Canada Reads American Style

Interview - Liisa Kovala and Like Water for Weary Souls

Tara has a fascinating chat with Liisa Kovala, a Finnish Canadian author, book coach, and former teacher about historical fiction, cozy mysteries, sisu, her book coaching, podcast, and coffee. Her latest novel is, Like Water for Weary Souls.

https://www.liisakovalabookcoach.com/

"In Nolin Creek, the water runs deep and the secrets run deeper. In the harsh landscape of a Depression-era Northern Ontario mining town, Finnish immigrant sisters Hanna and Essi Kivi scrape together a living as domestic workers, sharing a room in a disreputable boarding house owned by a protective madame.

​When Hanna's body is discovered in the icy waters of Nolin Creek, the police call it a tragic accident. But Essi knows better. Her sister would never have risked crossing unstable ice—not after they lost their youngest sister Martta to drowning years before.

​Haunted by guilt and driven by loyalty, Essi begins to unravel the secrets Hanna kept hidden. As Essi digs deeper into her sister's final days, she discovers that in a town built on desperation and dreams for a better future, everyone has something to hide.

​A gripping tale of love, family, sisterhood, and the search for truth."

Recommended Reading List:

• Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
• Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
• Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

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

https://liisakovalawomenwriting.substack.com/

https://www.instagram.com/liisakovala/

 

 

 

 

Holiday Recommendations!

Rebecca reveals her 2025 secret reading goal to Tara! And she and Tara offer their best reading recommendations for the holiday season! 

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) by C.S. Lewis
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• An English Murder by Cyril Hare
• A Holiday By Gaslight: A Victorian Christmas Novella by Mimi Matthews
• Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo
• The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
• Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
• A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli
• The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
• Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
• The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
• Yours for the Season by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Small Things Like These by Claire Foster
• The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures by Sarah Clegg

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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Adam Shoalts and Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell

Rebecca is excited to chat with professional explorer Adam Shoalts about his latest book, Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell.

https://adamshoalts.com/literature/:

• Voted by over 200 Independent Bookstores as one of the “Must Read Books” of the Year (Canadian Independent Booksellers Association)
• Globe and Mail #1 National Bestseller/Toronto Star #1 National Bestseller
• CBC #1 National Bestseller

"In 1910, legendary explorer Hubert Darrell vanished in the uncharted wilderness of the Northwest Territories. A prospector who had been swept up in the Klondike Gold Rush, Darrell later made his name as a wanderer who ventured where few others dared. Famed for his solo journeys, contemporaries regarded Darrell as the hardiest explorer of his day. While his disappearance sparked headlines, soon Darrell’s name would also vanish from history, just as surely as he had in the wild.

Yet Darrell left behind a trail of letters, journals, and hand-drawn maps. With these faded clues, Adam Shoalts retraces Darrell’s forgotten routes through the wilderness, searching for cabin ruins and old campsites. Part detective story, part biography, and part first-person adventure narrative, Vanished Beyond the Map combines expeditions with historical research to solve one of exploration history’s enduring cold cases—the mystery of Hubert Darrell."

Public Events: https://adamshoalts.com/upcoming-book-events/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam_shoalts/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adamshoalts

 

Book Chat 29

Rebecca and Tara return after a two-month hiatus and are ready to share the best of their recent reads!

 

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• My Life: Growing Up Native in America edited by IllumiNative
• The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia #3) by C.S. Lewis
• The Road to Heaven (Patrick Bird Mystery #1) by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
• Mad Dog and the Sea Dragon by Lisa de Nikolits
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell

 

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach
• The Whistler by Nick Medina
• As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre
• Days of Feasting and Rejoicing by David Bergen
• Wolk, Moon, Dog: A Novel by Thomas Wharton
• The Pugilist and the Sailor by Nadia Ragbar
• The Upending of Wendall Forbes; The Undertaking of Billy Buffone by David Giuliano
• Machine Without Horses by Helen Humphreys

 

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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Merilyn Simonds and Walking with Beth: Conversations with My 100-year-old Friend

Tara chats with a special guest, the prolific and award-winning Canadian author Merilyn Simonds regarding her latest book, Walking with Beth: Conversations with My 100-year-old Friend.

https://merilynsimonds.com/

"In the spring of 2021, Merilyn Simonds asked her friend Beth Robinson if she’d like to go for a walk. Simonds had just turned 70, still active, still writing, but entering what struck her as a mysterious, even frightening stage of life. Beth, a smart, vibrant woman who’d held a job until she was 99, lived on her own and was as awake to the world as a person half her age. Who better to ask what might come next?

