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Two friends -- one American, one Canadian -- who share a love for CBC’s Canada Reads and Canadian literature! https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads
Episodes
Sunday Mar 01, 2026
Sunday Mar 01, 2026
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/
Monday Feb 23, 2026
Monday Feb 23, 2026
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/
Sunday Feb 15, 2026
Sunday Feb 15, 2026
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
Tuesday Feb 10, 2026
Tuesday Feb 10, 2026
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.
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
Friday Feb 06, 2026
Friday Feb 06, 2026
Rebecca welcomes award-winning Canadian author Marcello Di Cintio for his third podcast visit to discuss his latest book, Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers, published by Biblioasis in September 2025.
A Globe 100 Best Book of 2025 • One of The Hill Times’ Top 100 Best Books in 2025 • Winner of the 2024 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Book Award
https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-releases/precarious-the-lives-of-migrant-workers/
In 2023, after weeks of investigation, United Nations Special Rapporteur Tomoyo Obokata came to a scathing conclusion: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program is “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” Workers complained of excessive hours and unpaid overtime; of being forced to perform dangerous tasks or ones not specified in their contracts; of being physically abused, intimidated, and sexually harassed; and of overcrowded, unsanitary living conditions that deprived them of their privacy and dignity.
In Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers, Marcello Di Cintio ranges across the country speaking to those who have come from elsewhere to till our fields, bathe our elderly, and serve us our Double Doubles, uncovering stories of tremendous perseverance, resilience, and humanity, but also of precarity and vulnerability. He shows that vast swathes of our economy depend on the work of people we don’t see, while expanding our awareness of what migrant work now entails, and revealing that our mistreatment of the most vulnerable among us diminishes our own dignity.
Please check out Rebecca's previous interviews with Marcello:
January 11, 2021 - Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Life in Contemporary Palestine
June 28, 2021 - Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers
https://www.instagram.com/marcello.di.cintio/
Sunday Feb 01, 2026
Sunday Feb 01, 2026
- Ruth Galloway series; Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffiths
- Magpie Murders series; Moonflower Murders series; Marble Hall series by Anthony Horowitz
- Helen Dexter - Seaview Hotel series by Glenda Young
- Cait Morgan series; WISE Enquiries Agency series by Cathy Ace
- Christine Lane Mystery series by Dianne Scott
Thursday Jan 22, 2026
Thursday Jan 22, 2026
With the announcement of the five titles and defenders, Rebecca and Tara make their predictions for the winner of the 25th Anniversary edition of CBC's Canada Reads! Per the CBC website: "This year's edition will air April 13 to 16 on CBC TV, CBC Radio, CBC Listen, CBC Gem and CBC Books. It will also be on YouTube and available as a podcast."
https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2026-contenders-9.7040200
The defenders, titles, and authors:
- 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
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
Wednesday Jan 21, 2026
Wednesday Jan 21, 2026
Rebecca and Tara are back with Book Chat #31. Included are the books they are currently reading as well as their first recommendations of the New Year!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- Patrick Bird Mysteries: Opposite Sully's Gym #2; The Road to Heaven #1 by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
- The Breakwater; Sisters of the Spruce by Leslie Shimotakahara
- To Touch the Water; The Solace of Open Spaces; A Match to the Heart: One Woman's Story of Being Struck by Lightning by Gretel Ehrlich
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Women Among Monuments: Solitude, Permission, and the Pursuit of Female Genius by Kasia Van Schaik
- Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers; Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers; Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense by Marcello Di Cintio
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood
- Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #20: The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
- The Haunting of Modesto O'Brien; The Wintermen trilogy by Brit Griffin
- The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
- How about This by Michael Mirolla
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
Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Welcome to the podcast's first Hidden Gems episode of 2026! This is a special feature Rebecca and Tara offer in which they invite guests to recommend authors or titles that may be new to their listeners. Today’s guest is author and retired professor Garnett Kilberg Cohen from Chicago, IL.
Garnett is the author of four short story collections: Cravings; Lost Women, Banished Souls; How We Move the Air; and Swarm to Glory. Her chapbook, Passion Tour, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker online, Rumpus, The Gettysburg Review, Witness, The Literary Review, StoryQuarterly, The Antioch Review and elsewhere.
