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

Welcome to Episode 163! Both of us had some solo Biblio Adventures, but we also went on an EPIC Joint Jaunt to New Hampshire. We visited all three Toadstool Bookstores — Nashua, Peterborough, and Keene — in a day! We left Guilford (CT) at 7 a.m. and got home twelve hours later, just before 7 p.m. In total, we visited four bookshops, two libraries, one Little Free Library (that we forgot to mention...

Chris and Emily sit down for a good old fashioned book chat. There’s no interview this episode, just us. Emily is reading an advance copy of Elizabeth Strout’s forthcoming novel, LUCY BY THE SEA (9/20/2022), and Katherine May’s memoir, THE ELECTRICITY OF EVERY LIVING THING: ONE WOMAN’S WALK WITH ASPERGER’S. Chris is deep into MANSFIELD PARK by Jane Austen (#AustenInAugustRBR) and getting back into...

Episode 161 features fictional mermaids, bears, and time travel adventure to stop the not so fictional nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. We talk with Rachel Barenbaum about ATOMIC ANNA, her new novel that’s a fascinating mix of historical fiction, thriller, and a family saga about multigenerational women working together to prevent both personal and community catastrophe. Shout outs: THE MERMAID OF B...

Every tenth episode we do a giveaway and here we are again with not one, but TWO giveaways! All you have to do to be entered to win is be a newsletter subscriber. (Sign up here: https://www.bookcougars.com/subscriber) We announce our third quarter readalong (thanks to everyone who voted!) and, as always, we talk about what we’re reading, just read, and the biblioadventures we’ve been on. We were t...

We have both done some traveling since the last episode. Emily was in Colorado and Utah and Chris was in North Carolina and Illinois. You know we hit some bookstores, which you’ll hear about in our Biblio-Adventures segment. We’ve also checked off two #BigBookSummer reads! Emily finished the Plainsong Series by Kent Haruf and Chris enjoyed her re-read of The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova. Some of...

Some highlights in this episode: Emily and Chris have kicked off their reading for Sue Jackson’s Big Book Summer reading challenge! Both Book Cougars are starting off with re-reads: Chris is re-reading THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova and Emily is reading Kent Haruf’s Prairie series. She’s already re-read the first novel, PLAINSONG, and is now into EVENTIDE. In biblio adventures, we had a great...

We dedicate this episode to Jenny Colvin, host of the Reading Envy podcast. We were stunned and deeply saddened to learn of her sudden death. Jenny will be deeply missed by the book community. Our thoughts are with her loved ones and family. On this episode we recap our biblioadventure to Manchester, VT for Booktopia at the Northshire Bookstore, which included stops at a charming library and sever...

#BuddyRead! We had a fun time talking with our Mystery Man, JOHN VALERI, about Agatha Christie’s DEATH ON THE NILE, both her novel and Kenneth Branagh’s new adaptation. Spoiler alert: mixed reviews. Other books we read and discuss in this episode did not have mixed reviews. We both had some good reads! THOMAS MERTON: An Introduction to His Life, Teachings, and Practices by Jon M. Sweeney (audio) T...

A big welcome back to JESS MONTGOMERY! We have a lovely chat about the new entry in her Kinship Series, THE ECHOES: A Novel. Emily and Chris are both currently reading DEATH ON THE NILE by Agatha Christie for a buddy read with Our Mystery Man, John Valeri. Stayed tuned for our conversation with John about the novel and the new movie adaptation coming up on episode 155. The big news in our lives is...

Emily and Chris were honored to have the opportunity to talk with author Amy Bloom about her new memoir, IN LOVE: A Memoir of Love and Loss about Amy and her husband Brian Ameche's love and his decision to end his life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Both Book Cougars are captivated by this beautifully written memoir about love, the agony of dealing with Alzheimer’s, and choosing to end on...

Announcing our second quarter readalong! TWO OLD WOMEN: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis. Emily recaps her trip to Washington, D.C. where she was able to visit three awesome bookstores and came across a lovely memorial Little Free Library. We talk about some books we READ. Shout outs to Huma Abedin (BOTH/AND) Dolly Parton & James Patterson (RUN, ROSE, RUN), Erica...

