Canada Reads Inspired

Interview - Alison Gadsby and Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive

Tara sits down for a chat with Canadian author Alison Gadsby, a first-generation Canadian living in Tkaronto, about her debut collection of short stories, Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive, published by Guernica Editions in spring 2026.

https://guernicaeditions.com/en-us/products/breathing-is-how-some-people-stay-alive

"Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive blurs the lines between horror, catastrophic speculative fiction, and psychological realism in a collection that might best be described as weird fiction. These connected stories offer dark reconstructions of lives brimming with desperate loneliness. They allow us to bear witness to the life-altering love of sisters, brothers, mothers… the life-altering love that buoys them as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of childhoods they merely survived."

https://alisongadsby.ca/home/

https://junctionreads.ca

Books and Authors mentioned:

• Weird Babies by Jaclyn Desforges
• Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality by Lindsay Wong
• Lesser Known Monsters of the 21^st Century by Kim Fu
• Rafael Has Pretty Eyes by Elaine McCluskey
• Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery
• Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster by Damian Tarnopolsky
• Last Woman; Bad Endings by Carleigh Baker
• A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway
• A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan
• Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt
• Layaway Child by Chanel Sutherland
• Remaindered People & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy
• Skin by Catherine Bush
• Chrysalis; Kiss of Crimson Ash by Anuja Varghese
• Smash & Grab by Mark Anthony Jarman
• Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat
• Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
• The Longest Way to Eat a Melon by Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross
• Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza by Hassani Kanafani
• Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen
• Wonderland Road by Carrianne Leung
• Stan on Guard by K.R. Wilson
• The Lost Queen by Heidi von Palleske

"Poet pals" going on tour with Alison:

• Sublunary by Lisa Richter
• Ajar by Margo LaPierre
• Inside Every Dream, a Raging Sea by Liz Worth

 

CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY THREE Wrap Up

Rebecca and Tara cover CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY THREE debate. Less surprises perhaps, but more great content!

 

Join them live on Thursday, 4/16/26 @ 11:30am EDT on their YouTube Channel:

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

Their good friend Jolene, from Bookworm Adventure Girl, will be joining them to discuss the final day of this year's competition in which the ONE BOOK that all of Canada should read will be announced!

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

 

Then join Rebecca and Tara live on YouTube on Friday, April 17 @ 9:45am EDT with their special guest, Canada Reads Host, Ali Hassan!

 

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200 :

• Filmmaker and actor Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers champions A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
• Hockey YouTube personality and podcaster Steve (Dangle) Glynn champions Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
• Musician and writer Tegan Quin champions The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
• Broadway actor and kids TV host Josh Dela Cruz champions Foe by Iain Reid
• BookTok star Morgann Book champions It's Different This Time by Joss Richard

 

CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY TWO Wrap Up

Rebecca is back from vacation and she and Tara discuss CBC's 2026 Canada Reads DAY TWO debate.  Listen to Tara's DAY ONE wrap up on her Instagram live: @onabranchreads.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200 :

• Filmmaker and actor Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers champions A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
• Hockey YouTube personality and podcaster Steve (Dangle) Glynn champions Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
• Musician and writer Tegan Quin champions The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
• Broadway actor and kids TV host Josh Dela Cruz champions Foe by Iain Reid
• BookTok star Morgann Book champions It's Different This Time by Joss Richard

 

Interview – Finnian Burnett and Redshirts Sometimes Survive

Tara welcomes back Canadian author Finnian Burnett to discuss their latest novella-in-flash, Redshirts Sometimes Survive.

https://offtopicpublishing.com/product/redshirts-sometimes-survive-by-finnian-burnett/?srsltid=AfmBOoqqrDjkjomUw5LV1p4n7BFWy7-l2RrTh5Ty2L2VoSYamvlByFX8

"A neglected boy clings to an action figure like a lifeline. A trans man meets his childhood hero. An introvert finally finds her voice at a protest. Queer fans, lonely children, awkward convention-goers, and disillusioned adults seek out their favourite starships and captains for solace and strength. In these interconnected flash stories, the outcasts, the rebels, the bullied, and the weird find themselves, one other, and a place to call home.

By turns moving, thoughtful, and wry, Redshirts Sometimes Survives offers connection and comfort. Being a redshirt doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Sometimes, it means you survive."

