Episode 145 - International Biblio Adventure and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

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

Emily read the poem “The Health-Food Diner” by Maya Angelou

– Currently Reading – [2:43]
Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in WWII Europe – Kathy Peiss (CW)
These Silent Woods – Kimi Cunningham Grant (EF)

– Just Read – [7:08]
Small World – Jonathan Evison (EF) release date 1/11/22
Garlic and the Vampire – Bree Paulsen (CW)
Our 19th readalong: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (CW)(EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [36:18]
Chris went to see the play Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberly written by Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford.

Emily went to Atticus Bookstore Cafe in New Haven and picked up a copy of Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown.

Chris attended an event via the New York Public Library with Andrew Pettegree and Arthur Der Weduwen in conversation about their book The Library: A Fragile History. You can watch a video recording of the event here.

Emily is obsessed with Debbie Milman’s podcast, Design Matters, and recently listened to an interview with Anita Hill discussing her new book Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence.   

– Upcoming Jaunts – [50:50]
Chris and Emily are planning a joint jaunt to Kent, CT to visit House of Books.

– Upcoming Reads – [51:55]
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois – Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (EF)

– Colleen Olsen International Biblio Adventure to Quebec City –
Inspired by Louise Penny’s book Bury Your Dead, Colleen recaps following in Inspector Gamache’s footsteps.

– Also Mentioned –
Jess Montgomery: The Kinship Series (The Widows, The Hallows, and The Stills)
Jonathan Evison – Lawn Boy
You can donate to Every Library
Shakespeare
Edgar Allan Poe
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
You can find the link to Large Hearted Boy’s “Best Books of 2021” Book Lists can be found here

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Episode 144 - Celebrating Our 5th Anniversary!

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

– Our Top Five ‘ish in the last Five Years –
2016:
Shelter – Jung Yun (CW)
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi (CW)
Year of Yes – Shonda Rhimes (EF)
Delicious Foods – James Hannaham (EF)
2017:
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee (CW)
Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New
England’s Stone Walls – Robert Thorson (CW)
The Fact of a Body:  Murder and a Memoir -  Alex Marzano-Lesnevich (EF)
2018:
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America – Nancy MacLean (CW)
Becoming – Michelle Obama (CW)
Girls & Boys – Dennis Kelly (EF)
2019:
Ain’t Nobody Nobody – Heather Harper Ellett (CW)
Friday Black – Nane Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (EF)
2020:
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey – Katheleen Rooney (CW)
Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 – R.A. Scotty (CW)
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger: A Memoir – Lisa Donovan (EF)
A Small Thing to Want: Stories – Shuly Cawood (EF)
Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women’s Voices – Kathy Gunst, Katherine Alford (EF)

– Readalong Memories –
The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarczuk
True Grit – Charles Portis
Celestial Bodies – Joka Alharthi, Marilyn Booth (translator)
Maurice – E.M. Forster
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Summer of Little Women:
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
March – Geraldine Brooks
Meg, Jo, Beth Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters - Anne Boyd Rioux

– Biblio Adventure Memories –
Booktopias!
Attending Book Expo
Ruth Franklin event at Northshire Bookstore (Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life)
Roxane Gay events
A Booktopia with Russell from Ink and Paper Blog and Julia and visiting the Emily Dickinson Museum
Hachette Book Brunch meeting Sally Field, meeting up with fellow Booktopians, and dinner with Will Schwalbe
Library Time together especially the Sterling Library at Yale University

– Currently Reading – [41:35]
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou (CW)(audio)
Bury Your Dead – Louise Penny (CW)(audio) narrated by Ralph Cosham
Small World – Jonathan Evison (EF) release date 1/11/22
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen (CW)

– Just Read – [44:43]
Black Cake – Charmaine Wilkerson (EF) release date 2/1/2022
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream – Charles Spencer (CW)
Crying in H Mart – Michelle Zauner (EF)(audio)
Dog’s on the Trail: A Year in the Life – Blair Braverman, Quince Mountain (CW)
Firekeeper’s Daughter – Angeline Boulley (EF)(audio) narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc

– Biblio Adventures – [1:03:10]
Chris went to the Coast Guard Academy Library Special Collections to investigate salt water damage on some books in the collection. She looked at historical versions of The American Practical Navigator books. She touched a book from 1680!