During three years of weekly walks, the conversation between the two women only deepened, as they opened up about their heart-felt passions, the lingering influence of their pasts, and their hopes and fears for the future.

In Walking with Beth, Simonds shares these intimate exchanges, delving into corners of older women’s lives that are rarely seen or spoken about so openly. As Simonds looks forward into a future that seems unknowable, Beth looks back, offering her experience in surviving the later-life blows that batter us all, and more importantly, her wisdom about how to enrich every passing day."

Recommended Books:

• The Age of Creativity: Art, Memory, My Father, and Me by Emily Urquhart
• Code Noir: Fictions by Canisia Lubrin
• We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek

 

Interview - Barbara Joan Scott and The Taste of Hunger

Rebecca is excited to speak with award-winning Canadian author Barbara Joan Scott about her debut novel, The Taste of Hunger.

 

https://freehand-books.com/product/the-taste-of-hunger/#tab-description

"In Saskatchewan in the late 1920s, a fifteen-year-old Ukrainian immigrant named Olena is forced into marriage with Taras, a man twice her age, who wants her even though she has refused him. Stuck in a hardscrabble life with a husband she despises, starved for a life of her own choosing, at every turn Olena rebels agains her husband and her fate. As Olena and Taras drag everyone around them into the maelstrom that is their marriage, they set off a chain of turbulent events whose aftershocks reverberate through generations."

 

Book Recommendations:

• All of Baba's Children by Myrna Kostash
• Endling; Good Citizens Need Not Fear: Stories by Maria Reva
• Late Breaking; All Saints: Stories; Holy Writ by K.D. Miller
• Gilead; Home; Lila; Jack; What are We Doing Here? by Marilynne Robinson

 

https://www.barbarajoanscott.com/

 

Interview - Lucy E.M. Black and A Quilting of Scars

Rebecca is excited to welcome back to the podcast Canadian author Lucy E.M. Black regarding her new historical novel, A Quilting of Scars, with its unforgettable main character, Larkin Beattie. 

https://nonpublishing.com/a-quilting-of-scars

"Filled with the pleasure of recognizable yet distinctively original characters and a deftly drawn sense of time and place, A Quilting of Scars brings to life a story of forbidden love, abuse and murder. Pulsing with repressed sexuality and guilt, Larkin Beattie reveals the many secrets he has kept hidden throughout his lonely life. The character-driven narrative is a meditation on aging and remorse, offering a rich account of the strictures and rhythms of farming in the not-so-distant past, highlighting the confines of a community where strict moral codes are imposed upon its members and fear of exposure terrifies queer youth. As Larkin reflects upon key events, his recollections include his anger at the hypocrisy of the church, and the deep grief and loneliness that have marked his path. There is a timelessness to this story which transcends the period and resonates with heart-breaking relevance."

https://lucyemblack.com/books/a-quilting-of-scars-book/

A Quilting of Scars Discussion Questions

As many of you know, Rebecca highly recommends four of Lucy’s books: The Brickworks, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, and A Quilting of Scars.

Lucy's Reading Recommendations:

• In the Bear's House by Bruce Hunter
• Kate and the Composers by Joanne Culley

 

Interview - David Giuliano and The Upending of Wendall Forbes

Tara is excited to chat with Canadian author David Giuliano, who lives on the north shore of Lake Superior. His storytelling has been compared to Miriam Toews and Elizabeth Strout in its emotional insight and narrative warmth. His books include The Undertaking of Billy Buffone, winner of the 2022 Bressani Prize; the bestselling Postcards from the Valley; and the cancer memoir It's Good to Be Here. His latest book is The Upending of Wendall Forbes from Latitude 46 Publishing.

