Canada Reads Inspired

By Canada Reads InspiredSociety & Culture Arts Books

Canada Reads Inspired episodes

November 22, 2024Tara's Holiday Picks!
Tara shares her holiday reading list!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Precious Cargo: My Year of Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077 by Craig Davidson
Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir by Rebecca Solnit
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Street by Ann Petry
Tara (@onabranchreads):
The Queen by Nick Cutter
The Saturday Night Ghost Club; Rust and Bone: Stories by Craig Davidson
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy
Author Hannah Mary McKinnon
The Christmas Party by Karen Swan
Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
32 min
November 17, 2024Top Canadian Authors Continued
Rebecca and Tara shared their Top Ten Canadian Books of the 21st Century on YouTube Live on August 24, 2024 but decided they wanted to share additional authors and titles that they highly recommend.
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense; Driven: the Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers; Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers by Marcello Di Cintio
The Lost Ones; In the Grip of It; It All Falls Down; No Going Back; Fight Like a Girl by Sheena Kamal
The Red Chesterfield; Fall from Grace; A Killing Winter; Blood Red Summer; The Traitors of Camp 133 by Wayne Arthurson
Tara (@onabranchreads):
I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I Told Myself by Adelle Purdham
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories by L.M. Montgomery
Fayne; Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Fionavar Tapestry series; The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Spoon Stealer; Nosy Parker by Lesley Crewe
Fallsy Downsies by Stephanie Domet
Hollay Ghadery
Helen Humphreys
42 min
October 26, 2024Book Chat #21
Rebecca is back from a two-week road trip and shares her stops along the way and only two books. Tara, on the other hand, had a great month of reading!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Loudmouth Books: https://loudmouthindy.com/ / https://www.instagram.com/loudmouthindy/
President Benjamin Harrison House: https://bhpsite.org/
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library: https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/
Dana-Thomas House (Frank Lloyd Wright): https://dana-thomas.org/
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum: https://marktwainmuseum.org/
Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum: https://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/
Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum: https://ameliaearharthangarmuseum.org/
Amelia & Me; Under Amelia’s Wing; Beyond Amelia by Heather Stemp
Cahokia Mounds World Heritage & State Historic Site: https://cahokiamounds.org/
Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library: https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/
The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow
Tara (@onabranchreads):
Invisible Prisons by Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
I'm So Glad We Had This Time by Maurice Vellekoop
Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
Sugaring Off by Fanny Britt with Susan Ouriou
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman
Don't forget to check out Rebecca and Tara's latest "Reading from Our Shelves" on YouTube: https://studio.youtube.com/video/uAq2aptzpLc/edit
43 min
October 19, 2024 Interview - Brett Popplewell and Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past
Rebecca is excited to chat with author Brett Popplewell about his latest book, Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past.
Brett is an author and journalist who joined Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in 2017. His articles have been recognized by the National Magazine Awards Foundation in best short feature, profiles, investigative reporting, longform writing, sports and travel.
He has written for Bloomberg Businessweek, Mother Jones, The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Sportsnet, Maclean’s, The Walrus and more. He is the co-author of The Escapist: How One Man Cheated Death on the World’s Highest Mountains. Published in 2016).
https://brettpopplewell.ca/
https://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443457859/outsider/
https://thewalrus.ca/churchill-portrait/

47 min
October 09, 2024Interview - Sydney Leigh and Instagoner
Tara chats with author Sydney Leigh about her latest novel, Instagoner, published on August 27, 2024 by Level Best Books; it is the first book in the Bark and Blog Mystery series. When lifestyle blogger Emily finds the body of the local controversial talk show host who also happens to be her arch-nemesis, she enlists the help of her online audience, her best friend and barista Fitz, and furry, four-footed roommate Murray who help solve the crime.

Sydney spent several years running a seasonal business, allowing her to spend the cold months in cool places. She now spends her work time thinking about murder and writing cozy mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers and served on the board of Crime Writers of Canada from 2018-2021.

Highlighted books:
The True Love Experiment; The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
Murder Road by Simone St. James
Peril in Pink by Sydney Leigh
https://sydneyleighbooks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sydneyleighauthor/
23 min
October 02, 2024Interview - Sarah Raughley and The Bones of Ruin Trilogy
Tara interviews author Sarah Raughley about her trilogy, The Bones of Ruin (The Bones of Ruin, The Song of Wrath, The Lady of Rapture), as well as her new novel, The Queen's Spade, out January 14, 2025.

