Chris and Emily recorded Episode 235 over Zoom. Emily was holding down the fort at Book Cougars HQ in Connecticut and Chris dialed in from Pittsburgh, PA. She was on the road back to Connecticut from Illinois and had some fun Biblio Adventures to share including a visit to Van Wert, Ohio where she visited The Brumback Library and had lunch with Linda, the BC’s librarian. She also visited the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and got to browse Caliban Bookshop. Emily saved the day or at least story time at Wesleyan R.J. Julia. She was there with her daughter to share her granddaughter’s first bookstore story time and ended up hosting said story time!

Books we’ve read since the last episode and discuss include:

— RENEGADE GIRLS: A QUEER TALE OF ROMANCE AND RABBLE-ROUSING by Nora Neus and illustrated by Julie Robine

— THE GOOD HOUSE by Tananarive Due

— A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND: THE KU KLUX KLAN'S PLOT TO TAKE OVER AMERICA, AND THE WOMAN WHO STOPPED THEM byTimothy Egan

— A DOG IN GEORGIA by Lauren Grodstein (forthcoming 8/5)

— THE GREAT GATSBY AT 100 by Sheila Liming

— THE WRITING LIFE by Annie Dillard

This episode’s ghost story is “The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House” by Harriet Beecher Stowe from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES FROM ELIZABETH GASKELL TO AMBROSE BIERCE.

We also talk about meeting up for coffee with Deanna (a listener from Virginia), our upcoming jaunts, and mention the books we’ve chosen to kick off the #BigBookSummer Reading Challenge.

Many thanks to Shirley Russak Wachtel, author of THE BAKER OF LOST MEMORIES, for sponsoring this episode!

We hope that if you go on a road trip this summer, you’re able to drive at your preferred pace, on your preferred type of road, and listen to the audiobook of your choice.

Happy Reading!