” from her The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson.  

– Currently Reading –
The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis – Dr. Melissa J. Holmstead (CW)
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro (EF)
Blessing the Boats New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 – Lucille Clifton (CW)
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics – Dolly Parton and Robert K. Oermann (CW)

– Just Read –
What’s Mine and Yours – Naima Coster (EF)(audio)
The Hare – Melanie Finn (EF)
A House at the Bottom of the Lake – Josh Malerman (CW)
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters – Kate Murphy (EF)(audio)
Me Myself & Him – Chris Tebbetts (CW)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Emily listened to Melanie Finn, author of The Hare, chatting with her publisher Two Dollar Radio Press, you can check out the video here.

Chris watched a conversation with Essence McDowell, author of Lifting As They Climbed, in conversation with Michelle Duster about her book Ida B. the Queen. You can watch the conversation here. 

Chris tuned into a conversation via the Somerset Library System in New Jersey with Tracy Tucker, the archivist at the National Willa Cather Center, about Willa Cather’s Unconventional Life.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is registered to attend an event at Cafe Con Libros in Brooklyn with Jacqueline Woodson in conversation with Naima Coster, author of What’s Mine and Yours, on April 9th, 7-8 pm EST. You can register for the event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Mother May I – Joshilyn Jackson (EF) release date 4/6/2021
Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir – Ashley C. Ford release date 6/1/2021
Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance – Erica Dhawan (CW) release date 5/11/2021
Wytches – Scott Snyder (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Luanne Rice –
Luanne’s newest book is The Shadow Box
You can learn more about Luanne here.
Watch our cover reveal of the book here.
Watch part of our interview with Luanne here.
Read more about the Safina Center here.
Read more about Safe Futures here.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-SAFE (7233) and the http://www.theHotline.org

– Also Mentioned –
Emily Dickinson Museum
Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them – Emily Dickinson, edited by Cristanne Miller
Halsey Street – Naima Coster
Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence – Erica Dhawan, Saj-Nicole Joni
Last Day – Luanne Rice
The New Yorker

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 SUPPORT US 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 125 - Poetry Spotlight with Shuly Cawood

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

Emily read a poem by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood titled “If” from her new collection Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning.

– Currently Reading –
The Hare – Melanie Finn (EF)
Everything I Found on the Beach – Cynan Jones (CW)
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen – Laurie Colwin (EF)
A House at the Bottom of the Lake – Josh Malerman (CW)
Reading Rooms – edited by Susan Allen Toth and John Coughlan (CW)

– Just Read –
We Run the Tides – Vendela Vida (EF)
The Drowning Kind – Jennifer McMahon (CW)(EF) release date 4/6/2021
The Stills – Jess Montgomery (EF)
Women and Other Monsters Building a New Mythology – Jess Zimmerman (CW)(audio)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended a session of the Yale Biography Symposium with Ruth Franklin Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life and Imani Perry author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry

Emily attended an event via Politics & Prose and Harvard Bookstore with Kazuo Ishiguro and Kat Darling, author of The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots, about his new book Klara and the Sun.

Chris attended a conversation with Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, with Lynn Wooton, President of Simmons University.

Emily tuned into a conversation with Gregory Brown, author of The Lowering Days, and Kerri Arsenault via Print: A Bookstore. Check out Kerri’s review of the book in the Boston Globe.

Chris had a Couch Biblio Adventure and watched Bridget Jones’s Baby based on the book Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries by Helen Fielding.

Emily watched the movie News of the World based on the book by Paulette Jiles.

Emily attended a joint event with Savoy Bookshop & Cafe, The Tapped Apple Cidery & Winery and Dan Pucci and Greg Cavallo the authors of American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is attending an event on March 25th with Julia Alvarez in conversation with Sarahi Almonte Caraballo through the Hartford Public Library’s Big Read. You can register for the event here.

Emily plans to attend the book launch for We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida via the Sausalito Books by the Bay Wednesday, March 24th 8:30 EST. You can register for the event here.