Sarah grew up in southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to sci/fi fantasy TV to Japanese role-playing games.

As a writer, Sarah has been nominated for the Aurora Award for Best Young Adult novel and works in the community doing writing workshops for youths and adults.

As an academic, Sarah has a PhD in English. She has taught at McMaster University and acted as a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Ottawa. She currently teaches creative writing at Lakehead University. Her research concerns representations of race and gender in popular media, youth culture and post colonialism.

Highlighted titles:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
July's People by Nadine Gordimer
Legendborn; Bloodmarked; Oathbound (3/2025) by Tracy Deonn
Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury
Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi
Basara by Yumi Tamura
Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Sugar Sugar Rune by Moyoco Anno
The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda
Fushigi Yugi by Yuu Watase
Bleach by Tite Kubo
https://sarahraughley.com/
https://www.instagram.com/s_raughley/
33 min
September 29, 2024Book Chat #20
Rebecca and Tara close out September with what they are currently reading and what they've read since their last book chat.
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of The Kingdom of Redonda by Michael Hingston
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Little Moons by Jen Storm
Not Cancelled: Canadian Caremongering in the Face of Covid-19; Life After Loss: Reflections on Moments of Grace and Courage in Grief by Catherine Kenwell
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past by Brett Popplewell
The Circle by Katherena Vermette
Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall
Tara (@onabranchreads):
Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder by Julia Zarankin
The Circle; Real Ones by Katherena Vermette
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Wild Dogs by Helen Humphreys
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Brickworks by Lucy E.M. Black
Pay the Piper by George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus
The River; Burn by Peter Heller
1 hr 3 min
September 13, 2024Eden Mills Writers' Festival Wrap-Up
Rebecca and Tara chat about their great day at the annual Eden Mills Writers' Festival in Eden Mills, Ontario. Check out the link below for the entire day's lineup of authors and titles discussed on the podcast.
https://edenmillswritersfestival.ca/featured-writers/
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall
Tara (@onabranchreads):
Instagoner (A Bark and Blog Mystery Series) by Sydney Leigh
God Isn't Here Today by Francine Cunningham
Tear by Erica McKeen
54 min
September 06, 2024Interview - Hollay Ghadery and Widow Fantasies
Tara talks with Hollay Ghadery, an award-winning Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in rural Ontario on Anishanaabe land. Fuse, her acclaimed memoir of mixed-race identity and mental illness, was published by Guernica Editions' Microland imprint in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for nonfiction/memoir. (Check out Rebecca's interview with Hollay on the January 11, 2023 episode.) Her debut collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, was released with Radiant Press in April 2023. Her short fiction collection, Widow Fantasies, will be released on September 1, 2024, with Gordon Hill Press.

Hollay is also the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township as well as the founder of and senior publicist with River Street Writing, a team of creatives who aim to produce and celebrate amazing writers.

Books, authors highlighted:
Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook by David Galef
Through the Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang by Ava Farmehri
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe
Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa
The Boulevard by Jerrod Edson
Poet Bronwen Wallace
Most of All the Wanting by Amanda Merpaw
Whylah Falls by George Elliott Clarke
A Simple Carpenter by David Margoshes
Author Adele Wiseman
Off the Tracks: A Meditation on Train Journeys in a Time of No Travel by Pamela Mulloy
The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits by Ben Berman Ghan
The Mona Lisa Sacrifice (The Book of Cross #1) by Peter Roman
Publishers:
Radiant Press https://radiantpress.ca/
Latitude 46 https://latitude46publishing.com/
Wolsak & Winn https://www.wolsakandwynn.ca/
Literary Festivals:
The Word on the Street Toronto https://toronto.thewordonthestreet.ca/
Eden Mills Writers' Festival https://edenmillswritersfestival.ca/
The & Festival https://theampersandreview.ca/the-festival-2024
Wordstock Sudbury https://wordstocksudbury.ca/
43 min
August 22, 2024Book Chat #19
Rebecca and Tara share their latest good reads!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Golden Boys: The Winnipeg Falcons of 1920 by Paul Keery; illustrated by Michael Wyatt https://shop.teachmag.com/collections/frontpage/products/golden-boys-the-winnipeg-falcons-of-1920
Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur
The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Tara (@onabranchreads):
Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic by Adam Shoalts
Real Ones: A Novel by Katherena Vermette
The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
Merlin Bird ID: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
Road Ends by Mary Lawson
The Puppet Master (Major Crimes #3) by Sam Holland
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
57 min