Spring is in the air and the Book Cougars are on the prowl! Translation: Biblioadventures are ramping up as the weather gets better and Covid rates continue to fall. We can’t remember the last time we had two joint jaunts in the same week, so it was a special treat to visit Riverbend Bookshop in Glastonbury, Connecticut and the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusettes. Emily took a solo bibilo...

We are thrilled to bring you our author spotlight with Michael P. Branch discussing his book On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer. It published TODAY from Pegasus Books. Every 10th episode we like to celebrate by giving away books. 🎉 This time around we are offering up four books: 📖 Honor by Thruty Umrigar 📖 The Servant Mage by K...

We are thrilled to welcome back author and podcaster Bianca Marais! Bianca talks with us about her Audible Original short story THE PRYNNE VIPER and her podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. In Biblio Adventures we recap our day up in Northampton, MA where we had a delicious lunch at Noodles, walked around Smith College (you know we hit the bookstore), visited the Forbes Public Library...

Books we’ve read since last episode: HONOR by Thrity Umrigar (Algonquin Books) THE PEACOCK by Isabel Bogdan, translated by Annie Rutherford (V&Q Books) YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBAND? By Lizzie Damilola Blackburn (Pamela Dorman Books) Two picture books: THE GOOD EGG and THE BAD SEED by Jory John and Pete Oswald (HarperCollins) THE SENTENCE by Louise Erdrich (Harper) HER LAST AFFAIR by John Searles (...

Our 2022 reading is off to an excellent start! We read and discuss five novels, two memoirs, a biography, and a children’s picture book in this episode. They are: HOPE AT SEA by Daniel Miyares I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU by Jami Attenberg MAGIC LESSONS by Alice Hoffman FALLING by T.J. Newman REBECCA HARDING DAVIS: A LIFE AMONG WRITERS by Sharon M. Harris IN LOVE: A MEMOIR OF LOVE & LOSS by...

BookTuber RUSSELL GRAY of Ink & Paper Blog joins the Book Cougars for our annual celebratory sharing of our Top 10 Reads of the year. If you think 3 x 10 = 30, you’d be wrong! Before we dive into our Top 10, Emily and Chris to have a regular, if shortened, episode where we recap our Biblio Adventure to the amazingly curated House of Books in Kent, CT and the Kent Memorial Library. Emily shares som...

On Episode 144 we celebrate our anniversary! Join us as we take a walk down memory lane reflecting on the last five years together as the Book Cougars. We chat about memorable biblio adventures and group readalongs, highlight some of our top reads of the past five years, and take the opportunity to thank people that are part of the Book Cougar’s family. Special guests on this episode include Laura...

Terror, Murder, Death!! Our reading this episode isn’t as bleak as the themes of our “Just Read” books would suggest. Emily seriously enjoyed STATE OF TERROR by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny on audio. The action is great, and she was pleasantly surprised that it is also a story of friendship between two women. After the terror, Emily visited THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman, a f...

Both Chris and Emily inhaled Alice Henderson’s second Alex Carter novel, A BLIZZARD OF POLAR BEARS, which is out today, 11/9! Emily has been partaking in the Laurie Colwin renaissance and read HOME COOKING: A WRITER IN THE KITCHEN and her novel, HAPPY ALL THE TIME. Chris enjoyed Our Mystery Man John’s recent recommendation, THE VAMPYRES OF HOLLYWOOD by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott. And we re...

Emily is immersing herself in some self-love reading. She’s enjoying The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor and she re-read (!) Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen. Chris meanwhile is on a horror binge — She’s listening to an audio version of Dracula by Bram Stoker and read The Sundial by Shirley Jackson. ’Tis the season! But both Book Cougars fan-girled big ti...

John Valeri, our Mystery Man and host of Central Booking, returns to offer Halloween season recommendations for middle-grade, young adult, and adult readers. Emily has nothing but high praise for THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS by Ruth Ozeki. She’s also thrilled to discover author Zoraida Cordóva (THE INHERITANCE OF ORQUİEDA DIVINA), and you’ll have to listen to hear her favorite line from the book...

We wrap up our read along of The Doctors Blackwell with an interview with the author, Janice P. Nimura. Emily explores the life of one Tokyo housewife through Emily Itami’s debut novel, Fault Lines, and finds solace and inspiration from Maggie Smith in her book, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. Meanwhile, Chris has been listening to Farah Jasmine Griffin read her new work that i...