Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good Read

Welcome to Episode 218, featuring a Playwright Spotlight with Laura Thoma about her new Christmas play, MISS MARGARET’S BARTON COTTAGE CHRISTMAS SURPRISE, coming this December to Drama Works Theatre in Old Saybrook. We made up for lost time with a slew of Biblio Adventures, starting with a discussion with James R. Benn at the Mystic & Noank Library, after which we dashed over to see the new home of Bank Square Books in Stonington, who co-hosted the event. Next was the Windham-Campbell Literary Festival at Yale in New Haven, where we bought books curbside at the Possible Futures Bookmobile. Days later, we were thrilled to attend the grand opening of Montgomery & Taggert in Chester – Connecticut’s first Romance Bookstore! Lastly, we saw DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS at Legacy Theatre in Stony Creek. We did some reading, too, since our last episode. Short stories via the Decameron Project: “Clinical Notes” by Liz Moore “Recognition” by Victor LaValle Novels: THE PERILS OF LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH by Claudia Gray LONG BRIGHT RIVER by Liz Moore A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens SWAN SONG by Elin Hildebrand THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE: An Uplifting and Unforgettable Story of Love and Second Chances by Matt Cain Nonfiction: THAT LIBRARIAN: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones We also talk about upcoming Biblio Adventures, what we’re #currentlyreading, and plan to read. You can visit the show notes for everything we mention and links to good bookish stuff. Thanks for listening, and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode218

We are thrilled to welcome James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series. The nineteenth book in the series, THE PHANTOM PATROL, is out today! It’s Winter 1944, and Boyle is on a mission that takes him from the beleaguered art world of Paris to the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge. Some of the novels we discuss in this episode include THE MOST by Jessica Anthony, THE GATHERING by C.J. Tudor, DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, OUT AT THE PLATE: The Dot Wilkinson Story by Lynn Ames, and the third quarter readalong in our Year of Reading Romance, ENVY by Sandra Brown. Emily took a couple of older literary journals off her shelf and read two short stories: “The Miracle Years of Little Fork” by Rebecca Makkai in Ploughshares (Summer 2015 edition) and “Why Were They Throwing Bricks?” by Jenny Zhang in n+1 (Spring 2017). We also talk about what we are #currentlyreading, including two that are out now: A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens and, perfect for Banned Books Week: THAT LIBRARIAN: THE FIGHT AGAINST BOOK BANNING IN AMERICA by Amanda Jones. And two that are forthcoming: THE MIGHTY RED by Louise Erdrich (out 10/1/2024 from Harper) and JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF: A Rare Bookseller’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney (2/18/2025 from Marysue Rucci Books/Simon & Schuster). In #BiblioAdventures, Emily had a lovely visit to the New Canaan Public Library, and Chris continues to rewatch the Harry Potter movies. As always, we talk about more books and adventures than we can squeeze into this quick preview. We hope you enjoy this episode, and if you do, please leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen or tell a friend about us. Happy Reading! Emily & Chris

Emily is back in Connecticut, which means she and Chris were able to record this episode together at Book Cougars HQ. We are grateful for long-distance recording technology, but talking about books in person is much more fun! Our special guest is Michael Kelleher, Director of the Windham Campbell Prizes. Mike explains that these awards are given to writers, not for a particular book, but in four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting. This year’s festival dates are September 17-20 at Yale in New Haven, CT. If you can’t make it to Connecticut, some events, like Lydia Davis’s keynote and the awards ceremony, will be live-streamed (links in the show notes). The books and stories we read since the last episode include: Envy by Sandra Brown Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez The Truth’s We Hold: An American Story by Kamala Harris Mrs. Saint and the Defectives by Julie Lawson Timmer Big by Vashti Harrison “Disaster Stamps of Pluto” by Louise Erdrich from the collection The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Otto Penzler “Double Birthday” by Willa Cather in The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike As always, we also talk about what we’re #CurrentlyReading, what we want to read, and Biblio Adventures. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Happy Listening and Reading!

We’re calling this episode “The Midwest Episode” because we recorded it while both of us were visiting the Midwest. Emily is spending time with her daughter and granddaughter in Michigan, and Chris was visiting her mom in Chicago. Newer listeners might not realize that although we both now live in Connecticut, we are transplants from the Midwest. Emily is originally from Ohio, and Chris is from Illinois. Does any of this matter? Who knows. What does matter is that we’ve read some good books and short stories over the last two weeks. Books include HOT AIR by Marcy Dermansky, SO THIRSTY by Rachel Harrison, and SULWE by Lupita Nyong’o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison. Short stories are “The Hexter Girls” from GOODBYE PROCESS: STORIES by Mary Jones and “The Many Taste Grooves of the Chang Family” by Allison King via Levar Burton Reads. We also had some lovely #biblioadventures to libraries, bookstores, and a historic building with a literary past. Happy Listening!

