Canada Reads American Style

Review of The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

Shauna and Rebecca kick off 2021 CBC's Canada Reads with a review of The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk.  Will anyone be surprised that Shauna loved this book?!?

Interview - Morgan Murray and Dirty Birds

Shauna and Rebecca are thrilled to chat with Morgan Murray, author of Dirty Birds, arguably the most creative, inventive farce of 2020-21.  They think you will agree that it should have been on the 2021 CBC's Canada Reads longlist.     

YouTube: https://youtu.be/KZt2HlkvRPY

FB: @morganmurraywrites

Website: http://morganmurray.ca/

 

Larissa, guest reviewer discusses Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Rebecca is excited to have Larissa back to talk about the impact of Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, which Larissa highly recommended on one of her Instagram stories (@the.bookmom).  During the podcast the two unearth a few gems they hadn't considered until their discussion.

Interview - Andrew Cotter and Olive, Mabel & Me

Shauna and Rebecca began their podcast to talk about Canadian literature and Canadian authors.  However, Rebecca begged Shauna to let her branch out to speak to arguably the hottest author to come out of the pandemic: Andrew Cotter, who is the content creator behind the Olive and Mabel viral videos as well as the author of the wonderfully entertaining Olive, Mabel & Me. 

Interview - Marcello Di Cintio and Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Life in Contemporary Palestine

Shauna and Rebecca are excited to chat with author Marcello Di Cintio regarding his most recent book, Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Life in Contemporary Palestine, which is a non-fiction account of Palestinian life through the words of the poets and authors who experience beauty and grace in a landscape known to most of us for its wars and crisis.

Link to Duke Franklin Humanities Institute presentation: https://youtu.be/KYPjKtugLZc

Additional Palestinian authors discussed: Tala Abu Rahmeh, Hala Alyan, Mazen Maarouf, Mourid Barghouti.

 

CBC's Canada Reads 2021 Shortlist Predictions

Once again Shauna and Rebecca take a shot at trying to predict which of the CBC's Canada Reads 2021 longlist titles will be selected for the competition, which begins March 8, but, not surprisingly, they each pick a different set of five.  Which ones do you think make the cut?

 

Shauna and Rebecca's Best Books of 2020

Shauna and Rebecca each share their Top 5 best reads of 2020, which include titles written by non-Canadians.  No hints, no tags...just play along and see if you can guess any of the titles on their list! 

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Let us hope that 2021 makes us proud! 

Review of Son of a Critch by Mark Critch

Shauna and Rebecca close out their Love & Laughter series with Son of a Critch: a Childish Newfoundland Memoir, a book that definitely made both of them laugh out loud!  Shauna listened to the audio edition, while Rebecca read the book in print--either way, they guarantee you will love Mark Critch's memoir!

Interview - Beautiful Words Book Club

Join Shauna and Rebecca as they interview Beautiful Words Book Club representatives Deanna and Kate! The Beautiful Words Book Club created guided questions to help you think  about those beautiful words that you are reading. They have several themes: general fiction, summer reads, professional nonfiction, and even one for children!  

Purchase your bookmark at https://www.wearebeautifulwords.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearebeautifulwords/

Canada Reads American Style
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Review of The Woefield Poultry Collective by Susan Juby

Shauna and Rebecca discuss the first humorous book in their Love & Laughter series, but is the book humorous??  Will Shauna accept Rebecca's apology for selecting a book about chickens?  Thanks to Bookstagram's @wearebeautifulwords, a women's book club out of Windsor, ON, for providing the questions for the review from their new bookmarks. These fabulous bookmarks are for sale at wearebeautifulwords.ca.  Stay tuned for an upcoming podcast with Kate and Deanna to learn more about their new business venture! 

Interview - Maria Cichosz and Cam & Beau

Shauna and Rebecca are excited to interview first-time novelist, Maria Cichosz, regarding her queer love story, Cam & Beau.  It is a uniquely compelling, intelligent story about two men who love one another but are afraid to risk losing their long-term friendship.  This is literary fiction at its finest, and Rebecca cannot wait for the sequel, Middlemen, to be published!  Follow Maria on Bookstagram @maria_tripps and check out Cam & Beau at https://camandbeau.ca

 

Review of The Switch by Lynsay Sands

Shauna and Rebecca review the second book in their Love & Laughter series, The Switch by Canadian author Lynsay Sands.  Shauna loved the humor and atypical ending, while Rebecca felt it was a formulaic romance.  Spoiler alert: the two describe full details about the story from beginning to end. 

Author Chat with Wayne Arthurson

Award-winning author Wayne Arthurson join Shauna and Rebecca and other Bookstagram friends for a lively discussion about The Red Chesterfield and the Leo Desroches mystery series.  The women try to draw out answers on some of the red herrings in The Red Chesterfield, but Wayne remains resolute that it is up to each reader to decide.  This is why it is such a great read--so much to discuss!

Tara, guest reviewer discusses Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Shauna and Rebecca are happy to have Tara (@onabranchknitsandread) from Ontario join them to discuss the first book in their Love & Laughter series.  Shauna and Tara offer up their own questions, while Rebecca cheats and uses the ones at the end of the e-book.  How many maple leafs will each one assign to Ayesha at Last? 

Introducing Love & Laughter for Fall 2020!

Join Shauna and Rebecca for a lighter fall season--a season of Love & Laughter!  They will be reading and discussing the following:

September -- Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

October -- The Switch by Lynsay Sands 

November -- The Woefield Poultry Collective by Susan Juby

December -- Son of a Critch by Mark Critch (apologies to Mark Critch for Rebecca twice calling him Bill Critch!)

Leacock Medal for the best in Canadian Literary Humour: https://www.leacock.ca/ 

Rebecca also highly recommends that everyone read Parts by Tedd Arnold for the best laugh of 2020.  Yes, the bar is low this year, but the laughs are a guarantee high!!

https://www.uzmajalaluddin.com/

http://www.lynsaysands.net/

https://susanjuby.com/

Instagram: @critchmark

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/parts-by-tedd-arnold/