Welcome to Episode 245!

A highlight of this episode, if you want to call it that, is our discussion of Henry James’s ghost story, “The Jolly Corner,” from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES. Chris also read his novella, “The Turn of the Screw,” so we actually talk about two Henry James stories. We’re sorry. Haha. We jest, but in all honesty, we struggled with James’s writing style, even if we thought the plots were engaging. If you’re a Henry James fan, what are we missing? We’d love to hear from you!

The image for this episode is a selfie we took in front of Henry James’s portrait at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston earlier this year. It was painted in 1911 by his nephew, William “Billy” James.

We had much more fun reading and discussing “The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier. There’s a new collection of Du Maurier’s short stories out, AFTER MIDNIGHT: THIRTEEN TALES FOR THE DARK HOURS, which prompted our buddy read of this suspenseful tale of increasing dread. We plan on watching Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of the same name before the next episode.

In our “Just Read” segment, we also talk about:

THE LAST RESORT by Erin Entrada Kelly

THE DOGS OF VENICE by Steven Rowley

AFTERTASTE by Daria LaVelle

AGNES GREY by Anne Brontë

In Biblio Adventures, we were thrilled to make it to the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, CT, to see SPUNK. Zora Neale Hurston dreamed of seeing her short story, published in 1925, adapted for the stage. It took one hundred years to happen, but her wish has come true.

As always, there’s more “inside.”

Happy Listening and Happy Reading!

https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode245