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

Book Cougars
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Chris and Emily discuss books and literary adventures

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 261 - Episode 261 - Still in the Grip of Frankenstein, and Now Gyllenhaal's The Bride!

    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 the same name by Shelby Van Pelt, and Chris saw The Devil Wears Prada 2, inspired by the novels by Lauren Weisberger What a great year for page-to-screen adaptations 2026 is shaping up to be! Two forthcoming adaptations that we’re looking forward to are a mini-series of East of Eden by John Steinbeck and a series called Anna Pigeon based on Nevada Barr’s series that starts with TRACK OF THE CAT. Books we’ve Just Read include FIVE by Ilona Bannister, FROM POTTERS FIELD: Scarpetta #6 by Patricia Cornwell, and THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST by Anne Tyler. It is now officially #BigBookSummer, and we’re ready to dive into some books that are 400+ pages. Emily plans on starting with the BEARTOWN trilogy by Fredrik Backman, and Chris’s first big book will be 11/22/63 by Stephen King. We’d love to hear about your summer reading plans. Leave a comment or send us an email (hello@bookcougars.com). Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode261

    1h 23m

  2. May 19

    Buddy Reading with Our Mystery Man John Valeri

    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–there’s a link in the shownotes, or go directly to our website. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on May 22, 2026. It will come as no surprise that we talk about A LOT of books in this two-hour episode. First of all, we went to The Northshire Book Festival: A Weekend in Booktopia, where we saw the following authors talk about their new books: All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan Crucible by John Sayles Dreamt I Found You by Jimin Han Little Movements by Lauren Morrow Mrs. Benedict Arnold by Emma Parry Pollock’s Last Lover by Stephen P. Kiernan Take It From Me by Alia Hannah Habib The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush by Susan Gregg Gilmore Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer Whidbey by T Kira Madden Booktopia is our favorite Biblio Adventure, and we hope Northshire does it again next year! And then JOHN VALERI, Our Mystery Man, joins us to talk about Buddy Reads! Emily and John discuss WELCOME TO THE HYUNAM-DONG BOOKSHOP by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan. Chris and John talk about Patricia Cornwell’s new memoir, TRUE CRIME, and their reread of her Scarpetta series. If you’d like to get together with us to talk about FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE by Fannie Flagg, we still have a couple of spots available for our June 7th discussion. Email us at hello@bookcougars.com. We hope you enjoy this mammoth episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode260

    2h 6m

  3. May 5

    Episode 259 -

    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 celebrated Independent Bookstore Day at The Book Barn in Niantic and at Bank Square Books in Mystic. Emily visited her son in Colorado and had a productive workday at the Carbondale Public Library, one of her favorites. She also discovered a speakeasy-style cocktail bar and restaurant at the Denver airport – it’s in the A gates behind a facade of book-filled bookshelves! The facade holds real books that are a take-one-leave-one library. This year is the 35th anniversary of the movie adaptation of Fannie Flag’s novel, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE, which just so happens to be our second quarter readalong pick. There will be showings at major theater chains this month, so check out your local listings. There are a few spots left for our June 7th discussion of the novel and movie (7 pm ET). Email us – hello@bookcougars.com – if you’d like to participate. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode259

    1h 3m

  4. Apr 21

    Episode 258 - Author Spotlight with Heather Harper Ellett

    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 breathed into her fantastic literary mystery, which also now has an audiobook version. Don’t miss our conversation, which follows our regular segments. We finished/DNF’d some good/okay reads since last time: – PET SEMATARY by Stephen King – THE GOLDEN BOY by Patricia Finn – TRUE CRIME: A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell – RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton – SHOELESS JOE JACKSON COMES TO IOWA: Stories by W.P. Kinsella In Biblio Adventures, we visited some fabulous independent and used bookstores: –CT: River Bend Bookshop’s new location in West Hartford; Grey Matter Books, the Book Trader Cafe, and Atticus Bookstore Cafe in New Haven –MA: Papercuts Bookshop in Jamaica Plain, Boston –NYC: Pickle Books and P&T Knitwear Books on the Lower East Side And check out Emily’s conversation with author Rebecca Kauffman about her novel THE RESERVATION over on Ingredient One. As always, we talk about more books and #biblioadventures than we list here. We hope you enjoy the episode and check out the show notes for links to all/most of the books, movies, and places that we mention. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode258