Reading recommendations:

• Aliens on the Moon by Thomas King
• My Friends by Fredrik Backman
• In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart

https://davidgiulianoca.wordpress.com/

https://latitude46publishing.com/

https://www.instagram.com/davidwgiuliano/

 

Interview - Emily A. Weedon and Hemo Sapiens

Tara chats with Emily Weedon, a Canadian author and screenwriter, currently living in Toronto. Her web series Chateau Laurier was the most awarded web series in 2023 and won a Canadian Screen Award. Her debut novel Autokrator reimagines gender and power in society against the backdrop of a dystopian world. Her new novel, Hemo Sapiens, will be released into the world on September 30, 2025 from Dundurn Press. It is an erotic noir thriller that reimagines vampires through a lens of female sexuality and anthropology.

 

 

Books mentioned for Currently Reading:

• The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgård
• The Problem with Having a Body by Jessica Popeski
• All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety by David A. Robertson
• Runs in the Blood by Matthew J. Trafford

https://toronto.thewordonthestreet.ca/

 

https://emilyweedon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/emily.weedon.creates/

https://canadareadsamericanstyle.podbean.com/e/interview-emily-a-weedon-and-autokrator/

Interview - Jen Sookfong Lee and The Hunger We Pass Down

Tara speaks with Canadian author Jen Sookfong Lee regarding her latest novel, The Hunger We Pass Down, which is available September 30, 2025 from Erewhon Books.

Jen was born and raised in Vancouver's East Side and now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her memoir, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart, was a finalist for the 2024 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award, was named a best book of 2023 by the Globe and Mail and Apple Books Canada, and was a Today Show recommended read. Jen is also the author of The Conjoined, long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Books Award; The Shadow List; and Finding Home. In addition to writing, Jen also acquires and edits books for ECW Press. 

Recommended titles:

• Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
• Variations on a Dream by Angelique LaLonde

http://sookfong.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jensookfonglee/

 

 

Book Chat 28

Rebecca and Tara are back with their "monthly" chat about the books they've read and recommend. Please check out the link below to the Instagram post by Hollay Ghadery on her River Street Writes account regarding independent and small press books sold through Indigo.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• The Laundryman's Boy by Edward Y.C. Lee
• A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway
• Brushed Aside: The Untold Story of Women in Art by Noah Charney
• The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
• The Taste of Hunger by Barbara Joan Scott

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Walking with Beth: Conversations with My Hundred-Year-Old Friend; Woman Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay by Merilyn Simonds
• Behind You by Catherine Hernandez
• Green by Zachari Logan, published by Radiant Press https://radiantpress.ca/
• May It Have a Happy Ending: A Memoir of Finding My Voice as My Mother Lost Hers by Minelle Mahtani
• A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar
• Speech Dries Here on the Tongue: Poetry on Environmental Collapse and Mental Health -- Rasiqra Revulva (editor), Amanda Shankland (editor)
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• https://www.differentdrummerbooks.ca/
• Post shared by Hollay Ghadery on Instagram (@river_street_writes): https://www.instagram.com/p/DNUPOihN91t/

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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Jinwoo Park and Oxford Soju Club

Rebecca is excited to speak with Korean Canadian author Jinwoo Park. Born and raised in Seoul, he has lived in various parts of North America and the UK since the age of 11 and is now based in Montreal.

Jinwoo obtained his bachelor’s degree from McGill in 2013, followed by a master’s in political economics from the London School of Economics in 2014, and a master’s in creative writing at the University of Oxford in 2015. 

In 2021 he won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers’ Award for his first manuscript, Oxford Soju Club, which will be published by Dundurn Press in September 2025. He has also been actively working as a literary translator after winning the Emerging Translator Award from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea in late 2023.

