Episodes
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Interview - Emily A. Weedon and Autokrator
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Rebecca chats with the author of Autokrator, Emily A. Weedon. Emily is a debut novelist and a screenwriter from Toronto Canada. Her web series Chateau Laurier was the most awarded web series on the entire planet in 2023 and won a Canadian Screen Award. Her novel Autokrator released by Cormorant Books in April 2024 is already receiving acclaim for its thoughtful messages, especially about women's health in a fractious world, for its wild creativity, and its driving pace as a story.
Other titles mentioned:
- Eris by Larry Gaudet
- Serotonin; The Map and the Territory; Submission by Michel Houellebecq
https://www.cormorantbooks.com/emily-a-weedon
https://www.instagram.com/emily.weedon.creates/
Immediately after their discussion, Emily shared the following news with Rebecca:
"Dundurn Press Acquisitions Editor Russell Smith has acquired world rights to award-winning screenwriter and AUTOKRATOR author Emily A. Weedon’s HEMO SAPIENS, an erotic noir thriller, pitched as a sleek THE HUNGER meets a twisted HANNIBAL, that reimagines vampires through a lens of female sexuality and anthropology, wherein a homicide detective, while exposing a secret society of bloodthirsty women, will do anything to protect his wife and unborn child from a mysterious and powerful femme fatale for the ages. Publication is expected for Fall 2025."
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Interview - Marion Agnew and Making Up the Gods
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Rebecca interviews author Marion Agnew. Marion is a dual US/Canadian citizen, who moved north mid-life, after a career in technical writing and editing. MAKING UP THE GODS (Latitude 46, Sudbury, 2023) is her first novel. Her previous book, REVERBERATIONS: A DAUGHTER’S MEDITATIONS ON ALZHEIMER’S (Signature Editions, Winnipeg, 2019) was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence award for nonfiction. She lives on the Lake Superior shoreline, a grateful guest in Robinson-Superior Treaty territory, home of the Anishinaabe (Fort William First Nation) and Metis peoples.
https://www.marionagnew.com/ (includes citations to Marion's fiction and essays, short and collected)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marionagnew/
Currently reading:
Fuse; Rebellion Box; Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery
If Sylvie Had Nine Lives by Leona Theis
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
2024 Goals - Midyear Review
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Rebecca and Tara provide an update on their 2024 goals!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur
- 2024 Inclusive Picture Book Read Along Challenge @readingwithredandthemagpie
- My Ántonia by Willa Cather
- The Street by Ann Petry
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
- The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
- Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
- The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
- My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
- February by Lisa Moore
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
- Merlin bird ID app
2023 Giller Books:
- Away from the Dead by David Bergen
- Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
- Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
- The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong
- We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan
- The Island: Stories by Dionne Irving
- Wait Softly Brother by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
- Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
Helen Humphreys:
- The Lost Garden
- The Frozen Thames
- Followed by the Lark
- Leaving Earth
Currently reading:
- I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Book Chat #18
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Rebecca and Tara share their latest reads!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine by Ricardo Nuila
- The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
- Autokrator by Emily A. Weedon
- The Street by Ann Petry
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
- Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy by Ali Velshi
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley
- Indian Burial Ground; Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
- The Shining; Salem's Lot by Stephen King
- The Residence; The Damned by Andrew Pyper
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest by Ariel Gordon
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Interview - Leslie Shimotakahara and Sisters of the Spruce
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Rebecca welcomes Canadian author Leslie Shimotakahara, whose third novel, Sisters of the Spruce, is on Quill & Quire's "2024 Spring Preview: Fiction" and the 49th Shelf's "Most Anticipated: Our 2024 Spring Fiction Preview." Her memoir, The Reading List, won the Canada-Japan Literary Prize and has been translated into Japanese, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award. She has written two other critically acclaimed novels, After the Bloom and Red Oblivion.
Leslie’s writing has appeared in the National Post, World Literature Today, and Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, among other anthologies and periodicals. She completed a PhD in English at Brown University, after which she returned to her hometown of Toronto, where she now resides with her husband.