 

Books discussed:

• The House in the Cerulean Sea; Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune
• The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
• The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
• Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
• Ravens Don’t Get High Blood Pressure and Other Tales of Queer Love; The Life and Dead Trees (two works in progress); The Clothes Make the Man; The Price of Cookies by Finnian Burnett

https://www.instagram.com/finnianburnett/

https://finnburnett.com/

 

2026 CBC's Canada Reads Review

Rebecca and Tara discuss their impressions of the 2026 CBC's Canada Reads books and defenders for this year's debate. Don't forget to check out Rebecca's interview with author Tyler Hellard and Searching for Terry Punchout on February 10, 2026.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200

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

 

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 talk for adults or the new one for youth books starting in May 2026, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

 

Interview - Leslie Shimotakahara and The Breakwater

Rebecca is excited to chat with Canadian author Leslie Shimotakahara about her latest novel, The Breakwater, which will be published by Cormorant Books in April 2026.

https://www.cormorantbooks.com/Books/T/The-Breakwater

"One morning in Toronto, Cathy Matsumoto’s father, Yasuo, calls to announce he intends to visit a dying cousin in British Columbia.

Cathy’s never heard of this mysterious relative before, but she begrudgingly agrees to plan a family trip with her father and daughter, Tessa, to Victoria, the hometown Yas was forcibly evicted from when Japanese Canadians were interned during World War Two. It's only in BC that Cathy learns this “cousin” is actually Yas’s younger brother, Stum, who’s been languishing in psychiatric care, abandoned, ever since Yas committed him to Essondale Asylum before the war.

Yas tries to fend off probing questions from his daughter and granddaughter, but revisiting old haunts brings back memories of the brothers’ boyhood rivalry and coming-of-age near Victoria’s Chinatown, when Yas’s resolve to hold their fractured family together clashed against Stum’s troublesome turn toward a life of gambling, crime, and consorting with prostitutes.

In this heartbreaking family story, two brothers, both old men not far from death, must at last confront long-buried family secrets — and their lingering effects on subsequent generations."

 

Recommended Books:

• Flashlight by Susan Choi
• Worldly Girls: A Memoir by Tamara Jong
• It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished: A Memoir of My Body by Kate Gies

https://leslieshimotakahara.com/

https://www.instagram.com/leslieshimotakahara

 

Book Chat 33

It's Book Chat time! Rebecca had a meh reading month and Tara crushed it!! 

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Director's Choice: Flint Institute of Arts by Tracee J. Glab
• Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey into the Heart of Iran; Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Marcello Di Cintio
• Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life by Rachel Hartigan

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes
• Bang Crunch by Neil Smith
• The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
• Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies by Lindsay Wong
• The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
  • "A Fine Old Firm"
• Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature by Becky Siegel Spratford
• A Truce That is Not Peace by Miriam Toews
• Redshirts Sometimes Survive by Finnian Burnett
• The Tinder Sonnets by Jennifer LoveGrove
• Shoebox by Sean Paul Bedell
• Good Guys by Sharon Bala
• Stag Dance; Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

 

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 talk, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

 

Coming Soon - Canada Reads Inspired!

Rebecca and Tara have an announcement!!

 

Instagram:

@canadareadsamericanstyle

@onabranchreads

Literary Rabbit Holes 1

Rebecca and Tara introduce a new feature for the podcast in which books they've read prompted them to do a deeper dive into some aspect of the subject or story, in other words, they went down a rabbit hole.

They kick off the inaugural episode discussing Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley and Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Marcello Di Cintio.

Instagram: 

Rebecca @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara @onabranchreads

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 talk, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

Interview - Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson and Opposite Sully's Gym

Rebecca is excited to chat with Canadian author Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson about his second book in the Patrick Bird Mystery series; the first is The Road to Heaven, published by Dundurn Press in 2024. Opposite Sully's Gym, book two, is available beginning March 31, 2026.

Dundurn Press: https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459755888-opposite-sully-s-gym

"A missing tenant, an irate mother-in-law, and a killer hiding in a Toronto rooming house — out-of-work PI Patrick Bird is back in business.

Patrick Bird thought he was helping his mother-in-law collect back rent from a deadbeat tenant at her Ossington Avenue rooming house, not starting a new investigation. But when he discovers Jack Turner’s third-floor darkroom is demolished and the photographer is missing, the other tenants come under scrutiny: Mr. Yusuf, the international student training to be a doctor; Danny Blinken, the shifty taxi driver; and Shirley Burton, the young nurse far from home.

As Bird investigates, he uncovers information about a former tenant, James Earl Ray, who had assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just weeks earlier and had been hiding out in a room on the second floor.

The case takes Bird and the police down a path of intrigue reaching right into the center of one of the most infamous assassinations of the twentieth century, leading our truculent PI to just about the toughest spot he could imagine."