Check out Rebecca's interview with Garnett on Feb 13, 2024:
https://canadareadsamericanstyle.podbean.com/e/interview-garnett-kilberg-cohen-and-cravings/
Garnett's Hidden Gems:
- The Registry of Forgotten Objects: Stories by Miles Harvey
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- Down the Steep by A.D. Nauman
- The Adventures of Cancer Bitch by S.L. Wisenberg
- French Girl by Jesse Lee Kercheval
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- You've Told Me Before by Jennifer Moses
- Simone in Pieces by Janet Burroway
https://garnettcohenauthor.com/
Thursday Jan 08, 2026
Thursday Jan 08, 2026
It's that time of year again when Rebecca and Tara try to predict which five books will make CBC's Canada Reads Short List for 2026! Adding to the excitement is that this year is the 25th anniversary of the debate, so they are hoping for an entertaining look back to find the one book all of Canada should read!
https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/canada-reads-2026-longlist-9.7029177
- A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
- Celestina's House by Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez
- Crossroads by Kaleb Dahlgren
- Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe
- Foe by Iain Reid
- Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
- It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard
- Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
- Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
- Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
- Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan
- Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
- Slice The Water by PP Wong
- The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
- The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee
@canadareadsamericanstyle
@onabranchreads
Thursday Jan 01, 2026
Thursday Jan 01, 2026
Happy New Year!! Rebecca and Tara summarize the success of their 2025 goals and introduce new challenges for 2026!
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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com
Wednesday Dec 31, 2025
Wednesday Dec 31, 2025
Rebecca and Tara hope you had a fantastic year of reading! And they wrap up their 2025 by answering the following questions:
- Favorite non-fiction book
- Favorite quote
- Happiest book
- A book that made you cry
- Most surprising read
- Most read genre
- Most read author
- Favorite reading experience
- What book do you wish you had buddy read
- Scariest/creepiest book
- Favorite fictional character
- Favorite setting or location
- First and last book of 2025
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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com
Wednesday Dec 24, 2025
Wednesday Dec 24, 2025
Rebecca and Tara close out 2025 with their 30th Book Chat! Rebecca is all about Narnia and C.S. Lewis and Tara ruminates on whether to DNF or finish the book she is currently reading.
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- Stories for Winter and Nights by the Fire by British Library Women Writers
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing by Lili Taylor
- Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo
- 107 Days by Kamala Harris
- Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
- Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys
- the blades of grass are dreaming by Hollay Ghadery https://www.anstrutherpress.com/new-products/the-blades-of-grass-are-dreaming-by-hollay-ghadery
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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com
Monday Dec 22, 2025
Monday Dec 22, 2025
Tara has a fascinating chat with Liisa Kovala, a Finnish Canadian author, book coach, and former teacher about historical fiction, cozy mysteries, sisu, her book coaching, podcast, and coffee. Her latest novel is, Like Water for Weary Souls.
https://www.liisakovalabookcoach.com/
"In Nolin Creek, the water runs deep and the secrets run deeper. In the harsh landscape of a Depression-era Northern Ontario mining town, Finnish immigrant sisters Hanna and Essi Kivi scrape together a living as domestic workers, sharing a room in a disreputable boarding house owned by a protective madame.
When Hanna's body is discovered in the icy waters of Nolin Creek, the police call it a tragic accident. But Essi knows better. Her sister would never have risked crossing unstable ice—not after they lost their youngest sister Martta to drowning years before.
Haunted by guilt and driven by loyalty, Essi begins to unravel the secrets Hanna kept hidden. As Essi digs deeper into her sister's final days, she discovers that in a town built on desperation and dreams for a better future, everyone has something to hide.
A gripping tale of love, family, sisterhood, and the search for truth."
Recommended Reading List:
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
- Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
https://www.youtube.com/@liisakovala
https://liisakovalawomenwriting.substack.com/
https://www.instagram.com/liisakovala/
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Rebecca reveals her 2025 secret reading goal to Tara! And she and Tara offer their best reading recommendations for the holiday season!
Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):
- Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) by C.S. Lewis
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- An English Murder by Cyril Hare
- A Holiday By Gaslight: A Victorian Christmas Novella by Mimi Matthews
- Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry
Tara (@onabranchreads):
- Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo
- The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
- Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
- A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli
- The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
- Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
- The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
- Yours for the Season by Uzma Jalaluddin
- Small Things Like These by Claire Foster
- The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures by Sarah Clegg
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 chat, please email them at craspod2019@gmail.com