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

It’s another 10th episode which means we’re hosting a giveaway for newsletter subscribers! One lucky winner will receive a copy of DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy Maclean and THE DANTE CLUB by Matthew Pearl. To be entered to win, head to www.bookcougars.com/subscriber to join our newsletter; the winner will be chosen on September 15th.

In between some fantastic Biblio Adventures to Salem, MA, and a Couch Biblio Adventure where we watched the 1934 adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER, we managed to do some reading. We both read Alice Hoffman’s new novel (and the book that sparked Scarlet Summer), THE INVISIBLE HOUR. Emily devoured LARK ASCENDING by Silas House and Chris took a deep dive into Nathaniel with Brenda Wineapple’s biography, HAWTHORNE: A LIFE.

Chris is currently listening to ADVERSITY FOR SALE by Jay Jeezy Jenkins and Emily is listening to THIN PLACES by Kerri Ní Dochartaigh.

Scarlet Summer is winding down, but we still have one more Hawthorne-themed Biblio Adventure coming up: on Thursday, 9/21 we are heading to Boston. See you there?

The Book Cougars are thrilled to welcome Laurie Lico Albanese, author of HESTER, our second readalong for Scarlet Summer. Laurie dishes on Hawthorne, shares her inspiration for Isobel, and talks about her writing process. Don’t miss our Author Spotlight with Laurie at the end of the episode.

Other highlights include:

In our “Just Read” segment we talk about DEER SEASON by Erin Flanagan, THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES by Sangu Mandanna, THE RED GARDEN by Alice Hoffman, THE WITCHES OF MOONSHYNE MANOR by Bianca Marais, and two short stories: “The Profile” by Willa Cather and “The Wehrwolf” by Alma Katsu.

We recap our two-day Biblio Adventure to the Berkshires that included finding Hawthorne’s Little Red Cottage, a tour of The Mount, a visit with librarian Nynke Dorhout, an author event with Stacy Schiff in conversation with André Bernard, and a truncated hike up Monument Mountain.

In Upcoming Jaunts, we’re heading to Salem, Massachusetts to visit The House of the Seven Gables and other Hawthorne historic sites on Wednesday, 8/30. We’re also planning on attending a conference on our home turf here in New Haven, Popular Romance Fiction: The Literature of Hope at Yale University on September 8-9th.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

We had a great time talking with Erin Flanagan and Katrina Kittle. Both authors have new books coming out: COME WITH ME (8/22) and MORNING IN THIS BROKEN WORLD (9/1). Don’t miss our Author Spotlight conversation with them at the end of the episode.

What We’ve Just Read:

Emily: LET US DESCEND by Jesmyn Ward (out 10/3), a tough but rewarding read, and Peter Heller’s new release THE LAST RANGER, set in Yellowstone National Park.

Chris: A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS by Paul Tremblay – a contemporary twisty tale of possession set in Beverly, Massachusetts, a town that was swept up in the Witch Delusion of 1692

We had two fantastic Biblio Adventures. The first was a work day at Simmons University in Boston after which we saw Laura Sims (HOW CAN I HELP YOU) and Paul Tremblay (THE BEAST YOU ARE: STORIES) in conversation at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA. The second was local to us: we lunched at the French bistro Cocotte which is inside the historic James Pharmacy before heading across the street to the Hart House Museum to see their new exhibit, “Family Matters: Inspiration and Insights from the Lives of Anna Louise James and Ann Petry.”

As always, we talk about a whole bunch of books. Happy listening, and then Happy Reading!

A Book Cougars first: we interview a writing duo! In our Author Spotlight segment, we talk with Alli Frank and Asha Youmans about their new novel THE BETTER HALF, how they started writing together, their path to publication, and their writing process. Spoiler: matching pajamas!

Some episode highlights:

We both read Ann Petry’s powerful 1946 novel, THE STREET, for the Vintage Book Club (hosted by Book Club on the Go at Red Heat Tavern in South Windsor). This story about a struggling single mother in 1940s Harlem seems as relevant as ever and generated great discussion. We recommend the audio version narrated by Danielle Deadwyler.

