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

We were thrilled and a little nervous to sit down with Ruth Franklin to talk about her work and share our origin story. The Book Cougars may not have been born without Ruth Franklin. Or, come to think of it, Shirley Jackson. We were excited to talk with Ruth about her brilliant new work, THE MANY LIVES OF ANNE FRANK, and her previous biography, SHIRLEY JACKSON: A RATHER HAUNTED LIFE. You won’t want to miss our conversation with Ruth. She is a fantastic writer and a great conversationalist. The interview begins at 01:13:25.

In our Just Read segment, we discuss “The Cold Embrace” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, the current story from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES. Note: we spoil some plot points so read this ten-page short story prior to listening (unless you don’t care, then feel free to listen with abandon). Head to the shownotes, where you’ll find a link to the story available to read online.

Rejoice, for Chris has finally finished SWANN’S WAY by Marcel Proust! However, this won’t be the last you hear about Proust. She has committed to reading the next book in his longer work, IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME, with Robin Gustafson’s group in Feb/Mar 2026. After Proust, Chris found a delicious palate cleanser in THE STOLEN QUEEN by Fiona Davis.

Emily finished CARE AND FEEDING: A Memoir by Laurie Woolever and THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan, which marks off another square on her Ghost Stories Bingo Card. She also attended the virtual ALL CT READS 2025 Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood who penned HOW TO READ A BOOK, which was one of her Top 10 Reads of last year.

Thanks to our two sponsors this episode, authors Lise Mayne (TIME ENOUGH) and Aline Weiller (FUN: Essays on a Life Embraced).

As always, we talk about more books and Biblio Adventures than we list here. We hope you enjoy listening and that your next book is a great read.

Happy Reading!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode231

Welcome to Episode 230 where we talk about some books.

As this is another tenth episode, we are also hosting a giveaway! One lucky newsletter subscriber will win a paperback copy of our second quarter readalong pick, THE GOOD HOUSE by Tananarive Due. Newsletter subscribers are automatically entered to win our recurring tenth episode giveaways.

Chris unexpectedly read the surprise hot book of the season, CARELESS PEOPLE: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams, and is telling everyone to believe the hype. She also read THE EXTENDED MIND: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy Paul, and devoured WOMAN, EATING: A Literary Vampire Novel by Claire Kohda.

Emily read two novels that have an unexpected connection, MURDER UNDER HER SKIN: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood and THE GHOSTWRITER by Julia Clark. She also read two less murdery novels, TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout and TILDA IS VISIBLE by Jane Tara. One of these she loved and the other was a bit of a departure for a well-loved writer.

We discuss the third short ghost story – “The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain by Edward Bulwer Lytton – in THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce. This one didn’t grab us like the last one (pun intended) but we can see how it contributes to the haunted house tradition.

In Biblio Adventures, Chris made a guest appearance on Shawn Breathes Books where they discussed FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters; it is ready for viewing on his BookTube channel. Emily was in Colorado visiting new grandbaby #2, and got to visit two local bookstores: White River Books in Carbondale and Alpenglow Books and Gifts in Glenwood Springs. During a long layover in O’Hare, she also visited several Barbara’s Bookstores in the airport.

As always, there is more in this episode than we can highlight here, like upcoming reads and jaunts (e.g., THE CAT’S MEOW: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa by Jonathan Losos, All CT Reads with author Monica Wood, and the Willa Cather Spring Conference).

We were so happy to be back together talking about books across the table! We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

Happy Reading!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode230

Welcome to Episode 229!

We kick off this episode with the announcement of our second quarter readalong pick for our year of reading Ghost Stories. We hope you’ll read along with us!

Speaking of which, we also have an in depth conversation about “What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien, the second story in the PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES that we’ll be buddy reading throughout the year. Join us on this, too!

Emily checked off the Western square on her Ghost Stories Bingo Card by reading LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle. She also read TWENTY-FOUR SECONDS FROM NOW…A Love Story by Jason Reynolds and SWEPT AWAY by Beth O’Leary, and two cookbooks: THE FISHWIFE COOKBOOK by Becca Millstein and Vilda Gonzalez and THE HEBRIDEAN BAKER by Coinneach Macleod.

Chris had some concentration issues and found comfort reading two wonderful picture books: THE LEAF DETECTIVE: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest by Heather Lang, illustrated by Jana Christy, and HOW BIRDS SLEEP by David Obuchowski, illustrated by Sarah Pedry. She also finished listening to the audio version of A WEB OF OBSIDIAN by Lydia M. Hawke.

We recap some notable Biblio Adventures including a Buzz Books 2025 Horror panel and an event at Hickory Stick Bookshop, and of course we talk about a bunch more books and bookish things. We hope you enjoy this episode.

Happy Reading!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode-229

Welcome to Episode 228!

2025 is the year of the Ghost Story. We’ve created a tab on the website to keep you up-to-date on our quarterly readalongs, the schedule for the year-long buddy read of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, and there is a downloadable Ghost Story Bingo Card; we would love for you to play along. Be sure to bookmark the page and check back for updates.

On this episode we do a deep dive on Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE which is our first quarter readalong. Chris has read the novel numerous times; this was Emily’s first time, and she is now a Shirley Jackson devotee. During the conversation, they mention other complimentary readings, podcasts, and film adaptations, including the biography SHIRLEY JACKSON: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin.

Chris and Emily both had #CouchBiblioAdventures. Emily watched the movie Lee starring Kate Winslet about photographer Lee Miller. It reminded her of Whitney Scharer’s novel THE AGE OF LIGHT. Chris watched Season One, Episode Four of ROAR: The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin based on the book of short stories by Cecelia Ahern. Emily also attended an in-person event via RJ Julia’s Booksellers in Madison, CT with Kristan Higgins in conversation with Charmaine Wilkerson and her new novel GOOD DIRT.