    1h 54m

  5. Apr 7

    Episode 257 - Author Spotlight with Emily Franklin

    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 Without Summer. Who was Claire? Why has Claire been forgotten by history? Why did Mary intentionally leave Claire out of her 1831 preface to Frankenstein? You’ll have to read the novel to find out, but first, we hope you enjoy our conversation with Emily. Books we discuss in our “Just Read” segment: WRITTEN IN THE WATERS: A Memory of History, Home, and Belonging by Tara Roberts IN THE SHADOW OF YOUNG GIRLS IN FLOWER: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2 by Marcel Proust CRUEL & UNUSUAL, Scarpetta Book 4, by Patricia Cornwell THE SUMMER BOOK by Tove Jansson As always, we also talk about what we’re currently reading, what we hope to read, and Biblio Adventures. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode257

    1h 41m

  6. Mar 24

    Episode 256 - Author Spotlight with Sara Catterall & Q2 Readalong Announcement

    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 Sara, so don’t miss our conversation with her at the end of the episode. In our “Just Read” segment, we talk about a wide variety of books: ANDERSON IN BLOOM by Jennifer Dugan THIS BOOK MADE ME THINK OF YOU by Libby Page EVERY DAY I READ: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan NEVER CAUGHT: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar MISSING SISTER by Joshilyn Jackson ULTRALEARNING: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career by Scott H. Young In #BiblioAdventures, we recap several “Couch Biblio Adventures,” including watching the movie HARRIET, binging the new season of VIRGIN RIVER, and dipping into the new SCARPETTA series. Chris was in Rhode Island and visited the B&N in Warwick, and finally got inside Ink Fish Books in Warren. She also saw Edith Wharton’s house in Newport, where the writer lived prior to building her dream home in the Berkshires. Emily had zero luck seeing Laura Zigman and Alice Hoffman in conversation about the new collection of essays, THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD – events have been sold out! Congrats to them for a successful book launch. We’re also #currentlyreading some great books and have our eyes on some beauties we can’t wait to get to. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode256

    1h 35m

  7. Mar 10

    Q1 Readalong: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    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 finished since the last episode and talk about include: HOBOMOK AND OTHER WRITINGS ON INDIANS by Lydia Marie Child AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY by Susanna Kwan ALL THAT REMAINS by Patricia Cornwell THE RESERVATION by Rebecca Kauffman In Biblio Adventures, we got to see THE LIBRARIANS documentary, directed by Kim A. Snyder, at the Schubert Theater in New Haven. It drew a big crowd of librarians and library lovers. The film documents the attack on school libraries launched by a billionaire and politician, with cookie-cutter campaigns that spread across Texas and into other states, such as New Jersey. Librarians are on the front lines fighting against these threats to our First Amendment rights and the foundations of our democracy. New showings are added to their website regularly, and you may be able to organize one yourself. It is streaming on PBS from Feb 9-May 9, 2026 [https://thelibrariansfilm.com/streaming/] As for Couch Biblio Adventures, we both watched FRANKENSTEIN, directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Chris also recommends Frankenstein: The Anatomy Lesson, a short documentary on the making of Del Toro’s adaptation. And she watched FRANKENSTEIN: The Man Who Made a Monster, starring Boris Karloff, who originated the iconic flat-headed creature with neck electrodes. It is interesting to see which aspects of Shelley’s story movie makers choose to focus on, what changes they make, and the new elements/characters they create. We are checking off some boxes on our Page-to-Screen Bingo card. We hope you enjoy this episode, and that you are finding comfort, inspiration, and understanding in books. Happy Reading!

    1h 16m

  8. Feb 24

    Episode 254 - Author Spotlight with Tiya Miles

    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, but not too much, since we will discuss it in depth on Episode 255 after our March 1st Zoom conversation with listeners. We still have some spots available–if you’d like to join in, send us an email (hello@bookcougars.com). Other books we are currently reading include IN THE SHADOW OF YOUNG GIRLS IN FLOWER: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2 by Marcel Proust, THE RESERVATION by Rebecca Kauffman, and RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Our BiblioAdventures have primarily been of the Couch variety: Chris watched a Jane Austen-inspired romance called SENSE, SENSIBILITY, & SNOWMEN, and Emily watched the second event in the Aspen Winter Words series featuring Mitzi Rapkin in conversation with Lily King about her new novel, HEART THE LOVER. We did run into a delightful Little Free Library after a delicious dinner at Fair Haven Oyster Co. along the banks of the Quinnipiac River, and we sing the praises of a #LFL we both often visit in Stony Creek, CT. NEW BOOKSTORE ALERT! If you’re in Chicago, Partners in Crime Bookshop just celebrated their grand opening. Let us know about it if you check it out, or tag us (#bookcougars) if you post photos of your visit. Okay, we’ll stop writing now so you can start listening. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Happy Reading! Show notes for the episode can be found here: https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode254

    1h 44m
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Chris and Emily discuss books and literary adventures

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