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

We talk about a bunch of books and biblioadventures in Episode 180. What’s new, right? #wink

Some highlights include books we just read, which took us from a memoir about caring for animals (THE OTHER FAMILY DOCTOR by Karen Fine) to an idiomatic fowl in search of freedom (CHASE OF THE WILD GOOSE by Mary Gordon) and from an island in the Atlantic (SUMMER STAGE by Meg Mitchell Moore) to a road trip around America (TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY by John Steinbeck).

Speaking of travel, we had a two-day joint jaunt to Manhattan, where we went our separate ways during daylight hours – Emily volunteered at the CHERRY BOMBE JUBILEE and Chris worked at the STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION LIBRARY.

Closer to home, Emily went to see THE QUIET GIRL at the Madison Cinemas and Chris did some archival research at The Beinecke.

Some fun biblioadventures are coming up–like Emily moderating two author events at the Newburyport Literary Festival this weekend: Fur, Feathers, and Scales: A Lifetime of Caring for Pets with author Karen Fine and Shaped by Loss: How Tragedy Changed the Lives of Emerson, Thoreau, and William James with author Megan Marshall. Chris is planning to attend a virtual event with author Benjamin Taylor who will be discussing Cather’s MY ANTONIA on Thursday at 7pm CT via the National Willa Cather Center.

Reminder: the show notes for each episode lists all of the books and events we mention.

Happy Listening, and then,

Happy Reading!

Happy National Poetry Month!

We kick off this episode with Emily reading Lucille Clifton’s poem, “Climbing,” and end with an in-depth conversation with poet Shuly Cawood about her poem, “Starter Marriage.” [The full text of Shuly’s poem is at the end of this description if you’d like to read it before or while listening to the episode.]

Both of us have Writing and Creativity on our minds. Emily started Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY, and Chris is listening to WRITING FOR IMPACT by Bill Birchard. And we have some reading/writing synchronicity going on with Natalie Goldberg. Emily is reading & listening to her classic, WRITING DOWN THE BONES, and when visiting McNally Jackson at Rockefeller Center in NYC Chris picked up WRITING DOWN THE BONES DECK.

More recently read books include WHY AM I SO ANXIOUS by Tracey Marks, MY DEAREST DARLING by Lisa Franco, BOOKSELLING IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD, ed. by Charles B. Anderson. And thanks to listener Colleen’s birthday book club tradition, we revisited a childhood favorite, Judy Blume’s ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET.

There’s another #buddyread on our horizon: TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY IN SEARCH OF AMERICA. We’re reading this for the Vintage Book Club which is sponsored by Book Club on the Go and will meet on Thursday, April 20, 1 pm at the Wood Memorial Library and Museum in South Windsor, CT. All are welcome.

We had a fantastic biblioadventure together in Boston. After spending the day working in Simmons University’s Beatley Library, we visited the amazing independent bookstore, Brookline Booksmith.

Emily is going to be moderating two author sessions at the Newburyport Literary Festival, April 28-30:

— The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us about Love, Life, and Mortality by Karen Fine, DVM

—Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives by Robert D. Richardson with a foreword by Megan Marshall (Emily’s conversation will be with Megan).

Chris is bummed that she won’t be able to attend the Newburyport Literary Festival or either of the two Willa Cather conferences this June. She is, however, planning to attend a series of four virtual events with author Benjamin Taylor that the National Willa Cather Center is offering beginning on April 27th. Taylor’s new book, CHASING BRIGHT MEDUSAS: A LIFE OF WILLA CATHER, is to be published in November.

Visit the episode show notes for more details and links to the books, places, and events listed above.https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2023/episode179

Happy Reading!

Chris & Emily

______

Starter Marriage by Shuly Cawood

after Erin Adair-Hodges*

First there was the word and the word was trying.

Trying the apartment with white walls, popcorn ceilings,

footsteps heavy above, thudding over our days.