Emily had a day in Traverse City, MI. She visited the Traverse Area District Library, Horizon Books, and Brilliant Books. She also went to Glen Arbor and visited the Cottage Book Shop housed in a log cabin.

Emily stopped in Nyack, NY on her way home from MI and stopped for a cup of coffee at the Art Cafe right next door to the Nyack Library.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [1:12:51]
Emily is plans to watch Passing on Netflix based on the novel Passing by Nella Larsen.

– Upcoming Reads – [1:13:53]
Garlic and the Vampire – Bree Paulsen (CW)
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy – Jamie Ford (EF) release date

– 19th Readalong –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
The discussion will drop on December 21st via Episode 145, please get questions/comments to us by December 14th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North – Blair Braverman
Woodrow on the Bench – Jenna Blum
Pickwick Bookshop in Nyack NY
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford
Gone with the Wind movie
Jenny from Reading Envy
My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout

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.

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Episode 143 - Author Spotlight with Jenna Blum

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

– Currently Reading – [1:58]
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou (CW)(audio)
Black Cake – Charmaine Wilkerson (EF) release date 2/1/2022
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream – Charles Spencer (CW)

– Just Read – [5:29]
State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny (EF)(audio)
Woodrow on the Bench – Jenna Blum (CW)
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [15:03]
Chris was a guest on Shawn the Book Maniac’s Bite-Size Book Chats: The 16th Episode discussing Jung Yun’s O Beautiful.

Chris and Emily took a trip to People Get Ready bookstore in New Haven to pick up their copies of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Chris attended an online Zoom event via the Mystic Seaport Museum with Charles Spencer discussing his book The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream. Learn more about Charles Spencer’s backlist here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [23:35]
Chris is planning to attend an event through the Mark Twain House and Museum with Julia Pistell in conversation with David Damrosch, author of Around the World in 80 Books.

Emily is hitting the road and hopes to visit some bookstores in Ann Arbor and Traverse City, Michigan.

Chris is planning to watch the National Book Awards and is rooting for Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club. You can find the list of 2021 National Book Award winners here.

– Upcoming Reads – [28:17]
Dead Silence – S.A. Barnes (CW) release date 1/25/2022
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (EF)
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement – Tarana Burke (EF)
Tastemakers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America – Mayukh Sen (EF)

– Holiday Suggestions – [31:01]
Ember Ceramic Heated Mug
Glocusent Neck Reading Light
Index Cards! Here’s an example of vertical index cards.
BINC Foundation Holiday Gift Guide
Subscription to Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
Give the gift of a Biblio Adventure!

– Author Spotlight with Jenna Blum – [38:52]
We spoke with Jenna Blum, author of Woodrow on the Bench.
Jenna was our guest on our BookTube channel. You can watch the video here.
You can learn more about Jenna on her website.

– 19th Readalong –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
The discussion will drop on December 21st via Episode 145, please get questions/comments to us by December 14th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose is a new theatre work, adapted for the stage by Tom Holloway. It will be  in the Sydney Festival. Learn more here.
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen – Laurie Colwin
The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman
A Small Place – Jamaica Kincaid (Mel’s
Crossing to Safety – Wallace Stegner (The Mooks and Gripes Podcast
Angle of Repose – Wallace Stegner
Temptation – János Székely, Mark Baczoni (Translator)
A Scatter of Light – Malinda Lo release date Fall 2022
The Lost Family – Jenna Blum
Watermark Books & Cafe
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed
Dry: A Memoir – Augusten Burroughs
Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
A Mighty Blaze
Good Dog. Stay. – Anna Quindlen

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 142 - O Beautiful Pub Day Conversation with Jung Yun

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

Patreon Only Giveaway – Claire J. Griffin’s book A Rebellious Woman; become a Patreon sponsor by November 14th to be entered to win.

– Currently Reading – [4:09]
Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History: A Nautical History of the World – Ian Graham (CW)
State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny (EF)(audio)
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story – Horace Walpole (CW)

– Just Read – [13:11]
Woodrow on the Bench – Jenna Blum (EF)
A Blizzard of Polar Bears – Alice Henderson (CW)(EF)
Doctors and Friends – Kimmery Martin (EF)
Vampyres of Hollywood – Adrienne Barbeau, Michael Scott (CW)
Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love – Kim Fay (EF) release date 2/8/22
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen – Laurie Colwin (EF)
Happy All the Time – Laurie Colwin (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [41:43]
Chris and Emily went on a Joint Jaunt to The Montague Bookmill in Montague, MA. Chris was thrilled to find a first edition of Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg.