Authors and books recommended:

• "The Man Who Went Down Under" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine July/August 2022) by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
• The Lady in the Lake (Philip Marlowe #4) by Raymond Chandler
• Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
• The Chill (Lew Archer #11) by Ross Macdonald
• City Primeval; Unknown Man #89 (Jack Ryan #2); LaBrava by Elmore Leonard
• The Cold Six Thousand (Underworld USA #2) by James Ellroy
• Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly
• Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman
• Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter

https://www.alexisstefanovichthomson.com/

https://www.instagram.com/alexis.stefanovich.thomson

 

Interview - Kerry Clare and Definitely Thriving

Tara chats with Canadian author, blogger, and podcaster Kerry Clare to discuss her latest novel, Definitely Thriving, which is available March 17, 2026 from House of Anansi Press:

https://houseofanansi.com/products/definitely-thriving?srsltid=AfmBOopZcn9yxB5pt-vRIlt94svRdfoXKN-f9wWfX41Q0InAKyLHhN4S

"After accidentally-on-purpose exploding her listless marriage by being discovered in bed with the next-door neighbours, Clemence Lathbury returns to her hometown resolved to build a life for herself that is good and substantial, to become the kind of sensible woman who won’t be distracted by frippery and romance. It’s supposed to be Eat, Pray, Love, without the love part. But no woman is an island, and soon Clemence finds herself embroiled in neighbourhood drama; beginning a crusade at the local bookshop; becoming adopted by a well-groomed, one-eyed cat; and being forced to admit her attraction to two very different men—each a romantic lead in his own right. But how to choose? And never mind the complications of her quirky family …

A novel about friendship, community, and church jumble sales, Definitely Thriving is a celebration of people who are perfectly imperfect, and all the love and support that’s required for one woman to make it on her own."

Authors, Book, and Bookstores recommended:

• Barbara Pym
• Laurie Colwin
• Standard Deviation; Early Morning Riser; Single, Carefree, Mellow; Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
• Penelope Lively
• Penelope Fitzgerald
• Women Among Monuments: Solitude, Permission, and the Pursuit of Female Genius by Kasia Van Schaik
• Olivia Laing
• https://whitewhalebookstore.com/
• https://citybookspgh.com/
• Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out -- A Hilarious Guide for Book Lovers and Lifelong Readers by Shannon Reed

Bookspo Podcast wherever you get your podcasts:

https://kerryreads.substack.com/p/season-4-episode-8-shani-mootoo

https://www.instagram.com/kerryreads/

https://picklemethis.com/aboutme/

https://kerryreads.substack.com/

 

 

Interview - Hollay Ghadery and The Unravelling of Ou

Tara sits down with Iranian-Canadian author Hollay Ghadery to discuss her first novel, The Unravelling of Ou, published by Palimpsest Press in February 2026. Later in the interview, Hollay talks about poetry and how best to read it for those who may be new to it.

https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/the-unravelling-of-ou-hollay-ghadery/ : 

"Moving on is hard. Even harder when it’s from a make-believe friend—someone, or in this instance, some thing—who’s been your strongest source of support. On what should be one of the happiest days ever, the day her granddaughter is born, Minoo is faced with a terrible choice: make a clean break from her constant companion, a sock puppet named Ecology Paul, or lose her daughter and granddaughter, and maybe all of the people she loves. On an emotional drive home from the hospital, Ecology Paul shares the story of how Minoo got to this point, recalling Minoo’s early teenage pregnancy in Iran, her exile to Canada, her questions about her sexuality, and how a ragtag sock puppet came to her when she desperately needed to be seen. Full of imagination, whimsy and heart, The Unravelling of Ou follows Minoo’s struggles to justify the puppet’s existence and untangle herself from her dependence on it, and reconnect with the people she loves."

Books and authors discussed/recommended:

• Fuse: Memoir; Rebellion Box; Widow Fantasies; The Blades of Grass are Dreaming (chapbook); The Unravelling of Ou by Hollay Ghadery
• The Dowager Empress: Poems by Adele Wiseman by Elizabeth Greene (editor)
• Deviant by Patrick Grace
• Unravel: Poems by Tolu Oloruntaba
• Lockers Are for Bearcats Only by Mallory Tater
• The Last Unicorn; Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
• author Aisha Sasha John
• Good Bones by Maggie Smith
• author Charlie Petch
• Syncopation: A Novel in Verse by Whitney French
• Stan on Guard; Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millenia by K.R. Wilson
• Elegy for Opportunity by Natalie Lim
• author Ali Hazelwood
• Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging by Rachel Phan
• Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby
• Weird Babies by Jaclyn Desforges
• The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow by Armand Garnet Ruffo

https://www.instagram.com/hollayghadery/

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

https://www.riverstreetwriting.com/

 

Interview - Kasia Van Schaik and Women Among Monuments: Solitude, Permission, and the Pursuit of Female Genius

Rebecca is excited to chat with Dr. Kasia Van Schaik about her latest book, Women Among Monuments: Solitude, Permission, and the Pursuit of Female Genius,  published on February 17, 2026 by Dundurn Books. 

