Welcome to Episode 206 where we have a fantastic conversation with Rebecca Rego Barry, author of THE VANISHING OF CAROLYN WELLS: Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author. One reviewer referred to Barry’s book as a “process biography.” It is true, Barry takes you along on her investigation into the life of Carolyn Wells who, it turns out, wrote more than mysteries. She wrote poetry, plays, screenplays, puzzles, children's books, and a YA series. Wells was also a serious book collector in...

Welcome to Episode 205! April is National Poetry Month and we are here for it. Emily is currently reading YOU ARE HERE: Poetry in the Natural World, a new anthology edited by Ada Limón, and Chris is reading BOATS FOR WOMEN by Sandra Yannone. Since our last episode, Chris finished listening to WAKE UP WITH PURPOSE! What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years by Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt. She also enjoyed the first issue of DEPROG by Tina Horn, Gab Contreras, Dani Strips, and Lisa Sterle,...

We begin Episode 204 with the announcement of our second quarter readalong in our year of reading romance and end with a delightful conversation with author Allison Pataki about her fabulous new novel, FINDING MARGARET FULLER. Since our last episode, Emily has continued with her intention of reading a short story every Monday. She read “Lot” by Bryan Washington from the story collection LOT: Stories and “Postcards from Heaven” from REUNION BEACH: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank....

Welcome to Episode 203! Some highlights of this episode: Emily dives into the pages of THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon and the delicious world of baking with THE COOKIE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE cookbook by Nancy Silverton and Carolynn Carreno. Meanwhile, Chris is back in high school with Jenna Miller's new sapphic YA romance, WE GOT THE BEAT. Emily devoured Elle Cosimano's new release, FINLAY DONOVAN ROLLS THE DICE, and was deeply moved by Suleika Jaouad's memoir BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS. She...

Welcome to Episode 202 of the Book Cougars, featuring an Author and Editor Spotlight with Jessica Pryde. Chris and Emily are enjoying and learning from Jess’s ground-breaking anthology, BLACK LOVE MATTERS: REAL TALK ON ROMANCE, BEING SEEN, AND HAPPILY EVER AFTERS. Thanks to listener Katie for putting this book on our radar. We’re both currently immersed in audiobooks. – Chris is reading a new biography, THE VANISHING OF CAROLYN WELLS by Rebecca Rego Barry (available now from Vibrance Press...

Welcome to Episode 201 featuring an Author Spotlight with LUANNE RICE recorded at the beautiful and welcoming Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library in Old Lyme, CT. Luanne’s new novel, LAST NIGHT, is out now. You’ve heard us rave about it in recent episodes and we do our best to keep our conversation with Luanne spoiler free. Some highlights of this episode: After recording with Luanne, we headed to Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT to attend her book launch. She was in conversation with new-to-us...

Thank you for listening over the years and helping us reach our 200th episode! To celebrate this milestone, we invited special guests to call the Book Cougars hotline and recommend two forthcoming books they can’t wait for all of us to read. This idea was inspired by Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness, hosts of the podcast Books on the Nightstand, who had a segment called “Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read.” Chris and Emily met through Books on the Nightstand; their sunset inspired our...

Welcome to Episode 199! We have read A LOT since our last regularly recorded episode in December, so be prepared! In our “Just Read” segment, we talk about books by Lois Hamill, Hisashi Kashiwai, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, Josie Silver, James R. Benn, Alice Hoffman, Kate Jacobs, Tiago Forte, Julie Alvarez, Luanne Rice, Elizabeth Acevedo, Ann Hood, and Abraham Verghese. Phew! Spot any of your favorite authors in that list? The funny thing is, we are also currently reading a bunch of books. Go...

Welcome to our fourth annual Top Ten Reads of the Year episode with BookTuber Russell Gray of Ink and Paper Blog! We each talk about our top ten reads of 2023. Some books were published in 2023, and others are a bit older, but they all stirred our hearts and minds and we want to sing their praises. Russell, Emily, and Chris all have such different reading tastes that there is sure to be at least one book in this bunch of 30+ (some people cheated) that you will want to add to your TBR list. We...

Welcome to our last episode of the year! We reflect on our 2023 reading intentions, announce our 2024 readalong theme, and have a delightful conversation with Australian author Pip Williams to cap off our year of reading Books About Books. Some of the books we just read & discuss: – THE HELSINKI AFFAIR by Anna Pitoniak – THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND by Donal Ryan – UNNATURAL DEATH by Patricia Cornwell – THE MAID by Nita Prose – THE BOOKBINDER by Pip Williams In Biblio Adventures, we had a...

Once again, we are grateful for the miracle of modern technology that allowed us to record this episode from two locations. Chris was recovering from the flu and, to keep Emily healthy, we recorded over Zoom. In our Just Read segment, we talk about nine very different books in a variety of genres: epic poetry, memoir, biography, and novels, including a graphic novel. Both Cougars finished THE BOOKBINDER by Pip Williams, our last readalong in our year of reading Books About Books. Chris...

Welcome to our 8th Annual Bookish Holiday Gifts episode! The first time we recommended holiday gift ideas was on Episode 2, way back in December 2016. Listeners enjoyed it so much that we’ve done it every year since. We hope you enjoy our ideas this year. Links to items discussed are in the show notes. We would like to note that none of our suggestions are ads or affiliates. They are things we have used or, in the case of custom bobbleheads, something we would like to...

Episode 194 is bookended by Poetry and Romance. We begin with the poem “Only Love” by James Crews from the poetry collection, THE PATH TO KINDNESS: Poems of Connection and Joy. We end with an Author Spotlight with Sarah MacLean. Sarah is a powerhouse reader, advocate, and writer of romance fiction. Her new release is KNOCKOUT, book three in her Hell’s Belles series. We had a great time talking with Sarah about romance cover art, how she got into writing romance, and the un-patriarchal...

Chris and Emily were thrilled to sit down and talk with Davina Morgan-Witts, the Founder and Publisher of BookBrowse. Founded in 1998, BookBrowse is one of the earliest independent online book resources. Davina and her team of editors and reviewers are committed to being “Your guide to exceptional books.” If you are not yet familiar with BookBrowse, check it out. It is a helpful and fun resource for solo readers and book clubs. Since our last episode, Emily was on the road again and visited...

Author Spotlight: Chris and Emily have a great time talking with Fancy Feast about her new (and debut) essay collection, NAKED: ON SEX, WORK, AND OTHER BURLESQUES. We bid adieu to Scarlet Summer with a recap of our Biblio Adventure to Boston where we visited sites related to Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first stop was the land upon which Brook Farm operated in West Roxbury, MA where we hiked to the crumbling foundation of Margaret Fuller’s cottage. In Boston’s historic district, we had lunch at...

Chris and Emily are happy to welcome back author SHULY CAWOOD to talk about her new poetry collection, SOMETHING SO GOOD IT CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH. Shuly reads a poem and talks about her poetic process, and we ask her to discuss our favorite(s) in the collection. We enjoy Shuly’s poetry in part because it is so accessible. Biblio Adventures are always fun and interesting, and we went on one that opened up a huge new-to-us genre, ROMANCE! We recap a conference we attended at Yale, Popular...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...