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

Welcome to Episode 263! We were excited to talk with Denise Kiernan about her timely new book on the eve of America’s 250th birthday, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution. In our “Just Read” segment, we talk about: TABLE 4 AT THE RIVER CAFE: Conversations about Food and Life by Ruthie Rogers 11/22/63 by Stephen King LAND by Maggie O’Farre...

lcome to Episode 262! We had a fantastic discussion with an enthusiastic group of listeners about our second quarter readalong, Fannie Flagg’s novel FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE. We talk about both the book and the movie. If you’re curious about our Q3 readalong choice, you’ll have to wait a little longer; we will announce it on the next episode). In our “Just Read” segment, we ta...

Welcome to Episode 261! It looks like our first quarter readalong title, FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley, has not lost its grip on us. We both finally watched and in this episode discuss The Bride!, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Wow. It is a wild ride of a movie and, much like the original novel, not for the faint of heart. Emily watched Remarkably Bright Creatures, based on the novel of...

Welcome to Episode 260! It’s another 10th episode, which means we have a GIVEAWAY for newsletter subscribers. One lucky subscriber of our free monthly newsletter will win hardcover copies of: Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For by Leonie Swann, translated by Amy Bojang Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson Subscribe by May 21 to be entered to win–th...

Welcome to Episode 259! We got a lot of reading done since the last episode: 📖 Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan 📖 The Body Farm: Scarpetta #5 by Patricia Cornwell 📖 The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout 📖 All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun 📖 Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom 📖 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke In Biblio Adventures, Chris celebrat...

Welcome to Episode 258! In a first for Book Cougars Author Spotlights, we welcome back an author not to discuss their next book, but to learn about why and how their first novel is being published for a second time – with a new publisher and a new ending! We enjoyed Heather Harper Ellett’s debut novel, AIN’T NOBODY NOBODY, and were thrilled to invite her back to talk about the new life being breat...

We have a fascinating Author Spotlight with EMILY FRANKLIN whose new novel comes out today! LOVE AND OTHER MONSTERS is historical fiction at its finest – engaging and well researched – that tells the story of Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley’s stepsister, who was very much a part of the group that spent time in that Swiss villa writing (or not writing) ghost stories to pass the time during the Year...

Welcome to Episode 256 featuring our Author Spotlight with biographer Sara Catterall! Sara’s new book, AMELIA BLOOMER: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon, was on Chris’s Top Ten list, and Emily was so into it that she cried at the end. We think biography lovers, history buffs, women’s rights advocates, and activists of all stripes will enjoy this biography. We had a great time talking with...

Welcome to Episode 255, where we dig into talking about FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley! We also discuss two adaptations that we’ve watched. We both plan to watch more adaptations and remain fascinated by Shelley and her work, so we are not done with FRANKENSTEIN. Thanks to everyone who attended the Zoom discussion and to those who have chatted with us via email, Goodreads, and social media. Books we...

Welcome to Episode 254! We are so excited to welcome Tiya Miles to the podcast to discuss her most recent book, NIGHT FLYER: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People. Don’t miss our conversation, which immediately follows our regular segments. [Should we put in a time stamp?] Chris has finished FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley, and Emily is #currentlyreading the novel, so we talk about it,...

Welcome to Episode 247! Can you believe it is already time to share our annual Holiday Gift Ideas?? Each year, starting with Episode 2 back in 2016, we share some bookish (or biblioadventuring) gifts. We hope you benefit from these in the form of presents for loved ones and/or for yourself! We also discuss our fourth quarter readalong pick – the last in our year of reading ghost stories – HOW TO S...

Welcome to Episode 252, where we share LISTENER TOP TEN READS of 2025! In past years, there hasn’t been much of a spread between the first and second place books on the list. But this year there is a 15-point spread between the first and second books! As usual, the first-place book was a novel, but the second-place book was nonfiction—a first ever for that. Usually, nonfiction doesn’t show up unti...

Welcome to Episode 251 – Another Annual Top Ten Celebration with Russell of Ink and Paper Blog! We each share our list of Top Ten books read in 2025 and a favorite Biblio Adventure. Of course, more than 30 books were mentioned during this conversation. It seems impossible to narrow it down to ten books, and we remind ourselves that these are our top ten that day, but it is a fun exercise. Don’t fo...

Welcome to Episode 250! We joke that we turned “250” before “America250,” the moniker given to the United States’s anniversary celebration. The country is celebrating 250 years in 2026. This is also our last episode of 2025, and we want to thank you for listening and making this another fantastic year filled with good books and good friends! Some highlights: We have our usual segments in this epis...

Welcome to Episode 249–we are now NINE! That’s right, December is our anniversary month. Episode 1 launched on December 6, 2016, and we’ve published a new episode every other Tuesday since then. Thank you so much for listening and all your encouragement along the way. We always wonder, especially around our anniversary: how did you discover our podcast?? Let us know in the comments or send us an e...

Welcome to Episode 248! This episode is a bit different. We have an Author Spotlight with biographer Natalie Dykstra. If you’ve been listening to the podcast since this summer, you know that we both read her fascinating biography, CHASING BEAUTY: THE LIFE OF ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER. We also visited the exceptional, impressive, excellent – let’s go with indescribable – Isabella Stewart Gardner Mus...

Welcome to Episode 246! We recap some fun Biblioadventures in this episode. Emily got to see Mel Rosenthal in conversation with Virginia Evans about her debut novel The Correspondent at an event hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers. Chris had a research visit to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where she enjoyed their book arts exhibit and admired the mantel in front of which Edga...

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 thoug...

Welcome to Episode 244! In years past, the cooler temps and changing leaves were indicators that the year was winding down. This year, we also have THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce as a gauge. After this episode, we have only three more stories left to read – can you believe it? (We can guess the mixed responses to this question! haha.) We both enjoyed “T...

Welcome to Episode 243! Rejoice, it's officially fall, which we think is the best time of the year to read ghost stories! In the last episode, when we announced our fourth quarter readalong pick – HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix – for our year of reading ghost stories, we said we’d share some of the other novels we considered in this episode, and we do, eight of them. We also discuss...

Welcome to Episode 242! It’s great to know we have some risk takers among us! We dared readers of our monthly newsletter to sign up for the fourth quarter readalong prior to knowing what the book was and a handful of adventurous readers took us up on it. Thank you for trusting us, and listen to this episode to hear the announcement about the Q4 readalong book. Some of the recent reads we discuss a...

Welcome to Episode 241! Some highlights of this episode include a discussion of our third quarter readalong, THE UPSTAIRS HOUSE by Julia Fine, and its companion read, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story, THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. Thanks to the readers who joined us for the Zoom conversation and helped deepen our appreciation of both stories. We also discussed “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W.Jacobs f...

Welcome to Episode 240! It’s another 10th episode, which means we’re giving away a book as we do every tenth episode. One lucky newsletter subscriber will receive a copy of CHASING BEAUTY: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner by Natalie Dykstra. If you’re not yet subscribed to our monthly newsletter, you can sign up on our website (go to the “support/subscribe” tab). Dykstra will be our guest on t...

Welcome to Episode 239! Playwright Laura Thoma joins us to talk about her first commissioned play, Letter to My Soul, which will premiere at the GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival on August 10th. We discuss another story from THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES, “At the End of the Passage” by Rudyard Kipling, which didn’t seem very ghostly to us. Other stories we’ve read and discuss include BUCK...