Emily read a novel about two women friends by Edgar Award-winning novelist Erin Flanagan. If you like twisty and dark stories about people who are not what they seem, COME WITH ME (out 8/22) is for you. She also enjoyed Jennifer Weiner’s forthcoming beach read, THE BREAKAWAY (out 8/29), about a fat-positive protagonist who leads a bike tour. Emily also crossed off another square on her Scarlet Summer Bingo Card by reading/listening to WE RIDE UPON THE STICKS by Quan Barry, a story set in Danvers, MA with lots of 1980s love.

Chris ripped through Laura Sims’ new novel, HOW CAN I HELP YOU, a psychological mystery/thriller/suspense novel set in a small town library that revolves around two women who become obsessed with one another for very different reasons. Teaser: there’s more than a nod to Shirley Jackson. And while waiting out a thunderstorm at the Acton Public Library in Old Saybrook, Chris read WHAT DID IT TAKE? a short biography by Whitney McKendree Moore about Anna Louise James. James, a fascinating woman in her own right, was Ann Petry’s aunt.

We recap our Biblio Adventure at the Grolier Club in NYC where we did some archival research (Emily is hooked!) and also had a browse at McNally Jackson Books at Rockefeller Center.

On Wednesday, August 2nd, we’re heading to Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA to see Laura Sims and Paul Tremblay in conversation. Come join us!

Welcome to Episode 186! We chat about what we’re currently reading (How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens and Come with Me by Erin Flanagan) and books we’ve finished ( Morning in This Broken World by Katrina Kittle,

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King). We also discuss our third quarter readalong pick, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which means SCARLET SUMMER is in full swing!

In Biblio Adventures, we Zoomed in from the Concord Free Public Library for a lively discussion with listeners of The Scarlet Letter that left us with great insights, lots of food for thought, and high anticipation for the other two novels we’ll read for Scarlet Summer: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese and The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman.

Our day in Concord began with a fantastic tour of The Old Manse, the house Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne rented and lived in as newlyweds (and from which they were evicted for not paying rent). Later in the day, we had a walk around the outside of The Wayside, a house the Hawthornes purchased some years later. It’s not currently open for visitors, but it was fun to peek in the window and then walk a path down the block to Orchard House, Louise May Alcott’s Home (which we visited in 2018).

No visit to Concord is complete without a browse at The Concord Bookshop and a stop to pay respects at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where Hawthorne and other famous 19th-century writers were laid to rest on Author’s Ridge. Our Biblio Adventure to Concord, Massachusetts was a near-perfect day.

Our guest for this episode is Charles Baraw, Professor of American Literature and President of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, who joined us to talk about The Scarlet Letter and its long afterlife.

We mention a lot of books and recap other Biblio Adventures in this episode. These are all listed in the show notes which you can find here, https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2023/episode186

Happy Listening!

We both recently headed to the Midwest for some family & friend time.

Chris went to Chicago and met up with Colleen, our guest on Episodes 27 and 145. We had a browse in Women & Children First, a legendary feminist bookstore and one of Chicago’s oldest indies, after which we had lunch across the street at Lady Gregory’s, an Irish pub named after the legendary Irish dramatist. Chris also got to visit one of her favorite used bookstores, Frugal Muse in Darien, IL, where she found two copies of THE RED GARDEN by Alice Hoffman (it’s a book on our Scarlet Summer Bingo! Card).

Emily headed to Michigan to celebrate her daughter’s birthday and gifted her a Little Free Library! They went on a Biblio Adventure together to Blue Vase Book Exchange in Interlochen, MI, a used bookstore with a computer inventory database (so convenient!). Emily also got to visit Bay Books in Suttons Bay, MI where she discovered the books of Viola Shipman, a local author. Shipman is actually the pen name of Wade Rouse whose grandma inspired his writing so he writes under her name. What an amazing way to honor her.

We also finished a few books. Chris feels quite accomplished for having finished ULYSSES by James Joyce. Phew! As she says in the episode, it is everything that everyone has ever said it is. Emily read THE RED GARDEN by Alice Hoffman, a collection of related stories that contain a few “Easter Eggs” that’ll show up in her forthcoming novel, THE INVISIBLE HOUR, which comes out in August. She also read THE BETTER HALF by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, who will be our guests on Episode 186. As for upcoming reads and Biblio Adventures, we’ll both be reading THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne this week and are looking forward to our Biblio Adventure to Concord, MA. Reminder that our readalong discussion is on Wed, July 12, 4:30 pm ET at the Concord Public Library. If you’d like to join us in person or on the Zoom call, please email us at [email protected].