Jinwoo is also an avid book reviewer and is active on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Authors and books recommended:

• Chung Serang (정세랑) 
• Oh Seong-eun (오성은) 
• The Hypebeast by Adnan Khan
• The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

https://www.tiktok.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.instagram.com/jinwoopark0721/

https://www.youtube.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459755109-oxford-soju-club

 

 

 

Hidden Gems with author Marion Agnew

Welcome to the latest episode of Hidden Gems in which Rebecca and Tara invite guests to recommend authors or titles that may be new to us.

Rebecca is excited to introduce author Marion Agnew whose debut novel, Making Up the Gods, from Latitude 46 Publishing, was released in October, 2023.  Kirkus Reviews calls it “A complex, heart-warming tale of love, absolution, and fortitude.”

Marion began writing creative nonfiction in the late 1990s, after her mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. Her essays were collected in Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's, published in 2019 by Signature Editions. It was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award.

A dual citizen of the US and Canada, Marion lives and writes in Shuniah, a community north of Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior, in Robinson-Superior Treaty Territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis peoples.

Rebecca interviewed Marion about Making Up the Gods on July 8, 2024.

Recommended books:

• Good to a Fault; Close to Hugh by Marina Endicott
• Lambsquarters: Scenes from a Handmade Life; Shepherd's Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean
• McLean and Wils interview: https://www.tvo.org/video/barbara-mclean-with-her-husband-retired-doctor-thomas-wils 
• The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
• We're All in This Together by Amy Jones

https://www.marionagnew.com/

https://latitude46publishing.com/

https://www.instagram.com/marionagnew/

https://www.entershinebookshop.ca/collections/all-books

 

Interview - Caitlin Galway and A Song for Wildcats

Rebecca is excited to interview Canadian author Caitlin Galway on this latest episode. Caitlin is a novelist and short fiction writer whose work can be classified as literary realism, surrealism, and magical realism. A Song for Wildcats, her new short story collection published by Dundurn Press, has been named an Indigo Best Book of 2025, and was featured as a must-read in The Globe and Mail, and a most anticipated book in The Toronto Star. She has been the recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

https://caitlingalway.wixsite.com/caitlin-l-galway

https://www.dundurn.com/authors_/t156375/p149069-caitlin-galway

https://www.instagram.com/c.l.gals/

Caitlin's books:

• A Song for Wildcats:
  • A Song for Wildcats
  • Heatstroke
  • The Islanders
  • The Wisp
  • The Lyrebird's Bell
• Bonavere Howl

Other books discussed:

• Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante
• We Do Not Part by Han Kang
• Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
• The Immortal Woman by Su Chang

 

Interview - Alma Sarai and Tottering Biped Theatre

Tara welcomes Alma Sarai, a Canadian artist, actor, musician, and arts advocate, to promote Tottering Biped Theatre's summer production of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)" at Dundurn Castle Park in Hamilton, ON in August 2025. 

Alma graduated from the Theatre and Drama Studies program at the University of Toronto Mississauga, a joint program with Sheridan College. She has been deeply involved with Tottering Biped Theatre (TBT) since 2016, serving as Associate Artistic Director and Associate Producer. Alma has performed in every "Shakespeare by Nature" production since its inception, portraying roles such as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, among many other roles in numerous plays. Since 2020, she has also been the producing Director of TBT's Summer Shakespeare Project, an annual festival held at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, co-led with Trevor Copp.

Books mentioned:

• Ruff by Rod Carley
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• How to Make Love in a Canoe: Sex in Canada by Jeff Pearce
• Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea
• The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
• Whenever You're Ready: Nora Polley on Life as a Stratford Festival Stage Manager by Shawn Desouza-Coelho

Event details:

The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)

August 12-30, 2025 @ 7:00 pm (Tues-Sat)

 

The Carnival of Animals (live music and mime)

August 17, 24, 31, 2025 @ 7:00 pm (Sun)

 

Dundurn Castle Park , 610 York Blvd, Hamilton, ON

https://www.totteringbiped.ca/