Chris is attending a fundraiser through the Willa Cather Center with Dr. Melissa J. Holmstead in conversation with Alex Ross, author of Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music, to discuss Holmstead’s new book, The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis. Tickets are available here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro (EF)
The Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead (EF) release date 5/4/2021
What’s Mine and Yours – Naima Coster (EF)
These Women – Ivy Pochoda (CW)
The Shipping News – Annie Proulx (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Shuly Xóchitl Cawood –
Shuly’s new poetry collection is Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning
You can learn more about Shuly here.
Shuly reads her poem “Cooking.” You can read it online at Rust + Moth.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.
You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe

More details about the  readalong can be found on the Reading Envy Goodreads discussion thread.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Also Mentioned –
Two Dollar Radio Press
Cove – Cynan Jones
Matthew Goodman
Bird Box – Josh Malerman
Amy Tan
Believer Magazine
Also by Jess Montgomery who was on Episode 93 – The Widows and The Hallows
Halsey Street – Naima Coster
The Sun Magazine
Wildness from Platypus Press
Poetry Foundation

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 124 - Dr. Charlotte Markey Is Helping Girls Grow Up Fearless

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

Chris read a poem by Sitara Gnanaguru titled “Mulling Spices” from the Connecticut Literary Anthology.

– Currently Reading –
Today’s Special: 20 Leading Chefs Choose 100 Emerging Chefs – Phaidon Editors (EF)
Connecticut Literary Anthology – Charles V. Belson and Susan Cinoman (CW)
They are taking submissions through April 15 for the 2021 anthology. Learn more here.
The Drowning Kind – Jennifer McMahon (CW) release date 4/6/2021
Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West – Lauren Redniss (EF)

– Just Read –
The Little French Bridal Shop – Jennifer Dupee (EF) release date 3/9/2021
Little Comfort – Edwin Hill (CW)
Milk Fed – Melissa Broder (EF)(audio)
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – P Djèlí Clark (CW)
With Teeth – Kristin Arnett (EF) release date 6/1/2021
The Lowering Days – Gregory Brown (EF)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended an event via the National Willa Cather Center’s Author Series with Julie Olin-Ammentorp discussing her book Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and the Place of Culture.

Emily watched The Dig on Netflix based on the novel The Dig by John Preston.

Emily also attended two Couch Biblio Adventures with Melissa Broder discussing her book Milk Fed. Watch the videos by following the links; one was via Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, NY the other was with Books & Books in Miami, FL.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is planning on watching Nomadland via HULU based on the book Nomadland: Surviving America in the  Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.
You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe
More details will be coming about this readalong.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Upcoming Reads –
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen – Laurie Colwin (EF)
Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning: Poems – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (EF)
Reading Rooms – Susan Allen Toth (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Dr. Charlotte Markey –
The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless
You can learn more about Dr. Markey here.

– Also Mentioned –
The Pisces – Melissa Broder
The Black God’s Drum – P Djèlí Clark
Mostly Dead Things – Kristin Arnett
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains – Kerri Arsenault

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)
We are an affiliate of 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.

Episode 123 - Author Kerri Arsenault Promises to Make Us Cretons!

Episode One Hundred Twenty Three Show Notes

KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

Emily read a poem by Khadijah Queen titled “Of All the Things I Love” from her collection Anodyne.

You can learn more about the Elliot Bay Book Company sub(Text) poetry subscription here.

– Currently Reading –
On hold: The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx (CW)
The Office of Historical Corrections – Danielle Evans (EF)
Little Comfort – Edwin Hill (CW)
Dream Work – Mary Oliver (EF)

– Just Read –
My Grandmother’s Braid – Alina Bronsky, translated by Tim Mohr (EF)
DNF / On hold: The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones (CW)
The Islanders – Meg Mitchell Moore (EF)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Emily attended an event via Boswell Book Company with Lauren Fox, author of Send for Me, in conversation with J. Courtney Sullivan.

Chris went on a drive up to Amherst, MA to visit Emily Dickinson’s grave and Jones Library. Read her blogpost about the trip here.

Emily attended an event via Murder by the Book with Elle Cosimano, author of Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery, in conversation with Megan Miranda, author of The Girl from Widow Hills. You can watch a video of the event here.

Chris started watching the series, Dickinson, featuring Emily Dickinson and her poetry. She also watched Enola Holmes based on the YA novels by Nancy Springer starting with Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess.

Emily listened to the TTFA podcast (Feb 2nd episode) with Nora McInerney, author of It’s Okay to Laugh, and Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live).