https://leslieshimotakahara.com/
https://www.instagram.com/leslieshimotakahara/
https://caitlinpress.com/Books/S/Sisters-of-the-Spruce
- From Slave Girls to Salvation: Gender, Race, and Victoria's Chinese Rescue Home, 1886-1923 by Shelly D. Ikebuchi
- We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
- Within the Barbed Wire Fence: A Japanese Man's Account of his Internment in Canada by Takeo Ujo Nakano
Tuesday May 28, 2024
Interview - Barbara Black and Little Fortified Stories
Tuesday May 28, 2024
Tuesday May 28, 2024
The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192723955-the-work-of-art
Friday May 17, 2024
Interview - Finnian Burnett and The Price of Cookies
Friday May 17, 2024
Friday May 17, 2024
- Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest
- Cold by Drew Hayden Taylor
- The Scourge by Jennifer A. Nielsen
- Poet Miranda Krogstad
- Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
- All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac
- Never Let Me Go; Klara in the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Don't forget to check out Rebecca and Tara live on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@canadareadsamericanstyle/streams
Tuesday May 14, 2024
Book Chat #17
Tuesday May 14, 2024
Tuesday May 14, 2024
Rebecca and Tara share their latest reads and links to their new feature on YouTube: Reading From Our Shelves!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- Somehow by Anne Lamott
- Imagining Imagining: Essays on Language, Identity & Infinity by Gary Barwin
- Autokrator by Emily A. Weedon
- I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by Izzeldin Abuelaish
- James by Percival Everett
- The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning by Ben Raines
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston
- Eleanor Courtown; The Brickworks; Stella's Carpet; The Marzipan Fruit Basket by Lucy E.M. Black
- Making Up the Gods by Marion Agnew
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- Cold; Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor
- Coexistence: Stories; A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
- A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
- Nosy Parker; The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
- Followed by the Lark by Helen Humphreys
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- A House with Good Bones; Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Reading From Our Shelves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObgtKpEdnRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lek38hy8jCA&t=93s
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Interview - Sydney Hegele and Bird Suit
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Rebecca is excited to speak with Sydney Hegele, a queer Anglo-Catholic writer from the Greenbelt in Southern Ontario. They are the author of Bird Suit (Invisible Publishing, May 7, 2024) and The Pump (Invisible Publishing 2021), which was the winner of the 2022 ReLit Literary Award for Short Fiction and a finalist for the 2022 Trillium Book Award. Their essays have appeared in Catapult and Electric Literature, EVENT, and have been featured by Lithub, The Poetry Foundation, and Psychology Today. Their essay collection Bad Kids is forthcoming with Invisible in Fall 2025. Sydney’s work often explores small-town queerness, environmental justice, mental illness, religious life, and the complicated relationships between these things. They live with their husband and French Bulldog on Treaty 13 Land (Toronto, Canada).
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sydneyhegele/
Titles mentioned:
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker (Foreword)
- Play by Jess Taylor
-
Imagining Imagining: Essays on Language, Identity and Infinity by Gary Barwin
Friday Apr 12, 2024
Interview - Heather Stemp and the Ginny Ross series
Friday Apr 12, 2024
Friday Apr 12, 2024
Rebecca is excited to chat with Heather Stemp, author of the Ginny Ross historical fiction series for tween and teen readers. Rebecca also recommends it for adult fans of Anne of Green Gables.
Heather’s paternal roots lie in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. After 30 years as an English teacher, she retired to research her family history, discovering her Aunt Ginny’s friendship with Amelia Earhart in the process. As a result, she began writing the Ginny Ross Series. Amelia and Me was shortlisted for the 2014/2015 Red Cedar Award. Under Amelia’s Wing was shortlisted for the 2021 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the 2022 Red Maple Award. Beyond Amelia, will be released April 16, 2024.
When not writing, Heather loves traveling with her husband, Don, and spending time at the cottage with her grandchildren and grand dogs.
https://www.instagram.com/authorheatherstemp/
https://visitatchison.com/highlight/amelia-earhart-festival
https://visitatchison.com/highlight_type/amelia-earhart
When the Dikes Breached by Martha Attema
Winterkill by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Dreadfall Water series by Thomas King
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Interview - Vince Ditrich and the Tony Vicar series
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
100th Co-Host Celebration
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
Rebecca and Tara celebrate their 100th episode as co-hosts by sharing ten facts about themselves and their top three podcasts. Interestingly, they both had near death experiences and divulged youthful criminal secrets.
Rebecca:
- I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by Izzeldin Abuelaish
- Podcast episodes: Mark Tewksbury -- March 14, 2022 and April 30, 2022; Ali Hassan most recently on March 17, 2024; Adam Shoalts on December 11, 2024
Tara:
- The Hapless Milliner (Miss Austin Investigates #1) by Jessica Bull
- Podcast episodes: Keegan on July 24, 2022; Vince Ditrich mid-April 2024
Saturday Mar 23, 2024
Book Chat #16
Saturday Mar 23, 2024
Saturday Mar 23, 2024
Rebecca and Tara discuss their latest reads!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- There There; Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
- The Street by Ann Petry
- The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
- Sisters of the Spruce by Leslie Shimotakahara
- My Ántonia by Willa Cather
- Wrong Time Wrong Place by Gillian McAllister
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- Peril in Pink by Sydney Leigh
- The Song of Achilles; Circe by Madeline Miller
- Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces by Elamin Abdelmahmoud; Commotion (CBC Radio One)
- Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey
- Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World; The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed; The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant
- The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
- World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura (illustrator)
- Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
- A Man Downstairs by Nicole Lundrigan
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
CBC’s 2024 Canada Reads Wrap Up with Host Ali Hassan
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Rebecca and Tara chat with CBC's Canada Reads host Ali Hassan about the 2024 debates! Ali's website includes information about his stand-up comedy, public events, acting, memoir, hosting, podcasts, etc. He may be the busiest man in Canada!
https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads
https://allpoetry.com/Do-Not-Ask-My-Love
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr:
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/prairie-edge
Monday Mar 11, 2024
CBC's 2024 Canada Reads Wrap Up with Sarah
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Rebecca chats with the podcast's good friend Sarah from Nova Scotia to find out what she thought of the 2024 Canada Reads debate.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sareshears/