Trying the job I took filing papers into squeaking cabinets,

the one you took answering phones for dentists. Trying

the brown bag lunches with limp sandwiches

and sliced cheese, the softening apple, the room-temperature

soda. Consuming it all on church steps, hunched below

the overhang as it rained. Trying the cold pool after work

with dead insects needing to be netted. Unraveling towels,

TJ Maxx suits, the walk back on the no-car driveway.

All heat evaporated. Empty stomachs. No one wanted what the other craved.

Trying the red Chevrolet with the bad battery, no parking without pay,

the bus rides to and from work, your stop, my stop, the sun hitting hard,

us squinting at the sky. Your last day, the blue electric toothbrush

they gave you as goodbye. Buzzing in your mouth with all those

trapped words. Trying the new queen mattress

we could not afford but bought anyway.

Trying the laundry we toted to the next

building, plastic hampers in our

arms full of every day’s dirt.

Coffee but no creamer,

bread but no toaster,

sugar hardened in the bag.

Day-old everything bagels,

buy-one, get-one veggie burritos,

dollar theater on Sundays.

New job but less pay, new boss

but no promotion. Saving for tickets

for never vacations.

Trying the places we gave up for each other:

city salted by an ocean, all those fish and ferry rides;

town with three stoplights, two policemen,

a forest to get lost in. Your dreams, my dreams,

weeds by the parking lot. Trying

your face a broken banister,

my hands an unused map.

*The first nine words are borrowed from “Portrait of Mother: 1985” by Erin Adair-Hodges

______

Welcome to Episode 178!

We are currently reading a variety of genres: Fiction (CHASE OF THE WILD GOOSE by Mary Gordon and VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon), memoir (LIFE B: OVERCOMING DOUBLE DEPRESSION by Bethanne Patrick), self-help (WHY AM I SO ANXIOUS by Tracey Marks), and a cookbook (COOK AS YOU ARE by Ruby Tandoh).

Emily discusses three gripping novels that she recently read: THE MEMORY OF ANIMALS by Claire Fuller, OUR BEST INTENTIONS by Vibhuti Jain, and I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU by Rebecca Makkai. Chris enjoyed a new biography that investigates Edgar Allan Poe’s death, A MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES by Mark Dawidziak. She also finished two novels: DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon and THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope.

We are excited to giveaway a copy of our second quarter readalong pick, THE READING LIST by Sara Nisha Adams. To be entered to win, you simply need to be a newsletter subscriber. If you are not already, act quickly because we are picking the winner on March 29th! Easy sign up here: https://www.bookcougars.com/subscriber

Don’t miss our Author Spotlight with Jennifer Savran Kelly. We both love her new novel, ENDPAPERS, a character-driven story about a genderqueer book conservator and book artist who finds a message under the endpapers of an old book that sets her off on an external investigation into the past that helps her solve some of her current internal mysteries.

There are books and bookstores galore in this episode! Some highlights include –

Emily went to see Aunt Ellen in Berkeley, CA, and together they visited two public libraries, a whole bunch of little free libraries, and TEN bookstores! Aunt Ellen gave Emily first dibs on her brand new copy of FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN by Elle Cosimano (now that’s love). Emily also read another book by Maggie O’Farrell, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX.

Chris traveled to 1855 England via THE WARDEN, her first Anthony Trollope novel. She also enjoyed a virtual event via the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, “Understanding Katherine S. Days Identity: Interpreting Sexuality in Early 20th Century New England, Four Case Studies in LGBTQIA+ History.”

Readalong: We talk about our first quarter readalong, PARNASSUS ON WHEELS (1917) by Christopher Morley. And we announce our second-quarter pick for our year of reading Books about Books. Hint: it was published in 2021 and involves a girl and her grandfather.

Author Spotlight: We were thrilled to have a chat with Canadian writer Amy Tector, author of the Dominion Archives Mystery series. SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, the second book in the series, publishes today (March 14, 2023).