The Willa Cather Book Club met and discussed Alexander’s Bridge. The next meeting is in January and will be discussing O Pioneers. You can learn more about the book club here.

Chris attended a virtual event, Out of the Archives: The Queer History of Dracula with Ranger Meaghan Michel of the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. You can watch the video recording of the event here.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [54:14]
Chris and Emily are planning a trip to People Get Ready bookstore in New Haven to pick up their copies of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Emily is planning to check out the Write America Series via Byrd’s Books hosted by Roger Rosenblatt, author of Making Toast. You can sign up for upcoming events and watch past events here.

– Upcoming Reads – [57:50]
Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen (EF)
Chouette – Claire Oshetsky (EF)
The Old Nurse’s Story: A Ghost Story for Christmas – Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (CW)
The Beetle – Richard Marsh (CW)  

– Author Spotlight with Jung Yun – [1:05:20]
We spoke with Jung Yun, author of Shelter (which we discussed on Episode 104) and her new book O Beautiful.
You can learn more about Jung on her website.

– 19th Readalong –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
The discussion will drop on December 21st via Episode 145, please get questions/comments to us by December 14th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.

The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
Mystic Seaport Museum
Ellen Macarthur Foundation
Strawberry Hill House & Garden
The Pull of the Stars – Emma Donoghue
84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
Bram Stoker
Walt Whitman
Oscar Wilde
Alice Hoffman
Reading Envy Podcast
Joanne Harris: Chocolat, Five Quarters of the Orange
Leave the World Behind – Rumaan Alam

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 141 - Author Spotlight with Alice Henderson

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

– Currently Reading – [1:00]
A Blizzard of Polar Bears – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 11/9/2021
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love – Sonya Renee Taylor, foreword by Ijeoma Oluo (CW)
Dracula – Bram Stoker (CW) (Audible Original)

– Just Read – [7:13]
Being Perfect – Anna Quindlen (EF)
The Sundial – Shirley Jackson (CW)
How to Get Into the Twin Palms – Karolina Waclawiak (EF)
A Solitude of Wolverines – Alice Henderson (EF)

– Biblio Adventures – [19:07]
Chris went on two bookstore adventures: Grey Matter Books in Hadley, MA and Raven Used Books in Northampton, MA.

Emily watched two interviews via the Oprah Conversation on Apple TV: Barack Obama discussing A Promised Land and Matthew McConaughey discussing his book Greenlights.

– Upcoming Jaunts – [24:40]
Out of the Archives: The Queer History of Dracula with Ranger Meaghan Michel on October 28 7:00 pm (CT). You can sign up for the event here.

Emily is signed up for an event via Politics & Prose on Wednesday, October 27 at 7 pm (ET); a thriller panel with authors Wiley Cash, When Ghosts Come Home, and Kimi Cunningham Grant, These Silent Woods.

– Upcoming Reads – [26:49]
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman (EF)
The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman (EF)
Woodrow on the Bench – Jenna Blum (EF)
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story – Horace Walpole (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Alice Henderson – [30:00]
We spoke with Alice about her Alex Carter series including the first book, A Solitude of Wolverines, and the upcoming release of the second book in the series, A Blizzard of Polar Bears publishing on 11/9/2021.

You can learn more about Alice on her website.

Citizen science enables people from all walks of life to advance scientific research. You can learn more about it here.

– 19th Readalong –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

The discussion will drop on December 21st via Episode 145, please get questions/comments to us by December 14th.

The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.

The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
Two Dollar Radio
The Believer Magazine
Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters
Books by John Grisham: A Time to Kill and A Time for Mercy
Nevada Barr

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 140 - Our Mystery Man Returns with Spooktacular Recommendations

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

– Episode 140 Giveaway –
Archer – Shruti Swamy
Choose Me – Tess Gerritsen and Gary Braver
When All the Girls Are Sleeping – Emily Arsenault
Fault Lines – Emily Itami
To be entered in the giveaway, subscribe to our newsletter here.