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris will be participating with Simmons University’s Spring Community Reads event with Professor Ibram X. Kendi’s and his book How to be An Antiracist.

Emily is registered for a joint event on March 3rd with Politics & Prose and Harvard Bookstore featuring Kazuo Ishigiro, author of Klara and the Sun, in conversation with Kate Darling. You can purchase a ticket here.

On March 10th, Emily will be attending a joint event with Savoy Bookshop & Cafe, The Tapped Apple Cidery & Winery and Dan Pucci and Greg Cavallo the authors of American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage. You can register for the event here.

– Upcoming Reads –
How to be An Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi (CW)
To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (CW)
Milk Fed – Melissa Broder (EF)
Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) – Eve Rodsky (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Kerri Arsenault –
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains
You can learn more about Kerri here.
This was our 16th readalong – you can join the online discussion on our Goodreads discussion thread found HERE.

– Also Mentioned –
Tin House Books
The Silence of the Lambs film
The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton
JA Konrath author of the Jack Daniels series
Everywhere That Mary Went - Lisa Scottoline
Also by Kazuo Ishigiro: Never Let Me Go and Remains of the Day
The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition – William J. Rorabaugh
The Danger of a Single Story – TED Talk with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
“Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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)
We are an affiliate of 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.

Episode 122 - A Visit with Our Mystery Man John Valeri

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

Chris read a poem by Sylvie Baumgartel titled “Purple” from her collection Pink.

If you are interested in joining Colleen for her readalong of These Women by Ivy Pochoda reach out to her on Instagram  @colleenka or email us for more information.

The next Louise Penny book releases on August 24, 2021 and is titled The Madness of Crowds.

– Currently Reading –
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx (CW)
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters – Kate Murphy (EF)
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones (CW)
Laziness Does Not Exist – Devon Price (CW)(audio)
The Best American Mystery Stories of 2020 – edited by C.J. Box and Otto Penzler (CW)

– Just Read –
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains – Kerri Arsenault (EF)
The Survivors – Jane Harper (CW)
Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano (EF)
The Great Gatsby with an Introduction by Min Jin Lee – F. Scott Fitzgerald (CW)
This Is Your Time – Ruby Bridges (EF)
The Other Mother – Matthew Dicks (EF)
Cuyahoga – Pete Beatty (EF)
The Shadow Box – Luanne Rice (EF)
check out our video where we reveal the cover for the book

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Chris and Emily attended a conversation between Min Jin Lee & Jennifer Buehler focused on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The event was hosted by Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn.

Emily watched the HBO series Olive Kitteridge based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout.

Emily attended an event via Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT with Luanne Rice, author of The Shadow Box, in conversation with Rick Koster, author and journalist with The Day.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is signed up to attend an event via Murder by the Book with Elle Cosimano, author of Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery, in conversation with Megan Miranda, author of The Girl from Widow Hills on Tuesday, February 2 at 7 pm.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Islanders – Meg Mitchell Moore (EF)
The Best of Brevity – edited by Zoe Bossiere and Dinty Moore (CW)
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains – Kerri Arsenault (CW)
To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (CW)

– Our Mystery Man John Valeri –
Check out John’s YouTube channel: Central Booking
John also writes reviews in Mystery Scene Magazine
The Twin – Natasha Preston
Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel – Elizabeth George
Careless in Red – Elizabeth George
Behind the Red Door – Megan Collins
The Nothing Man – Catherine Ryan Howard
Piece of My Heart – Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke
Where Are the Children – Mary Higgins Clark
Moonlight Becomes You – Mary Higgins Clark
All Around the Town – Mary Higgins Clark
I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Mary Higgins Clark
The Cinderella Murder – Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

John also recommends these two authors:
Edwin Hill – Hester Thursby Series
Karen Katchur – River Bodies, Cold Woods, Spring Girls

– 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 9th.
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 –
Kathleen Rooney
American Writers Museum
The Archivist – Martha Cooley
T.S. Eliot
Emily Hale
Simmons University
Dead to Me
The Last Day – Luanne Rice
#disrupttexts is a movement to rebuild the literary canon using an antibias, antiracist critical literacy lens.
Also by Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando
Marcia Clark

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)
We are an affiliate of 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.