Check out the show notes for links to all of the books and biblioadventures mentioned in this episode: https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2023/episode177

On Episode 176 Chris and Emily give a full recap of their two-day Biblio Adventure in New York City. The trip was inspired by a research project that Chris is working on for school that created a need for her to spend time in the archives at the main branch of the New York Public library. Emily tagged along and they had some bookish fun together. Highlights include an abundance of time spent at the main branch of the New York Public Library with a stroll through the Virginia Woolf exhibit and the newly expanded gift shop. Emily attended an event with Elinor Lipman discussing her new novel, MS. DEMEANOR. While she was at the author event, Chris spent a couple glorious hours at Book Culture bookstore. The next morning they brunched at Russ & Daughters Café with the author Matthew Goodman, and before catching the train home stopped at Kinokuniya Books to browse through their seemingly endless aisles of office supplies.

Both Chris and Emily are currently reading the first quarter readalong, PARNASSUS ON WHEELS by Christopher Morley. They are particularly enjoying the audiobook narrated by Nadia May. Chris is time traveling between Scotland and Paris with Claire Randall in book two of the OUTLANDER series, DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon. Emily is spending time in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Iliana Regan and FIELDWORK: A Forager’s Memoir.

Happy Publication day to ENCHANTMENT: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by our friend Katherine May!

We just read a stack of books with an interesting variety of subjects! In between mushrooms and swimming, we spent time with an Australian rare book expert, a New Yorker wandering in Ireland, a Queer book artist in Manhattan, restauranteers in Minnesota, and an American publishing legend. We also got to know some folks in a rural hockey town.

These books are:

Cooking with Mushrooms: A Fungi Lover’s Guide to the World’s Most Versatile, Flavorful, Health-Boosting Ingredients by Andrea Gentl, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, This Must be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell, Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal, Alfred A. Knopf: A Quarter Century – designed by W.A. Dwiggins, Beartown by Fredrik Backman, and Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui.

In Biblio Aventures, Chris talks about making some books for a class assignment (we also created a show-and-tell video on YouTube), and Emily has started watching Dear Edward on Apple TV (based on the novel by Ann Napolitano).

We are thrilled, as always, to welcome back Our Mystery Man, John Valeri! John shares some 2023 releases he’s enjoyed and recommends to us all, and he talks about his new Little Free Library.

On Episode 174, we share LISTENER TOP 10s of 2022. Thanks to the 70+ listeners who contributed their top 10 lists. Out of 427 books, Emily shares not only what the combined top 10 titles are (actually, 11 titles because there was a tie) but also who the most frequently listed authors are. We also talk about our READING INTENTIONS & GOALS for 2023. Listeners shared their plans and intentions on a Goodreads thread (https://bit.ly/2023_Reading_Intentions_and_Goals). The discussion is ongoing and inspiring.

Reminder: PARNASSUS ON WHEELS by Christopher Morley is our first quarter readalong. If you’d like to join our live Zoom conversation on February 26th at 7 PM (ET), send us an email (bookcougars at gmail dot com). Here’s the Goodreads discussion link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22401319-parnassus-on-wheels-by-christopher-morley

In our JUST READ segment, we talk about:

ROUGH SLEEPERS: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder

HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A Reckoning with Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

A HEART THAT WORKS by Rob Delaney

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT by John Steinbeck

And in BIBLOADVENTURES, we recap our day in Boston, where we visited three bookstores: Brattle Books, Beacon Hill Books & Cafe, and Commonwealth Books. We had a blast! Emily had a solo biblioadventure, also in Massachusetts, where she saw Tracy Kidder in conversation with Dr. O’Connell discussing his new book ROUGH SLEEPERS.

Books that we have talked about on earlier episodes and are OUT NOW:

Small World by Laura Zigman

Decent People by De’shawn Charles Winslow

Georgie, All Along: An Uplifting and Unforgettable Love Story by Kate Clayborn

Exiles by Jane Harper

Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT!