– Currently Reading –
The Sundial – Shirley Jackson (CW)
Bewilderment – Richard Powers (EF)
Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories – Hilma Wolitzer (EF)

– Just Read –
Shadow Life: When Death Comes Too Soon, Fight Dirty – Hiromi Goto, Ann Xu (Illustrator) (CW)
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki (EF)
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature – Farah Jasmine Griffin (CW)(audio)
The Inheritance of Orquíeda Divina – Zoraida Córdova (EF)
Carmilla – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (CW)(Audible Original)
Mrs. March – Virginia Feito (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily found a very cool Little Free Library on Chappaquiddick Island, MA.

Chris went to the Amherst Book Store and purchased a copy of Matrix by Lauren Groff and A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark.

Chris (and Aunt Ellen) binged Midnight Mass on Netflix.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is planning to watch Chapelwait based on Stephen King’s short story Jerusalem’s Lot.

Emily is excited to watch an event via Books and Books in Miami, Florida with Leigh Bardugo (Ninth House) and V.E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie Larue) in conversation with Zoraida Cordova about her new book The Inheritance of Orquíeda Divina. You can watch the video here.

– Upcoming Reads –
Alexander’s Bridge – Willa Cather (CW)
You can learn about the Willa Cather book club here.
A Blizzard of Polar Bears – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 11/9/2021
How to Get Into the Twin Palms – Karolina Waclawiak (EF)
Emily is hoping to find a book by Sarah Addison Allen

– Our Mystery Man, John Valeri –
Check out John’s YouTube channel: Central Booking

Young Adult Recommendations:
The Stitchers (Fright Watch #1) – Lorien Lawrence
The Collectors (Fright Watch #2) – Lorien Lawrence
The Mary Shelley Club – Goldy Moldavsky
Kill the Boy Band – Goldy Moldavsky
No Good Deed – Goldy Moldavsky
When All the Girls Are Sleeping – Emily Arsenault
There’s Someone Inside Your House – Stephanie Perkins
The movie adaptation.

Adult Recommendations:
Chasing the Boogeyman – Richard Chizmar
My Heart is a Chainsaw – Stephen Graham Jones

Nonfiction:
It All Began with a Scream – Padraic Maroney

Vampire Book:
Vampyres of Hollywood – Adrienne Barbeau, Michael Scott

– 19th Readalong –
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

The discussion will drop on December 21st via Episode 145, please get questions/comments to us by December 14th.

The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.

The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

 – Also Mentioned –
Also by Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle,  The Haunting of Hill House, and The Lottery
The video of the Book Cougars Biblio Adventure to North Bennington to see Shirley Jackson’s Haunts
The Overstory – Richard Powers
Meg Wolitzer
Brooklyn Brujas series by Zoraida Córdova: Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good – Helene Tursten
The Haunting of Tramcar 015 – P. Djèlí Clark
The Haunting of Hill House dramatic series on Netflix
Night Shift – Stephen King
Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer – Michelle McNamara
Jaws movie
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones
Silence of the Lambs movie

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 139 - Author Spotlight with Janice P. Nimura

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

– Currently Reading –
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki (EF)
Shadow Life: When Death Comes Too Soon, Fight Dirty – Hiromi Goto, Ann Xu (Illustrator) (CW)
Water I Won’t Touch – Kayleb Rae Candrilli (EF)
Like Other Girls – Britta Lundin (CW)
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature – Farah Jasmine Griffin (CW)(audio)

– Just Read –
Fault Lines – Emily Itami (EF)
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change – Maggie Smith (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Emily went to the Ogunquit Memorial Library in Maine and found an adorable Little Free Library out front that is a replica of the library. It turns out that Chris visited the library five years ago. You can read her blogpost about the visit here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is going to Boston and hopes to visit a bookstore, or two, or more.

Emily is heading to Martha’s Vineyard and hopes to visit Bunch of Grapes bookstore, Edgartown Books, Portobello Road bookstore, and go on the prowl for Sister’s Blackwell historical sites.

– Upcoming Reads –
Mrs. March – Virginia Feito (EF)
Bewilderment – Richard Powers (EF)
Matrix – Lauren Groff (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Janice P. Nimura and 18th Readalong discussion –
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura. The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.

Janice also wrote the book Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back.

You can learn more about Janice here.

