The Holiday Season is upon us! In Episode 222, we continue our annual tradition of sharing bookish holiday gift ideas. We’ve given these items to loved ones or treated ourselves to them (or received them as gifts!). We hope you find our ideas helpful.

Since our last episode, we’ve had some fun biblio adventures. Two highlights: Chris took a leisurely drive through the back roads of Connecticut to Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot (the town that inspired the Gilmore Girls), and Emily participated in the Cherry Bombe member book club discussion of Ina Garten’s memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, featuring Ina’s co-writer Deborah Davis.

In our “Just Read” segment, we discuss a gardening book, a YA novel, two picture books, and two novels, one a suspense thriller, the other literary fiction:

Complete Starter Guide to Bonsai: Growing from Seed or Seedling--Wiring, Pruning, Care, and Display by David Squirer

When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman

Fight of the Century: Alice Paul Battles Woodrow Wilson for the Vote by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Sarah Green

I Am Book by Joren Cull

Trouble Island by Sharon Short

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

Emily also discusses two short stories she’s read, “Johnny Christmas” by Ivy Pochoda from Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir edited by Tod Goldberg and “Cat Brushing” from the collection Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell. Chris hasn’t read Gregory Magquire’s novel Wicked, but she’s curious about it after seeing the new Wicked movie. Have you read it?

Thanks as always for listening!

We had the good fortune to talk with Marcia Clark and John Valeri about TRIAL BY AMBUSH, Marcia’s first foray into the true crime genre, for which John served as her researcher. TRIAL BY AMBUSH is an investigation into the 1953 trial of Barbara Graham, a petty criminal whose life took a hard turn the night of a home burglary that ended in murder.

Graham’s trial was sensational, and the press coverage was a circus. Who better than famed prosecutor Marcia Clark to be the first to dig into the records to find out what really happened during the trial? Should Graham have ended up on death row? During Clark’s investigation, her prosecutorial hero, J. Miller Leavy, surprisingly ends up on trial himself.

Neither Chris nor Emily is a true crime reader, but we were both riveted to the pages of TRIAL BY AMBUSH and think you will be, too!

Emily has been carrying on with her short story project and discusses four stories:

“The Statue and the Bust” from THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES OF SHIRLEY HAZZARD edited by Brigitta Olubas

“Let the Chips Fall” by Emily Ross from the collection DEVIL’S SNARE: Best New England Crime Stories by 2024 edited by Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler, and Susan Oleksiw

“Debris” from the collection A KIND OF MADNESS by Uche Okonkwo

“Good Enough” from the collection A SMALL THING TO WANT by Shuly Cawood

Chris finally finished her #Victober book, ARMADALE by Wilkie Collins, and then read two picture books, WHAT FEELING DO WHEN NO ONE’S LOOKING by Tina Oziewicz, illustrated by Aleksandra Zajac and translated by Jennifer Croft and SOMETHING, SOMEDAY by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Christian Robinson.

Some other books we discuss are:

THIS CURSED HOUSE by Del Sandeen

SHRED SISTERS by Betsy Lerner

THE NEW MENOPAUSE by Mary Claire Haver, MD

WHERE THEY LAST SAW HER by Marcie R. Rendon

Chris also read A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY by Brian D. Kennedy. She loved it but doesn’t discuss it in detail as it’s our fourth quarter readalong. To join our Zoom discussion on December 8th at 7 pm ET, please email us ([email protected]). The conversation is free and open to all.

As always, we discuss biblio adventures we’ve gone on and more books than we can include here. We hope you enjoy this episode.

Happy Reading!

Welcome to Episode 220 – It’s another 10th episode, which means it’s giveaway time! One lucky newsletter subscriber will win copies of The Gardener’s Plot: A Mystery by Deborah J. Benoit and The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. We send one newsletter per month, and it is free. Sign up on our website, and good luck!

We also announce our Patreon giveaway for November: Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir edited by Tod Goldberg.

John Valeri, our Mystery Man, is back! He joins us to discuss Murder in the Smithsonian by Margaret Truman, which we buddy-read. John also shares some insider information that might shock Truman fans.

Since the last episode, we’ve read several delightful romances, an eerie ghost story, a thought-provoking multigenerational novel, and a charming picture book:

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

“Afterward: A Ghost Story for Christmas” or from the collection Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking by Tina Oziewicz, illustrated by Aleksandra Zajac and translated by Jennifer Croft

We also had some wonderful Biblio Adventures, including stops at Breakwater Books and Bennett’s Books and a great virtual event via the North Haven Memorial Library with Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

As always, this episode has more books and adventures than we can list in this blurb. If you don’t catch something while you’re listening, check out the show notes on our website, where you’ll find all the books and places we talk about listed, usually with links.

Thank you for listening, and we wish you lots of Happy Reading!

Welcome to Episode 219! In this episode, we recap some exciting Biblio Adventures, including trips to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, the Montague Book Mill, the Montague Center Library, and an author event at RJ Julia Booksellers with Betsy Lerner.

Chris talks about a handful of picture books she read:

The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs – written by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal

The City Tree – written by Shira Boss, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez

I Am Bat – written and illustrated by Morg Hood

The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt – written by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler

She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein – written by Lynn Fulton, illustrated by Felicita Sala

Emily read two short stories:

“Loot” by Nadine Gordimer from the collection Loot and Other Stories

“Seams” by Olga Tokarczuk from The Best Short Stories 2022: The O. Henry Prize Winners

And between the two of us, we read three novels:

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

We also discuss what we’re #currentlyreading, would like to read, and more.

Reminder that the fourth quarter readalong for our Year of Reading Romance is A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy. See the show notes for details.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it!

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!