Canada Reads Inspired

Rebecca and Tara celebrate the podcast's 100th episode by discussing the topic that brought them together--CBC's Canada Reads!

Titles we loved

Tara:

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards

Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akaad

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Rebecca:

A book club book: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

A book that is now coming true: American War by Omar El Akkad 

A book with an unlikeable main character: Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette 

A memoir: From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle

A book many DNF: Small Game Hunting by Megan Gail Coles 

An epic novel: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan 

Titles we have yet to read

Rebecca:

Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Tara:

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyn Saucier

Titles we would like to see in the future

Tara:

The Lights of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kaye

Rebecca:

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism by Maude Barlow

Favorite moments from the show

Rebecca:

Tahmoh Penikett defending American War

Mark Tewksbury defending Washington Black

Christian Allaire defending Five Little Indians; Paul Sun-Hyung Lee defending Hench; Chuck Comeau defending Homes

Tara:

Devery Jacobs defending Jonny Appleseed

Justin Trudeau defending (sort of) The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and then Next Episode

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads

Rebecca and Tara respectfully steal the idea to chat about pairing favorite non-fiction and fiction titles.  Thanks to @bookwormadventuregirl for the idea! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my8ukUf5zdU

Tara's Pairing:

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel

Rebecca's Pairing:

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid

At the 29:07 mark, Rebecca and Tara compare how they rate the books they've read.  Rebecca is 100% on board with Tara's system!

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads  

Rebecca and Tara welcome Tara's son Keegan, who is college bound in the fall, to answer the Five Reader Repartee questions.  However, the Five become Six with a newly added question.

Books and podcasts mentioned in today's program:

Loveless and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Stephen Graham Jones: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/13/1111286306/two-indigenous-authors-on-the-legacy-of-a-shared-painful-history

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads

Even though Rebecca and Tara post only their podcast audio to YouTube, they decided to use YouTube's #midyearbookfreakouttag questions to review their reading for the first half of 2022.

• Best book you've read
  • R: What Strange Paradise / Omar El Akkad; Blue Sky Kingdom / Bruce Kirkby

Rebecca and Tara welcome author David Giuliano, who is a Spiritual Guide, Writer and Speaker.  He is an award-winning writer of fiction and nonfiction books, essays, and poems. The Undertaking of Billy Buffone is David’s first novel and the one under discussion. His collection of essays – Postcards from the Valley: Encounters with Fear, Faith and God - was a Canadian Best Seller. It’s Good to Be Here: Stories we tell about cancer, is a spiritual memoir about his 20-year journey with cancer to which he brings fierce honesty and humour in a conversation about the metaphysics of medicine and the power of story to heal. 

Website: https://www.davidgiuliano.ca

Rebecca and Tara step outside of Canadian Literature for a moment to chat with author Kelsey Ronan who grew up in Flint, Michigan (as did Rebecca).  Kelsey's first novel, Chevy in the Hole, is a love letter to Flint.  The story chronicles the lives of August (Gus) and Monae and their path to one another.  Kelsey's work has appeared in Lit Hub, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review and elsewhere. She lives in Detroit and teaches for InsideOut Literary Arts. 

Instagram: @k_j_r__

https://insideoutdetroit.org/

Tara talks to poet Jennifer Mariani about her new collection of poems, All Forgotten Now.  Jennifer was born and raised in Zimbabwe and currently lives in Calgary, Alberta.  In this collection, she explores the reality of growing up white in post-independence Zimbabwe and struggling to belong elsewhere as an adult.

Twitter and Instagram: @zimballerina

Publisher Instagram: @offtopicpub

https://offtopicpublishing.com/books/

It's time for Tara to ask Rebecca the Reader Repartee Five Questions!  Rebecca references the following:

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

A Prayer for Owen Meanie by John Irving

The Education of Robert Nifkin by Daniel Pinkwater

The Giver by Lois Lowry

http://loislowry.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/the_giver.pdf#:~:text=I%20love%20the%20feel%20of,me%2C%20but%20I%20am%20shy

On Account of Darkness by Ian Kennedy

Rebecca and Tara are excited to chat with Ian Kennedy regarding his debut non-fiction title, On Account of Darkness: Shining Light on Race and Sport.  This is a fascinating read for sports fans as well as others interested in the impact that systemic racism has had on great BIPOC athletes of the past.

A resident of Erie Beach, Ontario, Ian Kennedy is an educator and journalist with a passion for storytelling. He is currently a writer for The Hockey News, as well as Yahoo Sports, and has been writing about sports for the past decade for the Chatham-Kent Sports Network, a sports media outlet he founded in 2011. His stories have also appeared in the Globe and Mail, Outdoor Canada, and Canadian Horse Journal. 

UPDATE on the Chatham Coloured All-Stars: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/article-trailblazing-chatham-coloured-all-stars-make-it-to-canadas-sports-hall/

Instagram/Twitter: @iankennedyck

https://www.tidewaterpress.ca/on-account-of-darkness/

https://www.cksn.ca/

Rebecca and Tara are excited to pose their Reader Repartee Five Questions to Rob Mabee, a Canadian curator and marketer that's found his wheelhouse merging the worlds of culture and community.  He has contributed to communications, media and brand campaigns for a diverse collection of clients that includes UNICEF Canada and Giorgio Armani.  www.robmabee.com

Artists, authors, and books mentioned include:

https://www.audreymabee.com/

Haruki Murakami:

• Killing Commendatore

The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford

Author Louis de Bernières; Cover Art by Jeff Fisher:

• Captain Corelli's Mandolin

http://thejeffreyfisher.com/?p=1504

https://www.carousell.sg/p/louis-de-bernieres-x3-191125173/

Author Patricia Highsmith; Cover Art Rodney Smith:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C2LBLWF?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

West with the Night by Beryl Markham