Welcome to Episode 214! This episode contains a lot of biblio adventuring. Emily is in Traverse City, Michigan, helping her daughter, getting to know her new granddaughter, and discovering the many excellent Little Free Libraries in the area. She also shopped at Horizon Books and has been spending time at the Traverse City Library. Meanwhile, back in New England, Chris and “Colleen from Chicago” hit the road for a four-day Biblio Adventure Extravaganza that included Melville’s Arrowhead, Wharton’s The Mount, Emily Dickinson’s family homes, The Homestead and The Evergreens, Amherst Books, and The Yiddish Book Center. The former bookstore coworkers capped it off with the annual Moby Dick marathon aboard the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport Museum. Oh, and she forgot to mention that they also went to the Odyssey Bookstore at Mount Holyoke. Phew, what a blast! We managed to finish a few books, too: Emily loved THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey and appreciated its cold Alaska setting while reading in the heat of Michigan’s summer. She listened to the audiobook version of Ann Napolitano's first novel, WITHIN ARM’S REACH, which features six narrators, and then two Audible Original short stories by Alice Hoffman, "The Bookstore Sisters" and "The Bookstore Wedding.” Chris read MOBY DICK by Herman Melville (that’s twice this year) and a novelization about his relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE WHALE: A Love Story by Mark Beauregard. She also read her first book club selection from Book Browse, THE ROSE ARBOR, by Rhys Bowen. Happy Listening!

Welcome to Episode 213! BookTuber Shawn Breathes Books joins us to celebrate Jenny Colvin and “I’ll Have What You’re Reading,” the memorial buddy read we jointly hosted with him the last few months. We also discuss Andrea Robbin Skinner’s recent revelation about her mother, Alice Munro, and how it has impacted us as readers. Some other highlights: In #CurrentlyReading, we are each reading another chunkster for Sue Jackson’s #BigBookSummer: Emily is cooling off with THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey, and Chris is going back in time with MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS by Antonia Fraser. We have a spoiler-free conversation about FELLOWSHIP POINT by Alice Elliot Dark which we both enjoyed. Short stories read since the last episode: “Janus” by Ann Beattie and “In the Gloaming” by Alice Elliott Dark both from the collection THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison. “A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You” by Amy Bloom from the collection A BLIND MAN COULD SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU: STORIES. “Uncle Valentine” by Willa Cather in UNCLE VALENTINE AND OTHER STORIES, edited by Bernice Slote “The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier from the collection THE BIRDS AND OTHER STORIES [This collection was first published in the UK in 1952 with the title, THE APPLE TREE: A SHORT NOVEL AND SEVERAL LONG STORIES] In Biblio Adventures, we recap the great day we had on Long Island, NY We took a ferry from New London, CT, to Orient Point, NY, then drove south to the Barnes and Noble in Bridgehampton to check out their new store layout. Then we headed north to Sag Harbor, where we were delighted by a John Steinbeck and Charley sculpture (“Assistant Editor” by Seward Johnson) and explored Sag Harbor Books. Other stops included Black Cat Books on Shelter Island and the Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport. Check out our vlog of the day on our YouTube channel Emily had a Couch Biblio Adventure, thanks to our listener Kathy who told us about a conversation with Percival Everett, Cord Jefferson, and Jelani Cobb via City Arts & Lectures Chris watched LETTERS TO JULIET, a rom-com inspired by the book of the same name by Eve Friedman and Ceil Jann Friedman. She also went on a quick shopping spree at McNally Jackson Books at Rockefeller Center. A reminder that our third quarter readalong is ENVY, by Sandra Brown. There are a few spots left for our Zoom discussion on Sunday, 9/15, at 7 pm ET. Email us if you’d like to join us. bookcougars at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode213

Welcome to Episode 212! This episode is different from all of our previous shows because Emily was unexpectedly called out of town to attend her granddaughter’s birth! Baby Neena arrived three weeks early. She and her mom, Rachel, are doing great. And yes, Emily has already read a book to her, SPOT GOES TO THE FARM, by Eric Hill. Instead of recording our regular segments, we share reminders about our current buddy read of FELLOWSHIP POINT by Alice Elliott Dark, provide the date – 9/15 – for our Zoom discussion of ENVY by Sandra Brown (our third quarter readalong pick in our Year of Reading Romance), announce a BookTube vlog of our recent Biblio Adventure to Long Island, and then jump into our conversation with Juliet Grames. Juliet’s new novel, THE LOST BOY OF SANTA CHIONIA, is a fantastic mystery that has a strong sense of place and characters that leap off the page. We also created a video of our pre-interview chat with Juliet that was too fun and interesting not to share. It has info not discussed in the interview. The link is below if you’d like to watch it. We hope you enjoy this episode. We’ll be back to our regular programming on episode 213. Until then, we wish you lots of Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode212 Long Island Biblio Adventure video https://youtu.be/vfO1JPFEBks Pre-interview video chat with Juliet https://youtu.be/MGnKlJiWL9M