– Also Mentioned –
Sinking Islands – Cai Emmons
Red Hen Press
My Year of Meats – Ruth Ozeki
Elliot Bay Book Co. (sub)TEXT Poetry Subscription
Copper Canyon Press
Sally Rooney
Haruki Murakami
Keep Moving: The Journal: Thrive Through Change and Create a Life You Love – Maggie Smith
God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine – Victoria Sweet
Woman in the Nineteenth Century – Margaret Fuller
Leaving Coy’s Hill – Katherine A. Sherbrooke
The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights – Dorothy Wickenden
Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine – Olivia Campbell
In Falling Snow – Mary-Rose MacColl
Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
Sunflower Sisters – Martha Hall Kelly
The Gilded Hour – Sara Donati
The Documentary 13th

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 138 - Marilynne Robinson Returns

Episode One Hundred Thirty Eight Show Notes

KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– 18th Readalong discussion –
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura.
The discussion will drop on September 28th via Episode 139, please get questions/comments to us by September 20th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Currently Reading –
The Doctors Blackwell – Janice P. Nimura (CW)(EF)

– Just Read –
Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing – Elissa Altman (EF)
The Madness of Crowds – Louise Penny (CW)
Middletown – Sarah Moon (EF)
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts – Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez (CW)
The Guide – Peter Heller (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris visited The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Emily watched the Oprah Book Club conversations with Marilynne Robinson regarding her Gilead book series. You can learn more about it here.

Emily caught the conversation with Hank Phillipi Ryan and William Kent Krueger, author of the book Lightning Strike. You can watch it here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is planning to attend an event with Heather Frimmer, author of Better to Trust, at Westport Library from 7-8 pm. You can learn more about the event here.

Chris and Emily are hatching plans to go on a joint jaunt to Mount Holyoke College and then head on to Northampton, MA to check out multiple bookstores.

– Upcoming Reads –
A Blizzard of Polar Bears: A Novel of Suspense – Alice Henderson (CW) release date 11/9/2021
An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed – Helene Tursten (CW) release date 10/5/2021
The Archer – Shruti Swamy (EF)
My Darling from the Lions: Poems – Rachel Long (EF)

– Also Mentioned –
Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
“Ditching Dickensian” – Matthew Sherrill
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
Martin Chuzzlewhit – Charles Dickens
State of Terror – Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton
Me Myself and Him – Chris Tebbetts
The Trial of Lizzy Borden – Cara Robertson
The River – Peter Heller
The movie Get Out
Simmons University
Gilead and Home – Marilynne Robinson
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good – Helene Tursten
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarczuk
A Solitude of Wolverines: A Novel of Suspense – Alice Henderson

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 137 - Author (and Editor) Spotlight with Juliet Grames

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

Chris recited the poem “When Will I Be Home” by Li Shangyin.

– 18th Readalong discussion –
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura.
The discussion will drop on September 28th via Episode 139, please get questions/comments to us by September 20th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Currently Reading –
The Madness of Crowds – Louise Penny (CW)
Pie Academy – Ken Haedrich (EF)
Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea – Edith Widder (CW)  
Radiant Fugitives – Nawaaz Ahmed (EF)

– Just Read –
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy (EF)
The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear – Kate Moore (CW)
The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller (EF)
The Final Girl Support Group – Grady Hendrix (CW)
Once There Were Wolves – Charlotte McConaghy (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris, Emily, and Aunt Ellen went on a Joint Jaunt to visit the new little free library in the neighborhood.
Chris also found a new-to-her little free library in Niantic, CT.

Chris and Emily attended an event with Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, in conversation with Lisa Miller about her new book The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life. You can watch a video of the event through RJ Julia Booksellers here.

Emily watched an event with Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace, in conversation with MacKenzie Newcomb. You can watch the event here.

Chris attended an event hosted by Politics and Prose, Gibson’s Bookstore, and Books & Books, with Peter Heller discussing his new book, The Guide, with Diane Les Becquets.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Emily is signed up to attend an event on Thursday, September 2 at 8PM ET via Boswell Book Company with William Kent Krueger introducing his new book Lightning Strike. You can sign up for the event here.

Chris is planning to attend some of the events of Bloody Scotland taking place September 17-19, 2021.

Readers Imbibing Peril (RIP) is doing a joint readalong of The Sundial by Shirley Jackson from September 1 – October 31, 2021.