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459752627-women-among-monuments :

A lyrical meditation on the enduring obstacles women artists and writers face in a world still unaccustomed to recognizing female genius.

What does it take for a woman to don the mantle of genius — a title long reserved for male artists? From her studies in Montreal to a dead-end job in Berlin, a midnight tour of Paris, a bankrupt art residency on the Toronto Islands, and a mysterious sculpture garden in the Karoo desert, South African—Canadian author and professor Kasia Van Schaik considers what it means for a young woman to call herself an artist and claim a creative life.

Drawing on a diverse web of literary and cultural sources and artistic icons — from Georgia O’Keeffe to Ana Mendieta, Gertrude Stein to Jamaica Kincaid, Leslie Marmon Silko to Bernadette Mayer — Women Among Monuments asks, What, beyond a room of one’s own, are the necessary conditions for female genius? Where does the inner flint of artistic permission come from? What is the oxygen that keeps it burning?

In her memoir interwoven with incisive biographies of female solitude, constraint, and perseverance, Van Schaik blazes a trail for more inclusive artmaking practices, communities, and monuments.

 

Books and Authors mentioned:

• The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Along by Olivia Lainy
• Ginny Ross series (Amelia Earhart) by Heather Stemp 
• Voyage in the Dark; Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

https://www.unb.ca/faculty-staff/directory/arts-fr-english/van-schaik-kasia.html

https://gillerprize.ca/scotiabank-giller-prize-spotlight-kasia-van-schaik/

https://www.instagram.com/kasia_writes

https://electricliterature.com/why-i-left-men-for-books/

 

 

Book Chat 32

Rebecca and Tara both share a book in which the main character is seeking a return to community. And Tara brings more horror to the podcast!

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): 

• Anne of Windy Willows by L.M. Montgomery (British edition)
• Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Marcello Di Cintio
• Patrick Bird Mysteries: Opposite Sully's Gym #2 (03-31-26); The Road to Heaven #1 by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
• Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
• The Breakwater (04-26-26) by Leslie Shimotakahara
• The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History; Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined by David F. Walker; illustrated by Marcus Kwame Anderson

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby
• The Winter Witch by Jennifer Chevalier
• Conversations with Birds by Priyanka Kumar
• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
• Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality: Stories; The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family by Lindsay Wong
• The Chorus Beneath Our Feet by Melanie Schnell
• Women Among Monuments: Solitude, Permission, and the Pursuit of Female Genius by Kasia Van Schaik
• Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin
• Definitely Thriving (03/17/26) by Kerry Clare

 

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 talk, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com

 

 

Interview - Tyler Hellard and Searching for Terry Punchout

Rebecca welcomes Canadian Tyler Hellard, the author of Searching for Terry Punchout, a funny, heartwarming novel published in 2018 by Invisible Publishing that will be defended on CBC’s Canada Reads by Steve “Dangle” Glynn beginning April 13, 2026.

(https://invisiblepublishing.com/product/searching-for-terry-punchout/?srsltid=AfmBOorr4I4nKSYii0VC97AkHUZzFN7b4XOqjmVDik46RSnQWhXeiC6B) :

A 2026 CBC Canada Reads Selection
Shortlisted for the 2019 Amazon Canada First Novel Award
Shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

Garden State meets King Leary in this slapshot debut novel.

Adam Macallister’s sportswriting career is about to end before it begins, but he’s got one last shot—a Sports Illustrated profile about hockey’s most notorious goon, the reclusive Terry Punchout—who also happens to be Adam’s estranged father. Adam returns to Pennington, Nova Scotia, where Terry now lives in the local rink and drives the Zamboni. Going home means drinking with old friends, revisiting neglected relationships, and dealing with lingering feelings about his father and dead mother—and discovering that his friends and family are kinder and more complicated than he ever gave them credit for. Searching for Terry Punchout is a charming and funny tale of hockey, small-town Maritime life, and how, despite our best efforts, nothing can save us from becoming our parents.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200

https://tylerhellard.com/