We dove into summer with our first big Biblio Adventure of the season! It involved art by kids inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” lobster, a little free library, and Bank Square Books. A great day! In other Biblio Adventures, Emily went to see Ann Leary talk about her new essay collection, I’VE TRIED BEING NICE, at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT. She also found an adorable #LFL in a tree stump! Chris attended a virtual panel discussion of NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION by the North Central Connecticut Chapter of The International Thomas Merton Society. In the Just Read segment, the books we talk about include: – PEARCE OYSTERS by Joselyn Takacs – THE GUNCLE by Steven Rowley – ARSENIC AND ADOBO by Mia P. Manansala – LOVE AND HOT CHICKEN: A Delicious Southern Novel by Mary Liza Hartong – DIVE! The Story of Breathing Underwater by Chris Gall Three reference books make brief but important appearances: THE READERS’ ADVISORY GUIDE TO ROMANCE by Robin Bradford and both the APA and MLA style guides. Short stories: – “Idle Hands” from the collection CRAFT: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima – “Why Won’t You Die?” by Jessica P. Pryde from the collection SOMEPLACE GENEROUS: An Inclusive Romance Anthology edited by Elaina Ellis and Amber Flame. – “Her Boss” by Willa Cather from the collection UNCLE VALENTINE AND OTHER STORIES: Willa Cather’s Uncollected Short Fiction, 1915-1929 edited by Bernice Slote. We also talk about what we’re currently reading, want to read, and upcoming #biblioadventures. Oh, and we announce our THIRD QUARTER READALONG PICK for our Year of Reading Romance! We hope you enjoy the episode and if so, please consider leaving a review wherever you listen, as it really does help others find us. Happy Listening & Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode211

Welcome to Episode 210, where we have the pleasure of welcoming back Our Mystery Man, John Valeri! For those of you who are new to the Book Cougars, John is a frequent guest. He’s a reader, professional reviewer, and interviewer extraordinaire (check out his BookTube channel, CENTRAL BOOKING). John joins us to not only recommend some hot new mystery/thrillers but also to share insights on the guiding principles of cozy mysteries, making this a conversation you won't want to miss! This episode is packed with a diverse range of books. We share our thoughts on THE AWAKENING: THE DRAGON HEART LEGACY, BOOK ONE by Nora Roberts, our second quarter readalong pick in our year of reading romance. We also delve into other intriguing reads such as THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS by Laurie Frankel, THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose, and LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE HAUNTED PLACES by Claire Kann. Emily also read two captivating short stories: “Lucky Girls” by Nell Freudenberger from LUCKY GIRLS: STORIES and “That of Which We Cannot Speak” by Alethea Black from I KNEW YOU’D BE LOVELY: STORIES. In Biblio Adventures, we recap an exciting Biblio Adventure to Hartford, CT, where we had the privilege of seeing Michael Harriot (BLACK AF HISTORY: THE UN-WHITEWASHED STORY OF AMERICA) in conversation with Percival Everett about his new novel, JAMES, thanks to the Mark Twain House. Chris attended CULTIVATING VOICES: LIVE POETRY hosted by Sandra Yannone via Facebook. Emily binged some PRESUMED INNOCENT movie/series adaptations. At the Book Barn in Niantic, CT, she found a copy of FELLOWSHIP POINT (which we’re both reading this summer) and a fantastic gift for Chris. Of course, we also talk about what we’re currently reading, want to read, and upcoming #biblioadventures. We hope you enjoy the episode and if so, please consider leaving a review wherever you listen, as it really does help others find us. Happy Listening & Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode210

Welcome to Episode 209! We were thrilled and honored to talk with New York Times bestselling author, mystery legend, and social justice advocate Sara Paretsky. We talk with Sara about her newly published novel, PAY DIRT, the 22nd installment in her V.I. Warshawski series, founding Sisters in Crime, and so much more. Don’t miss our conversation at the end of the episode. We pay tribute to the late Canadian author Alice Munro by reading and discussing her story, “Train.” We try to avoid spoilers in our discussion. The story is available online at Harper’s Magazine. Emily also read “From Outside I Could See” and “The Next Husband Game” from the collection THE GOODBYE PROCESS by Mary Jones (release date 7/30/2024) and “Origin Story” from the ILL-FITTING SKIN by Shannon Robinson. Chris read “Ardessa” by Willa Cather. We also finished a few novels: –PAY DIRT by Sara Paretsky –THE HOUSE THAT HORROR BUILT by Christina Henry –THE AWAKENING by Nora Roberts Biblio Adventures include: – Our Mystery Man, John Valeri, in conversation with author Tom Straw about his new mystery/thriller, THE ACCIDENTAL JOE: THE TOP-SECRET LIFE OF A CELEBRITY CHEF, at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT – A panel event, “On Writing: A Panel Discussion with Authors on Their Craft,” hosted by Bank Square Books and the Westerly Library in Westerly, RI – A poetry reading by Sandra Yannone from her new collection, THE GLASS STUDIO, at the Acton Public Library in Old Saybrook, CT We also talk about what we’re currently reading, hope to read, upcoming Biblio Adventures, and a bunch of other bookish things. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Happy Reading!