SCARLET SUMMER kicks off Independence Day weekend! Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthday is July 4th, so we consider it an auspicious start for our summer-long readalong. Our website has a new page, https://www.bookcougars.com/scarletsummer2023, where you can find all the info about SCARLET SUMMER, including a link to download your BINGO! card. As Emily noted in the episode, at least one reader is already making “witchy substitutions” on her card. We listed each of the three readalong books three times to make it easy to win, but feel free to swap out any of the repeat squares for other witch-related or Hawthorne or Albanese or Hoffman books.

We are both making progress on our #BigBookSummer reads (DEVIL IN THE GROVE and ULYSSES) and we’ve read a few fun/interesting/thought-provoking books including:

—EVEN THOUGH I KNEW THE END by C.L. Polk (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9781250849458)

—THE WHISPERS by Ashley Audrain (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9781984881694)

—THOUGHTS FROM THE OAK by Audrey Colasanti (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9781913606602)

—GRACELAND by Nancy Crochiere (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9780063288430)

In Biblio Adventures we recap our day in Newport, Rhode Island visiting the Redwood Library & Athenaeum, the Newport Public Library, and Charter Books where we attended their event with Claire Fuller for her new novel, THE MEMORY OF ANIMALS. (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9781953534873)

Chris watched the documentary Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb about their decades-long writer/editor relationship. We recorded this episode in the early afternoon of June 21st and were deeply saddened when news broke later in the day of Gottlieb’s death.

Emily had a lovely trip to Manhattan to visit Aunt Ellen who is back on the East Coast for a visit. They went to P&T Knitwear Books (which has a podcast studio you can reserve for free) and Sweet Pickle Books (where you can trade books for pickles!).

Our Author Spotlight features a conversation with Bethanne Patrick discussing her memoir LIFE B: OVERCOMING DOUBLE DEPRESSION. (https://bookshop.org/a/17535/9781640091290)

As always, thank you for listening and we wish you lots of Happy Reading!

Emily & Chris

Mushrooms! Librarians! Serial killer victims brought back to life! New friends and life reinvigorated through reading! We’ve had some good reads since our last episode.

We’re both digging into our #BigBookSummer reading challenge books. Emily has started DEVIL IN THE GROVE by Gilbert King. Chris has thrown away the reading schedule for ULYSSES by James Joyce but is reading on.

In Biblio Adventures, Chris had a browse at the Book Barn in Niantic, CT where she stumbled across TRAVELS WITHOUT CHARLEY by Bill Goralski. She also attended a fall preview event with Simon and Schuster where five authors talked with their editors about their forthcoming fall releases: Safiya Sinclair, Myriam Gurba, Stephanie Land, Nicole Walters, and Melissa Broder.

We both enjoyed our 2nd quarter readalong pick, THE READING LIST and were delighted to talk with author Sara Nisha Adams!

Just after our conversation with Sara, we announce our 3rd quarter readalong plans. Buckle up for SCARLET SUMMER!

Welcome to Episode 182!

There is a lot of Biblio Adventure recapping in this episode, from author events (Mary Beth Keane at R.J. Julia) to movies (two book adaptations starring Kathy Bates), to bookstore visits in Vermont (Northshire and Monroe Street Books) and New York (Rogers Book Barn and Oblong Books).

In the midst of wrapping up library school and plugging away on a huge grant review project, we both managed to actually finish a book apiece:

Emily: Budmo! Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen by Anna Voloshyna

Chris: Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach

We are also getting ready for Sue Jackson’s 11th Annual BIG BOOK SUMMER Reading Challenge! We’ve both picked a big book to kick off the summer.

Chris chose a novel this year, one she never thought she’d read. It was published in Paris in 1922. Can you guess? Emily chose a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical best-seller about Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. (We’ll add links to the buddy reads for these books in the comments.)

Emily also requests your help choosing which novel to read — she has a stack of four and can’t decide — so help a girl out and vote on our Goodreads poll! [vote here]

What are your reading plans this summer? As we say in the episode, it doesn’t have to be a big book or anything fancy, we’re just curious if you have special reading plans this summer. Let us know in the comments.

Thank you for listening, and we wish you lots of HAPPY READING!

Chris & Emily

P.S. Listen here https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2023/episode182 or wherever you get your podcasts.