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

Latest Episodes:

Episode 149 - Author and Podcaster Bianca Marais Stops By for a Chat Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

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, and the Old Book Store. We also both attended excellent online events which netted a laundry list of great books. We finished some excellent reads — THE SWIMMERS by Julie Otsuka, YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT by Daniel Kehlmann (translated by Ross Benjamin), and FURIA by Yamile Saied Méndez to name a few. Reminder about our current readalong, A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger. Emily and Chris will discuss the novel on Episode 150 so please get any questions or comments to us by 2/22. There are also a couple spots left for our Zoom group discussion on 2/27 at 7 pm EST (email us if you’d like to attend, bookcougars@gmail.com). For a list of all the books mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes: https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2022/episode149

Episode 148 - Reading Sure Makes Time Fly (how is it already February???) Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

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 (March 22, 2022 Mariner Books) MEMPHIS by Tara M. Stringfellow (April 5, 2022 Dial Press) Our reading since the last episode ranges from the horrific consequences of religious intolerance to a crazed peacock prowling an old Scottish estate; from pressure on Nigerian women to marry to an egg who learns to take care of himself and a sunflower seed who learns to value himself; from a haunted bookstore to an abandoned drive-in theater to the streets of Memphis. Of course we also talk about what we’re currently reading, what we want to read, and biblio adventures! Also, reminder that our current readalong is A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger.

Episode 147 - Q1 Readalong Pick, 2022 Reading Plans, and 2021 Listener Top 10s Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

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 Amy Bloom
RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE by Rita Mae Brown (audiobook narrated by Anna Paquin)
THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DuBOIS, Honorée Fanzine Jeffers
THE SWELLS, Will Aitken
We also announce our theme for 2022 — Indigenous Writers. Our first Readalong title for the first quarter is A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger.
And like many readers, we spent some time at the end of 2021 thinking about what directions we’d like our reading adventures to take us this year. Call them plans, goals, determinations, or intentions, we’ve got some and share them with you.
Thanks to all of the listeners who submitted their Top 10(ish) reads of 2021. Emily compiled them all into a spreadsheet and we discuss highlights. If you’d like a copy of the spreadsheet, email us, or you can see all of the books on our Bookshop.org List: org list: Listeners Top Books of 2021.

Episode 146 - Top Ten Books of 2021 with BookTuber Russell Gray Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

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 some details about Huma Abedin’s conversation about her new memoir BOTH/AND with Hillary Clinton and Samantha Barry at the 92nd Street Y. Chris enjoyed SERVANT MAGE by Kate Elliot and Emily went on a reading tear over the holiday weekend and read THESE SILENT WOODS by Kimi Cunningham Grant, MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis, THE BIRDS OF OPULENCE by Crystal Wilkinson, BOMB SHELTER by by Mary Laura Philpott, and WHO IS MAUDE DIXON? by Alexandra Andrews. What a great end to 2021!

Episode 145 - International Biblio Adventure and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Episode 144 - Celebrating Our 5th Anniversary! Dec 07, 2021

Show notes

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 Thoma and Aunt Ellen! As a group, we discuss initial reactions when we picked the name “Book Cougars” for the podcast. Both Chris and Emily are reading I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou. This book is our next readalong and we would love for you to join the conversation. Check the website details. Emily did some biblio-adventuring in Michigan. A highlight was a stop in Glen Arbor where she stepped into the delightful Cottage Book Shop located in a log cabin. Chris had the opportunity to explore historic navigation books at the Coast Guard Academy Library Special Collections - she touched a book from 1680!

Episode 143 - Author Spotlight with Jenna Blum Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

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 fun and clever read about four friends in a peaceful retirement community who get together to discuss unsolved crimes, and then one day find themselves in the midst of their own murder investigation. Chris finished WOODROW ON THE BENCH: Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog by Jenna Blum. This is Jenna’s first memoir and a tribute to her black lab, Woodrow. Known as the George Clooney of dogs, Woodrow lived to be 15. It’s a caretaking memoir that is funny, heartfelt, and bound to bring tears to your eyes. Listen to our Author Spotlight to hear more about Woodrow from Jenna herself.

Episode 142 - O Beautiful Pub Day Conversation with Jung Yun Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

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 recount our Joint Jaunt to The Montague Bookmill, a used bookstore located alongside the Sawmill River in Massachusetts. The Book Cougars were thrilled to sit down and talk with Jung Yun about her second novel, O BEAUTIFUL, which is out today, 11/9. This novel is centered around the oil boom in North Dakota. Elinor is a 40-something Korean-American woman who is reinventing herself as a journalist after leaving her first career as a model. She finds herself back in her home state of North Dakota where an important assignment and investigation into the boom prompts a collision between Elinor’s own past and present. The result is a dark and complex story about identity, gender, race, class, and violence, both inter-personal and environmental. O BEAUTIFUL is a masterful exploration into a woman’s experience that sheds light not only on one place and time, but on so much of the discontent and pain in American culture today.

Episode 141 - Author Spotlight with Alice Henderson Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

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 time over Alice Henderson author of the new Alex Carter “cli-fi” mystery/thriller series. Wildlife lovers and climate advocates won’t want to miss our Author Spotlight with Alice.

Episode 140 - Our Mystery Man Returns with Spooktacular Recommendations Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

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. And even though she would have preferred to read cupcake books while on vacation, Emily did finish the dark novel, MRS. MARCH by Virginia Feito for book club. Chris finished listening to Farah Jasmine Griffin’s READ UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, which is part memoir, part literary criticism, and an exploration of African-American cultural themes. She also had a deliciously creepy experience listening to the sexy Audible Original production of CARMILLA by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. And Chris highly recommends the graphic novel SHADOW LIFE about a 70-something woman who fights death by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu. It’s also another 10th episode, which means it’s GIVEAWAY time! All you have to do to be entered to win is subscribe to our monthly newsletter, which you can do here: https://www.bookcougars.com/subscriber (If you’re already subscribed, you’re in!)

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