We are so excited to introduce you to debut novelist JENNA MILLER! We talk with Jenna about her first novel, OUT OF CHARACTER, making friends online, her writing practice, and the growing controversy of butter boards.

Happy Listening!

Emily & Chris

Emily started 2023 with a bit of a reading slump, but you’d never know it! Some of the books she enjoyed since our last regular episode are Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, The Change by Kirsten Miller, Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (coming out 3/14/2023), and What the Fortune Teller Would Have Said by Shuly Cawood.

For the third year in a row, Chris kicked off her January reading with a novel from Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic Series: The Rules of Magic. She’s also brushing up on her stirfrying skills with The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt.

Speaking of cooking, Emily attended a cooking class with the cookbook author Julia Turshen. Chris visited a couple of used bookstores: The Book Barn in Niantic, CT, and Bennett’s Books in Deep River, CT. We also had a lovely joint jaunt to New Haven, where we checked in on a large Little Free Library in Wooster Square after a yummy lunch at Haven Hot Chicken.

We are extending our listener top reads of 2022 submissions until January 22nd, so if you haven’t submitted your Top 10 Reads, please send them our way! We’ll share highlights on Episode 174 (Google form - https://bit.ly/BookCougarsTopTen2022 or email us at [email protected]).

Reminder that our next readalong is Parnassus on Wheels by Christoper Morley (Zoom convo on Feb 26th at 7 pm ET). Your purchase of the paperback from Bookshop.org or the audiobook from Libro.fm will help support us (the links go to our affiliate page).

Thanks for listening and Happy Reading!

Emily & Chris

Happy New Year! Welcome to our third annual TOP TEN READS of the year episode with our special guest, BookTuber RUSSELL GRAY of Ink and Paper Blog. Emily, Chris, and Russell whittled down the books they read in 2022 to ten of our favorites. You’d think this would add up to thirty books, but you’d be wrong. As is customary, we cheated (some more than others) and talk about more than ten books a piece, but what else would you expect from a trio of bibliomanes?

We each also share two books coming out in 2023 that we’re excited about.

Russell:

1. THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley (1/10/2023 Simon & Schuster)

2. DECENT PEOPLE by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (2/14/2023 Bloomsbury Publishing)

Emily:

1. THE WISE HOURS: A JOURNEY INTO THE WILD AND SECRET WORLD OF OWLS by Miriam Darlington (2/7/2023 Tin House Books)

2. CHAIN GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (4/4/2023 Pantheon Books)

3. THE INVISIBLE HOUR by Alice Hoffman (8/15/2023 Atria Books)

Chris:

1. THE WRITING RETREAT by Julia Bartz (2/21/2023 Atria/Emily Bestler Books)

2. OUT OF CHARACTER by Jenna Miller (2/7/2023 Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins)

All of the books mentioned in this episode are listed in the show notes https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2022/episode171

We also announce our 2023 Readalong Theme: BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS! Our pick for the first quarter was published in 1917 and is one of the first bibliomysteries.

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to our last episode of 2022!

We surprised each other this week with some reading kismet. Each of us arrived at Book Cougars HQ with a poetry collection in hand and a poem we wanted to share. Chris reads the poem “The Margin” from The Historians: Poems by Eavan Boland. Emily reads “Improvement” by Danusha Laméris from How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews.

We’ve also been reading some exciting novels that are coming out in early 2023.

Two that we highly recommend are debut novels:

— Night Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton (Ecco Press, release date 1/10/23)

— The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz (Atria Books, release date 2/21/23)

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance reader copies.

In 2022, the focus of our quarterly readalongs were books written by Indigenous Authors. Our fourth and final book of the year was Murder on the Red River: A Cash Blackbear Mystery by Marcie R. Rendon. Both of us really enjoyed the book and had a great time chatting with Marcie on this episode. The next two books in the series are Girl Gone Missing and Sinister Graves.

We wish you a Happy Holiday Season filled with lots of love, light, and happy reading!