Canada Reads American Style

Interview - Su Chang and The Immortal Woman

Rebecca is excited to speak with Chinese-Canadian author Su Chang.  Su was born and raised in Shanghai and is the daughter of a former and reluctant Red Guard leader, which was the paramilitary arm of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution beginning in the 1960s. Today, they will be talking about her debut novel, The Immortal Woman, published by House of Anansi in March of this year.  It has already garnered a lot of attention and praise from CBC, Indigo Books, and Amazon, to name a few high-powered sources.

Highlighted books:

• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
• Who's Irish? by Gish Jen
• Play by Jess Taylor
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
• Kilworthy Tanner by Jean Marc Ah-Sen
• A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway
• The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien

https://www.instagram.com/suchangwrites/

https://www.suchangauthor.com/

https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-immortal-woman?_pos=3&_sid=2cb7b9933&_ss=r

 

If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

 

Sharing Our Shelves

Rebecca and Tara introduce a new feature, Sharing Our Shelves, that may appear again from time to time in which they each review the other's To Be Read shelf and pick their co-host's next book to read. Rebecca selected Tear by Erica McKeen for Tara and Tara selected Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black for Rebecca.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• A Psalm for the Wild-Built; A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
• The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis
• A Feast of Wolves by Wilson Coneybeare
• Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• The Midnight Project by Christy Climenhage
• Tear by Erica McKeen

If you have comments or suggestions that you would like to share with Rebecca and Tara, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

Happy Reading!

Interview - Harman Burns and Yellow Barks Spider

Tara chats with author Harman Burns, a Saskatchewan-born trans woman, writer, filmmaker, and sound artist. Her work has been published in Rebelle Zine, Untethered Magazine, and Metatron Press, and her story “Among Strange Machines” was shortlisted for the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. Her debut novella, Yellow Barks Spider was published in 2024 by Radiant Press. She currently resides in Vancouver on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Books and authors mentioned:

• Little Fish; A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett
• Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
• Kai Cheng Thom
• Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
• Zulaikha by Niloufar-Lily Soltani
• Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales
• House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4/10) by Steven Erikson

https://www.instagram.com/harman.burns/

https://radiantpress.ca/shop/p/yellowbarksspider

 

 

 

Book Chat 26

Rebecca and Tara are finally back after a six-week break with lots of great titles to share!

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): 

• One of Ours by Willa Cather
• Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
• King Leary by Paul Quarrington
• Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky
• Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
• Blue Horses by Mary Oliver
  • If I Wanted a Boat"
  • "Watering the Stones"
  • "Franz Marc's Blue Horses"
• "Garnett Kilberg Cohen and Cravings" podcast, February 13, 2024

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• https://riverbookshop.com/ in Amherstburg, Ontario
• The Immortal Woman by Su Chang
• The ANNEthology: A Collection of Kindred Spirits Inspired by the Canadian Icon, compiled by Judith Graves and edited by Robin Sutherland
• Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
• Notes Towards Recovery by Louise Ells
• “Dr. Louise Ells and Lies I Told My Sister” podcast, February 1, 2025
• Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
• The Weeping Degree: How Astrology Saved Me from Suicide by Kelly Watt
• No Credit River by Zoe Whittal
• Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari
• The Ghost Orchard by Helen Humphreys

 

Hidden Gems with author Joanne Jackson

Tara chats with author Joanne Jackson about Canadian Prairie authors.

Saskatchewan Hidden Gems:

--Beatrice and Virgil; The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

--Life on the Refrigerator Door; Polly Diamond series by Alice Kuipers

--Going to Beautiful; Russell Quant Mysteries by Anthony Bidulka

--Snake in the Raspberry Patch by Joanne Jackson

--A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

--Author Gail Bowen

https://www.joannejackson.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/joannejacksonauthor/

 

 

Reader Repartee with Zeralda

Rebecca is joined by friend of the podcast Zeralda to answer the Five Questions for Reader Repartee:

• How did you become a reader?
• What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?
• Which author, living or dead, would you like to meet in person and why?
• What fictional character would you like to meet and why?
• What are you currently reading?

Responses:

• The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
• Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
• The Iliad by Homer
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Last Ranger by Peter Heller
• Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo
• My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
• Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison

 

CBC's 2025 Canada Reads Wrap Up with Host Ali Hassan

Rebecca and Tara again welcome host Ali Hassan for their annual wrap up of the CBC’s Canada Reads debates!

https://standupali.com/

https://standupali.com/my-book

https://www.instagram.com/standupali

Recommended books:

• American War; What Strange Paradise; One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
• A History of Burning by Janika Oza

 

THIS YEAR’S WINNER:

• A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Mary Louisa Plummer; championed by Indigenous advocate Shayla Stonechild

THE RUNNERS-UP:

• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew; championed by "Pastry Nerd" Saïd M’Dahoma
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper; championed by actor Michelle Morgan
• Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston; championed by author Linwood Barclay
• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey; championed by Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads

 

CBC's 2025 Canada Reads DAY THREE Wrap Up

Rebecca and Tara discuss Day THREE of CBC's Canada Reads debates!

STILL IN:

• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew; championed by "Pastry Nerd" Saïd M’Dahoma
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper; championed by actor Michelle Morgan
• A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Mary Louisa Plummer; championed by Indigenous advocate Shayla Stonechild

NOW OUT:

• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey; championed by Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil
• Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston; championed by author Linwood Barclay

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads

 

Please note that on DAY FOUR Rebecca and Tara will be live on YouTube wrapping up the debates with Jolene (@bookwormadventure girl) on Thursday, March 20 @ 7:30 pm EDT:

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

Also, make sure to check out Jolene's YouTube Channel:

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

 

CBC's 2025 Canada Reads DAY TWO Wrap Up

Rebecca and Tara discuss Day TWO of CBC's Canada Reads debates!

