Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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 Museum in Boston. As a result, we had A LOT to talk about with Natalie, and our conversation went long.
Show notes for this episode: bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode248
We greatly appreciated Natalie taking so much time to speak with us, and when it came to editing, well, we didn’t know how to cut anything, and, to be honest, we didn’t want to cut anything! So, this episode is an extended Author Spotlight with Natalie Dykstra! We hope you enjoy it and that you pick up CHASING BEAUTY. This biography won a New England Society of New York Book Award and the Marfield Prize, the national award for arts writing. We read it in paper, digitally, and can also recommend the audiobook narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed.
We’ll be back with a “regular” episode in two weeks, when we’ll discuss Edith Wharton’s “Afterward,” the last story in our year-long reading of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES.
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: CLOSING COSTS by Janie Steele.
bookshop.org/a/17535/9798869182722
Sign up for our monthly newsletter: bookcougars.com/subscriber
We are an affiliate of Bookshop. org. Your purchase made through our link is greatly appreciated: bookshop.org/shop/bookcougars
Happy Listening and Happy Reading!
Chris & Emily
p.s. If you enjoy our content and would like to support the Book Cougars, become a Patreon patreon.com/BookCougars
OTHER PLACES TO FIND US:
Website: bookcougars.com
Blue Sky: @bookcougars.bsky.social
Facebook: @bookcougars
Instagram: @bookcougars
Threads: @bookcougars
#bookcougars #bookpodcast #podcast #podcastepisode #booktube #books #authorinterview #booksbooksbooks #reading #booksof2025 #bookish #fiction #currentlyreading #bookrecommendations #amreading #newepisode #biblioadventures #literarytravel #boston #massachusetts
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 Museum in Boston. As a result, we had A LOT to talk about with Natalie, and our conversation went long.
Show notes for this episode: bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode248
We greatly appreciated Natalie taking so much time to speak with us, and when it came to editing, well, we didn’t know how to cut anything, and, to be honest, we didn’t want to cut anything! So, this episode is an extended Author Spotlight with Natalie Dykstra! We hope you enjoy it and that you pick up CHASING BEAUTY. This biography won a New England Society of New York Book Award and the Marfield Prize, the national award for arts writing. We read it in paper, digitally, and can also recommend the audiobook narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed.
We’ll be back with a “regular” episode in two weeks, when we’ll discuss Edith Wharton’s “Afterward,” the last story in our year-long reading of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GHOST STORIES.
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: CLOSING COSTS by Janie Steele.
bookshop.org/a/17535/9798869182722
Sign up for our monthly newsletter: bookcougars.com/subscriber
We are an affiliate of Bookshop. org. Your purchase made through our link is greatly appreciated: bookshop.org/shop/bookcougars
Happy Listening and Happy Reading!
Chris & Emily
p.s. If you enjoy our content and would like to support the Book Cougars, become a Patreon patreon.com/BookCougars
OTHER PLACES TO FIND US:
Website: bookcougars.com
Blue Sky: @bookcougars.bsky.social
Facebook: @bookcougars
Instagram: @bookcougars
Threads: @bookcougars
#bookcougars #bookpodcast #podcast #podcastepisode #booktube #books #authorinterview #booksbooksbooks #reading #booksof2025 #bookish #fiction #currentlyreading #bookrecommendations #amreading #newepisode #biblioadventures #literarytravel #boston #massachusetts