Of course, we also talk about what we’re currently reading, hope to read, upcoming jaunts, and scary neighbors, after all it is the year of the ghost story.

We wish you lots of Happy Reading!

Show notes for the episode: https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode228

Welcome to Episode 227, featuring an author spotlight with Megan Marshall discussing her new collection of essays, After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart. Megan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer who turns her writerly gaze and historical imagination on her own life, her family and friends, and the “after lives” of her biographical subjects. After Lives publishes the day this episode drops–purchase your copy post-haste or request it at your library.

We have been enjoying a “real” New England winter this season, which has kept us hunkered down and reading on our respective couches. The books in our Just Read segment are:

A New Home, Who Will Follow? by Caroline Kirkland

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spottswood

How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith by Mariann Edgar Budde

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (release date 3/4/25)

The Vanishing Kind by Alice Henderson (release date 3/4/25)

I’ll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom (release date 6/24/25)

In short stories, we discuss “The Old Nurse’s Story” by Elizabeth Gaskell, the first story in The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce, which we will be reading throughout 2025 for our year of reading Ghost Stories. Chris also read the ghost story The Inn by Guy De Maupassant.

We did get out and about for a Biblio Adventure to the New York Society Library to see a reading of Lord Byron’s Manfred by The New Relic Theatre. While there we also watched a virtual event via the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism featuring Ruth Franklin in conversation about her new book The Many Lives of Anne Frank.

And we had two couch biblio adventures. Emily watched the film The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse based on the book by Charlie Mackesy, and Chris participated in the Women’s Prize Book Club with Sarah Waters in conversation with Simon Savidge about her novel Fingersmith.

Of course, we also talk about what we’re currently reading, hope to read, upcoming jaunts, Simon & Schuster’s news about book blurbs, and more.

There’s a whole lot of yuck in the world now, and we are grateful for good books and bookish friends. Thank you, friends, for listening and connecting with us on social media, email, or Zoom.

We wish you lots of Happy Reading!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode227

This is a book-packed episode! Because we had not recorded a regular episode in a month due to our annual top ten with Russell (see Episode 225), we had a pile-up of books to discuss.

But first, we share our LISTENER TOP TEN reads of 2024. There were several ties, so we had a top fourteen list. The first three books were not tied, and each received a substantial number of votes to place them in the TOP TEN.

Chris and Emily both enjoy ushering in the new year with nonfiction. Our “Just Read” segment includes several self-help/self-improvement titles. The fiction we’ve read ranges from literary fiction, thrillers, horror, and a classic.

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns and Encountering Naked Reality by Pema Chödrön

The Book of Shadow Work: Unlock the True You: The Must-Have Guide to Inner Healing and Authenticity by Keila Shaheen

Speak to Me of Home by Jeanine Cummins

The Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

The Militia House by John Milas

Heartwood by Amity Gaige

A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

We also had some fabulous Biblio Adventures to recap, including a joint jaunt to the gorgeous Providence Athenaeum, the featured image for this episode.

The Zoom conversation for our first quarter readalong of Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is coming up on February 16th. We also invite you to read the THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES with us this year. Listen to the episode for details, or check out the show notes.

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Episode 225, featuring our Top Reads of 2024 with Russell from Ink and Paper Blog. This is an annual tradition, and we’ve been doing this long enough that we think we know

that someone else will put a particular book on their list so that we can include some other book on our own list. It came down to the wire this year for one particular book that we all loved! As much as we try to “game the system,” we still manage to talk about over 40 books in this episode. Oh well. So it goes. #booksbooksbooks

We would love to know your top ten reads of 2024. If you’d like to share them, please fill out this simple Google form, which asks only for the book title and author name. We will sort through the results and share our Listener’s Top Ten Reads on the next episode.

Thank you so much for listening. We wish you lots of Happy Reading in 2025!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode225

We are thrilled to feature Dr. Pamela D. Toler who joined us to talk about her new book, THE DRAGON FROM CHICAGO: THE UNTOLD STORY OF AN AMERICAN REPORTER IN NAZI GERMANY. In a time when women were a rarity in the field, Sigrid Schultz was a print and broadcast journalist and the Chicago Tribune’s Berlin office bureau chief. She covered news from Europe and Germany from WWI through WWII and post-war years. Toler’s writing is accessible, and her subject’s life & work are amazing. Having read every byline that Schultz wrote, Toler was able to offer insights about how totalitarian governments gain power making this history book a must-read for those concerned about our present political climate.

Before we get into our regular segments, we recap our 2024 reading intentions and talk about reading intentions for 2025. We like “intention” because it implies a direction or focus rather than a specific goal. We do, however, mention some specific titles and authors, so perhaps those could be considered goals. Anyway, the point is we don’t want to tie ourselves up in knots if our reading lives take unexpected but exciting twists and turns. What are your reading intentions for the New Year?

Emily read two short stories from her Hingston and Olson Advent Calendar, “In the Stacks” by Robin Sloan and “The Hookup” by Katherine Heiny. She also discusses WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS by Catherine Newman, CHECK, PLEASE! BOOK 1: #HOCKEY by Ngozi Ukazu, and LITTLE GREAT ISLAND by Kate Woodworth (not out until May). Chris shares her newfound love for an 1848 classic of Victorian Literature, THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL by Anne Brontë. She also revisits an old favorite, FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters, which she listened to on audio.

We also share two exciting reading projects hosted by listeners, what we’re currently reading, (couch) Biblio Adventures, and more.

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoy this episode and wish you lots of Happy Reading!

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!