STILL IN:

• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew; championed by "Pastry Nerd" Saïd M’Dahoma
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper; championed by actor Michelle Morgan
• Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston; championed by author Linwood Barclay
• A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Mary Louisa Plummer; championed by Indigenous advocate Shayla Stonechild

NOW OUT:

• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey; championed by Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads

 

 

CBC's 2025 Canada Reads DAY ONE Wrap Up

Rebecca and Tara discuss Day One of CBC's Canada Reads debates!

• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew; championed by "Pastry Nerd" Saïd M’Dahoma
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper; championed by actor Michelle Morgan
• Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston; championed by author Linwood Barclay
• A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Mary Louisa Plummer; championed by Indigenous advocate Shayla Stonechild
• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey; championed by Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads

 

 

Book Chat 25

Rebecca and Tara share their latest good reads AND make their final predictions for CBC's 2025 Canada Reads debates which begin on Monday, March 17.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
• Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes; illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
• Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall; illustrated by Hugo Martinez
• Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• The Bones of Ruin Trilogy: The Bones of Ruin; The Song of Wrath; The Lady of Rapture by Sarah Raughley.  (Check out Tara's interview with Sarah on October 2, 2024)
• The Queen's Spade by Sarah Raughley
• How to Survive a Bear Attack: A Memoir by Claire Cameron
• Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B59wqgYNEM
• Beautiful Ugly; Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
• Canadian author of thrillers--Nicole Lundrigan

2025 Canada Reads titles:

• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
• Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
• A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Mary Louisa Plummer
• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey

Also mentioned:

• Baltimore's Mansion: A Memoir by Wayne Johnston

 

Have We Convinced You?

Rebecca and Tara share some of their favorite books that others have recommended to them AND they wonder if they have convinced you to read any of their recommendations.  

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall; illustrated by Hugo Martinez
• Stories Left in Stone: Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain by Troy Nahumko
• The Undertaking of Billy Buffone by David Giuliano (interviewed 6/25/22)
• A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
• Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine
• Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
• Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense by Marcello Di Cintio (interviewed 1/11/21)
• Tenth of December by George Saunders
• Nora Watts series by Sheena Kamal (interviewed 12/6/22)
• The Street by Ann Petry
• Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman; Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol; The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara
• Yellow Barks Spider by Harman Burns
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
• Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon
• Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
• Cravings by Garnett Kilberg Cohen (interviewed 2/13/24)
• Unwind series by Neal Shusterman

https://www.riverstreetwriting.com/

https://www.instagram.com/river_street_writes/

 

Hidden Gems with author Sheena Kamal

Rebecca and Tara have come up with a new feature for the podcast called, “Hidden Gems with…”. In which they ask authors to share their top book recommendations.  Rebecca is excited to kick off the inaugural episode with Sheena Kamal and her Crime Fiction picks!   

Sheena is an author, essayist, and screenwriter.  She wrote the critically acclaimed Nora Watts thriller series (The Lost Ones, It All Falls Down, and No Going Back).  As well as a YA novel titled, Fight Like a Girl.  You may have heard Rebecca and Tara rave about her novels many times on the podcast, so they encourage you to listen to Sheena's past interview on December 6, 2022.

Crime Fiction Hidden Gems:

• Wakeland series by Sam Wiebe:
  • Invisible Dead
  • Cut You Down
  • Hollywood North
  • Hell and Gone
  • Sunset and Jericho
  • The Last Exile 
• Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang
• Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak series by Ausma Zehanat Khan
  • The Unquiet Dead
  • The Language of Secrets
  • Among the Ruins
  • A Dangerous Crossing
  • A Deadly Divide
• "Hammerhead" Jed series by A.J. Devlin
  • Cobra Clutch
  • Rolling Thunder
  • Five Moves of Doom
  • Bronco Buster
• Johnny Delivers by Wayne Ng
• Aunties series by Jesse Q. Sutanto
  • Dial A for Aunties
  • Four Aunties and a Wedding
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

https://www.sheenakamal.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sheenakamalwrites/

 

Interview - Joanne Jackson and Sunset Lake Resort

Tara chats with Joanne Jackson, an award-winning author of three novels: The Wheaton (2019); A Snake in the Raspberry Patch (2023), winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Best Crime Novel set in Canada and short listed for the Saskatchewan Book Awards; and her latest novel Sunset Lake Resort (2024) published by Stonehouse Publishing. Regardless of what weather Saskatchewan throws at her, she can often be found walking outside.

Joanne's recommendations:

• The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
• The Husband's Secrets by Liane Moriarty.

https://www.joannejackson.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/joannejacksonauthor/

https://www.stonehousepublishing.ca/store/sunset-lake-resort

 

Book Chat 24

Rebecca and Tara chat about their latest reads, some of which include CBC's Canada Reads titles for the 2025 debates airing March 17-20 on CBC TV, CBC Radio, and CBC Books (website and YouTube).

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): 

• How We Move the Air by Garnett Kilberg Cohen
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
• American War; What Strange Paradise; One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
• Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
• The Immortal Woman by Su Change
• Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
• Lost Women, Banished Souls by Garnett Kilberg Cohen

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology 
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
• The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
• Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich
• God Isn't Here Today by Francine Cunningham
• Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell