Canada Reads American Style

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

 

Love Stories

Rebecca and Tara celebrate some of their favorite Love Stories in all their different forms in honor of Valentine's Day.  

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery
• Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
• Cam & Beau by Maria Cichosz
• The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel
• https://www.hallmarkfamily.com/the-magic-of-ordinary-days
• Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
• Griffin & Sabine Trilogy: Griffin & Sabine; Sabine's Notebook; The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
• At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage by Carol Off
• The Outlander; Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson
• Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin
• The River by Peter Heller
• The Brickworks by Lucy E.M. Black
• Leaving Earth by Helen Humphreys
• The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite

 

Interview - Dr. Louise Ells and Lies I Told My Sister

Rebecca is excited to speak with author Dr. Louise Ells.  Louise is the author of Lies I Told My Sister, published in 2024 by Latitude 46 Publishing.  She was born and raised in Northeastern Ontario. After years of travel, she moved to Cambridge, England where she earned her PhD in Creative Writing. Louise teaches at universities and colleges in England and Canada and currently lives north of Toronto, where she can often be found in her library surrounded by books and snuggled up with her cats.

https://www.louiseells.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/louiseellsauthor/?hl=en

https://store.latitude46publishing.com/products/lies-i-told-my-sister

Recommendations:

• Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare
• A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
• Treed: Walking in Canada's Urban Forests; Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon
• Cottagers and Indians by Drew Hayden Taylor
• Death of Persephone: A Murder by Yvonne Blomer
• Poet Joy Williams
• Vandals by Alice Munro: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/10/04/vandals

 

Interview - Adelle Purdham and I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I've Told Myself

Tara is excited to chat with Adelle Purdham, who is an educator, parent disability advocate and author of the memoir-in-essays I Don't Do Disability and Other Lies I've Told Myself published by Dundurn Press in 2024. It was named a Fall 2024 Most Anticipated Memoir & Biography by Indigo and 49th Shelf. Her prose and poetry appear in literary journals, anthologies, magazines, newspapers and online. Adelle has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and is a qualified French teacher. She currently woks as a Seasonal Part-time Faculty member at Trent University where she teaches creative writing in her hometown, Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), ON.

https://adellepurdham.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/adellepurdham/?hl=en

https://www.dundurn.com/

Recommended titles:

• Shut Away: When Down Syndrome Was a Life Sentence by Catherine McKercher
• An Astonishment of Stars: Stories by Kirti Bhadresa
• The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

 

2025 CBC’s Canada Reads Short List

Rebecca and Tara discuss CBC's Canada Reads Short List, how well they did in selecting what would make the short list, and who they predict will win based on the slightest amount of research possible and their gut feelings.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/meet-the-canada-reads-2025-contenders-1.7431920

The Contenders:

• Olympic gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil champions Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
• Podcaster and wellness advocate Shayla Stonechild champions A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louisa Plummer
• Heartland actor Michelle Morgan champions Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
• Thriller writer Linwood Barclay champions Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
• Pastry chef Saïd M'Dahoma champions Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew

 

Book Chat 23

Rebecca and Tara are back for their first book chat of 2025!  They share the titles they've read recently and want to recommend.  Stay tuned to the end where a bit of CBC's Canada Reads pops into the discussion.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables) by L.M. Montgomery
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1); A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2) by Becky Chambers
• Lies I Told My Sister by Louise Ells https://www.louiseells.ca/
• Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada's North by Kathleen Lippa

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Sunset Lake Resort by Joanne Jackson
• Grandfather of the Treaties: Finding Our Future Through Wampum Covenant by Daniel Coleman
• A Different Hurricane by H. Nigel Thomas
• The Reinvention of Love by Helen Humphreys