Rebecca is excited to chat with Canadian author Théodora Armstrong about her debut novel, Welcome to Sunny Town, published by Freehand Books in May 2026. 

https://freehand-books.com/product/welcome-to-sunny-town/#tab-description :

In this striking debut novel, a young artist rashly moves overseas to teach ESL and to find herself, and gets more — and less — than she bargained for.

It’s the turn of the 21st century and Maggie is looking for reinvention. Fresh out of art school with — as her undergraduate advisor put it — a lack of vision for her future, Maggie follows a talented classmate to Japan, leaving behind a fractured family and a toxic relationship with her professor. Little does she know, not only her own life, but the entire world around her is about to change.

Upon arrival in Japan, Maggie meets a group of maladjusted foreigners and immediately becomes enmeshed in their volatile friendships and personal dramas. Despite having no real qualifications whatsoever, she gets a job teaching English at Language Love Academy where she meets Keiko, an overzealous, middle-aged student and self-proclaimed language lover. When Keiko offers to teach Maggie Japanese, an unlikely friendship develops between them, and before long Keiko has become a ballast amid the disruptive forces in Maggie’s life overseas. Have Maggie and her friends come to Japan to disappear or find themselves? Are their friendships and hook-ups real or just another illusion? Maggie struggles to discern whether she is sinking deeper into her hapless life abroad or gaining a foothold on a real future for herself.

Welcome to Sunny Town is a striking, at times darkly satirical novel that cracks open a popular rite of passage, critically examining teaching overseas and the worldwide ESL industry. Bringing to mind the work of Elif Batumen, or Ottessa Moshfegh, Armstrong’s debut novel paints a deft portrait of twenty-somethings yearning for identity, connection, and freedom abroad during the turbulent years of the early aughts.

Recommended reading:

https://theodoraarmstrong.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/theodorafranc

Rebecca and Tara are back with their monthly book chat in which they share a few of their latest best reads. Rebecca's month was not as enjoyable as she had hoped, but Tara ends on a high note with a five-star recommendation!

Rebecca:

Tara:

Be sure to check out Rebecca (@canadareadsinspired) and Tara (@onabranchreads) on Instagram and YouTube (Canada Reads Inspired) for their inaugural Summer Reading Bingo Challenge, which ends on September 5, 2026.  A random winner will receive a $50 gift card to the Independent Bookstore of their choice.  The drawing is not affiliated with Instagram or YouTube.

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara or you are interested in joining their monthly virtual book talk, please email them at [email protected]

CANADA READS INSPIRED 2026 SUMMER READING BINGO CHALLENGE:

2026 BINGO TITLES: 

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara or you are interested in joining their monthly virtual book talk, please email them at [email protected]

Rebecca and Tara go down rabbit holes that include a 50,000 couplet epic poem, graveyards, and a blood-sucking lamprey that is found in all five Great Lakes.

Don't forget to join the Canada Reads Inspired Summer Reading Bingo Challenge beginning June 5, 2026.  Check out their YouTube live (6/5/26 at 10 am EDT) for more details:

https://www.youtube.com/@canadareadsinspired

Rebecca (@canadareadsinspired):

https://www.kingorama.com/

https://www.glfc.org/sea-lamprey.php

Tara (@onabranchreads):

https://nikidesaintphalle.org/nikis-sculptures-le-cimetiere-de-montparnasse/

https://ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it/en/about/materials-crew/

https://www.rottnestisland.com/learn/history/aboriginal-history

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara or you are interested in joining their monthly virtual book talk, please email them at [email protected]

Rebecca and Tara are back with their (mostly) monthly book chat in which they share their favorite recent reads.  Rebecca provides a teaser for their next Rabbit Holes podcast and Tara shares her love for author Jenny Lawson and her taxidermy menagerie.

Rebecca:

Tara:

Check out Rebecca and Tara on Instagram:

@canadareadsinspired

@onabranchreads

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara or you are interested in joining their monthly virtual book talk, please email them at [email protected]

Rebecca welcomes Dr. Nora Gold to the podcast to discuss her latest work, Doubles, a novella published by Guernica Editions in May 2026, as well as the importance and relevance of novellas in the literary canon.

https://guernicaeditions.com/en-us/products/doubles

"Doubles takes place in 1968 in an institution for troubled youth, and is told from the perspective of a brilliant, spunky, 12-year-old girl who is obsessed with math. Engagingly written and often funny, this novella explores how a sensitive young teenager changes over a six-month period from a polite, quiet “good girl” into a delinquent. Although set in the past, Doubles has direct relevance to today, with our recently heightened awareness of the harsh reality in some of our residential institutions during that era (including for Indigenous children, but not only)."

Recommended:

https://bookshop.org/lists/stunning-novellas

Embers by Sándor Márai; Carol Brown Janeway (translator)

https://www.noragold.com/

https://www.noragold.com/portfolio/jewish-fiction-com/

https://www.instagram.com/noragold1818/

Tara sits down for a chat with Canadian author Alison Gadsby, a first-generation Canadian living in Tkaronto, about her debut collection of short stories, Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive, published by Guernica Editions in spring 2026.

https://guernicaeditions.com/en-us/products/breathing-is-how-some-people-stay-alive

"Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive blurs the lines between horror, catastrophic speculative fiction, and psychological realism in a collection that might best be described as weird fiction. These connected stories offer dark reconstructions of lives brimming with desperate loneliness. They allow us to bear witness to the life-altering love of sisters, brothers, mothers… the life-altering love that buoys them as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of childhoods they merely survived."

https://alisongadsby.ca/home/

https://junctionreads.ca

Books and Authors mentioned:

"Poet pals" going on tour with Alison:

Rebecca and Tara cover CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY THREE debate. Less surprises perhaps, but more great content!

Join them live on Thursday, 4/16/26 @ 11:30am EDT on their YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@canadareadsamericanstyle/streams

Their good friend Jolene, from Bookworm Adventure Girl, will be joining them to discuss the final day of this year's competition in which the ONE BOOK that all of Canada should read will be announced!

https://www.youtube.com/@BookwormAdventureGirl

Then join Rebecca and Tara live on YouTube on Friday, April 17 @ 9:45am EDT with their special guest, Canada Reads Host, Ali Hassan!

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200 :

Rebecca is back from vacation and she and Tara discuss CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY TWO debate.  Listen to Tara's DAY ONE wrap up on her Instagram live: @onabranchreads.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200 :

Tara welcomes back Canadian author Finnian Burnett to discuss their latest novella-in-flash, Redshirts Sometimes Survive.

https://offtopicpublishing.com/product/redshirts-sometimes-survive-by-finnian-burnett/?srsltid=AfmBOoqqrDjkjomUw5LV1p4n7BFWy7-l2RrTh5Ty2L2VoSYamvlByFX8

"A neglected boy clings to an action figure like a lifeline. A trans man meets his childhood hero. An introvert finally finds her voice at a protest. Queer fans, lonely children, awkward convention-goers, and disillusioned adults seek out their favourite starships and captains for solace and strength. In these interconnected flash stories, the outcasts, the rebels, the bullied, and the weird find themselves, one other, and a place to call home.

Books discussed:

https://www.instagram.com/finnianburnett/

https://finnburnett.com/