Episode 121 - Author Spotlight with Jason Pinter

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

You can read our Blog Post with Jungle Red Writers, Standing Ovation for The Book Cougars, here.

Check out a conversation with author Penny Goetjen on John Valeri’s Central Booking, episode 35.

You can see the amazing list of our LISTENER TOP TENS on our bookshop.org page.

– Currently Reading –
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains – Kerri Arsenault (EF)
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx (CW)
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing: Essays – Lauren Hough (EF) release date 4/13/2021

– Just Read –
Finlay Donovan is Killing It: A Mystery – Elle Cosimano (EF) release date 2/2/21
The House on Vesper Sands – Paraic O’ Donnell (CW)
Hamnet – Maggie O’ Farrell (EF)
The Archivist – Martha Cooley (CW)
Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: A Novel in Recipes – Jenny Colgan (EF)
Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman (CW)
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life – Christie Tate (EF)
Country Place – Ann Petry (CW)
Come to Me – Amy Bloom (EF)

– (Couch) Biblio Adventures –
Emily watched the movie In the Name of the Father based on the book Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon and David Pallister.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is attending the book launch for author Matthew Dicks new novel, The Other Mother.

January 21, 2020 – Chris plans to attend a Zoom event via Breakwater Books with author Anne Gardner Perkins discussing her book Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant.

January 28, 2020 10pm (EST) – Chris has signed up for an event via Copperfield Books with Barbara Lane in conversation with Jane Smiley about her new book Perestroika in Paris.

– Upcoming Reads –
A Thousand Acres – Jane Smiley (CW)
The Survivors – Jane Harper (CW) release date 2/2/21
Cuyahoga – Pete Beatty (EF)
Still Crazy – Judy Prescott Marshall (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Jason Pinter –
Jason is an author and editor / founder of Polis Books.
The newest book in his Rachel Marin series, A Stranger at the Door, is available now!
You can learn more about Jason and his book events here.

When responding to our question regarding Thomas & Mercer Publishing, Jason mentions the following authors:
Mark Osaki
Sean Chercover
Christopher Rice
Hilary Davidson

– 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 –
Jungle Red Writers
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett
Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi
O’ Pioneers – Willa Cather
Also by Louise Penny: All The Devils Are Here, How the Light Gets In, Still Life
T.S. Eliot
Also by Alice Hoffman: The Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons
Farah Jasmine Griffin
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male Rage – Ijeoma Oluo
White Houses – Amy Bloom
New Haven Noir – edited by Amy Bloom
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership.
We are an affiliate of 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.

Episode 120 - Our 2020 Top Ten Books with Special Guest Russell Gray

Episode One Hundred Twenty Show Notes

KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Chris Wolak Top Ten –
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics – Olivia Waite
Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life – Joan D. Hedrick
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry – Imani Perry (the audiobook)
We Need to Talk: A Memoir about Wealth – Jennifer Risher
Forever Amber – Kathleen Winsor
Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 – R.A. Scotti
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America – Ijeoma Oluo
Ring Shout – P. Djèlí Clark

– Emily Fine Top Ten –
The Revisioners – Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi
The Prettiest Star – Carter Sickels
Shelter – Jung Yun
Separation Anxiety – Laura Zigman
A Small Thing to Want: Stories – Shuly Xóchitl Cawood
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger: A Memoir – Lisa Donovan
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home – Tembi Locke  (the audiobook)
Everything is Under Control: A Memoir with Recipes – Phyllis Grant
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times – Katherine May (the audiobook)

– Russell Gray Top Ten –
[You can find Russell on his YouTube channel Ink and Paper Blog]
Interior Chinatown – Charles Yu
Cleanness – Garth Greenwell
The Great Offshore Grounds – Vanessa Veselka
Museum of Modern Love – Heather Rose
The Prettiest Star – Carter Sickels
The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories – Danielle Evans
The Street – Ann Petry
Call Me by Your Name – André Aciman
Memorial – Bryan Washington
Real Life – Brandon Taylor

– Also Mentioned –
Hub City Press
My Best Friend’s Exorcism – Grady Hendrix
Reading Women Podcast
Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
Shōgun – James Clavell
Matthew Goodman
Lot: Stories – Bryan Washington
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – P. Djèlí Clark

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)
We are an affiliate of 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.