– Upcoming Reads –
The Doctors Blackwell – Janice P. Nimura (CW)(EF)
Salt – Catrin Kean (CW)
In the Country of Others – Leila Slimani (EF)
Monster She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction – Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson (CW)
The Sundial – Shirley Jackson (CW)

– Author Spotlight with Juliet Grames –
We chat about her book The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna. Opera singer Lisa Flanagan is the narrator for the audiobook.
Juliet has given us a few copies of the book The Seven or Eight Recipes of Stella Fortuna, if you would like one, please send us an email.
You can learn more about Juliet here.
Juliet is also Editor and Associate Publisher at Soho Crime.

– Also Mentioned –
The Green Mile – Stephen King
Bleak House – Charles Dickens
Article about Dickens: The Turning Point review – how Charles Dickens Built Bleak House
Simon Vance audiobook narrator
Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women’s Voices – Kathy Gunst and Katherine Alford (EF)
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
Migrations – Charlotte McConaghy
Also by Peter Heller: The River, Celine, and The Orchard
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson - Home, Gilead, Housekeeping
The Perfect Nanny – Leila Slimani
Lady Joker – Kaoru Takamura, translated by Allison Markin Powell and Marie Iida
Clark and Division – Naomi Hirahara

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 136 - We Discuss Books by Audrey Audrain, S.A. Cosby, Yan Ge, Alice Henderson, William Kent Krueger, Jung Yun, and MORE!

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

Emily read a poem by Maggie Smith titled “Good Bones”

– A Big Book Summer Reading Challenge –
Please let us know what you are reading this summer! Call 860-391-6674 or email bookcougars@gmail.com to let us know what big book (over 400 pages) you are going to read this summer.
Bleak House – Charles Dickens (check out the Buddy Read link on Goodreads)
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy (check out the Buddy Read link on Goodreads)

You can also discuss your summer reads on our Goodreads thread here.

– Currently Reading –
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy (EF) (audio)
Strange Beasts of China – Yan Ge, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, translated by Jeremy Tiang (CW)
Home – Marilynne Robinson (EF)
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts – Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martínez (CW)
Ladyparts: A Memoir – Deborah Copaken (EF)

– Just Read –
Bleak House – Charles Dickens (CW)
The Push – Ashley Audrain (EF)
O Beautiful – Jung Yun (CW) release date 11/9/21
Gilead – Marilynne Robinson (EF)
A Solitude of Wolverines: A Novel of Suspense – Alice Henderson (CW)
We Are the Brennans – Tracey Lange (EF)
Razorblade Tears – S.A. Crosby (CW)
Lightning Strike – William Kent Krueger (EF) release date 8/24/21

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris attended an event at Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor, CT with Our Mystery Man, John
Valeri, in conversation with Emily Arsenault, author of When All the Girls Are Sleeping. You can purchase a signed copy of the book from Book Club on the Go.

Emily listened to a conversation with Deborah Copaken, author of Ladyparts: A Memoir, in conversation with Ayelet Waldman via A Great Good Place for Books. You can watch a video of the conversation here.

Chris watched a conversation with Naomi Hirahara, author of Clark and Division, in conversation with Erik Matsunaga through Madison Street Books. You can watch a video of the event here.

Episode 225 of the Reading Envy podcast with Jenny Colvin featured co-authors of The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
Chris is hoping to catch an event with Deborah Mandel, the author of All Write: How to Start, Structure, and Sustain A Writing Group.

Tuesday, August 17 at 7pm ET – Emily is signed up to attend an event with Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, in conversation with Lisa Miller about her new book The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life. You can sign up for the event here.

Chris and Emily are going on a Joint Jaunt to visit a new little free library in their neighborhood.

– Upcoming Reads –
Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) – Daniel Nayeri (EF)
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change – Maggie Smith (EF)
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna – Juliet Grames (CW)
The Madness of Crowds – Louise Penny release date 8/24/21

– 18th Readalong discussion –
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura.
The discussion will drop on September 28th via Episode 139, please get questions/comments to us by September 20th.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join please send an email to save a spot.

– Also Mentioned –
Kate Baer: What Kind of Woman: Poems, I Hope This Finds You Well: Poems
Maggie Smith - Goldenrod
Marilyn Robinson – Lila, Jack
Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War – Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
Shelter – Jung Yun
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century – Jessica Bruder
Nomadland the movie
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Nevada Barr
The Shining – Stephen King
Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby
William Kent Kreuger – Ordinary Grace, This Tender Land, Iron Lake
Michael Chabon
Discover Nikkei
James Benn

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!

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.