Canada Reads American Style

Creepy Books!

Rebecca and Tara kick off October with some of their favorite creepy books!

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• Little Amal https://www.walkwithamal.org/
• The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid
• How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine
• The Merciless series; Survive the Night, The Haunted, The Unleashed by Danielle Vega
• A Quality of Light by Richard Wagamese

Tara (@onabranchreads)

• The Marigolds by Andrew S. Sullivan
• The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by 
• We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
• Camp Damascus by Chuck Hingle
• All the World's a Wonder by Melia McClure  https://radiantpress.ca/

Also, Rebecca was confusing The Island of Dr. Moreau with the classic film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Interview - Lucy E.M. Black and The Brickworks

Rebecca is excited to chat with author Lucy E.M. Black about her historical novel, The Brickworks, which is a compelling story about two Scotsmen who emigrate to the US and Canada and have a passion for engineering, industrialization, and community.

Lucy has also authored The Marzipan Fruit Basket, a collection of short stories, Eleanor Courtown, a work of historical fiction, and Stella’s Carpet, a novel about intergenerational trauma. 

Instagram: @lucyemblack

Website: https://lucyemblack.com/

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Book Chat #11

Rebecca and Tara chat about the Eden Mills Writers' Festival and their latest reads.

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle):

• River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta
• Try Not to be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda by Michael Hingston
• Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past by Brett Popplewell
• Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
• Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
• The Brickworks by Lucy E.M. Black

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• The Circle by Katherena Vermette
• Holi-FATE series; Moral Bloodlines series by Tori Samuels
• Pebble & Dove by Amy Jones
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
• Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay by Merilyn Simonds

Stay tuned to the end for a blooper that Tara did not want Rebecca to edit out! LOL 

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Eden Mills Writers’ Festival

Rebecca and Tara discuss the upcoming Eden Mills Writers' Festival in Eden Mills, Ontario, which takes place on Sunday, September 10, 2023 and runs from noon to 5:30 pm.  Tickets are on sale now!

https://edenmillswritersfestival.ca/festival-sunday/schedule/

Author sessions they plan to attend:

Rebecca: 

• Michael Melgaard, Not That Kind of Place
• Zalika Reid-Benta, River Mumma
• Brett Popplewell, Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain, and the Search for a Hidden Past
• Don Gillmor, To the River: Losing My Brother
• Gabriel Allahdua, Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker in Canada 

Tara:

• Jessica Johns, Bad Cree
• Ali Hassan, Is There Bacon in Heaven?
• Uzma Jalaluddin, Much Ado About Nothing
• Amy Jones, Pebble & Dove
• Michelle Min Sterling, Camp Zero
• Janika Oza, A History of Burning 
• Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers
• Katherena Vermette, The Circle

Tara also highlighted @trishtalksbooks September TBR challenge on Bookstagram.  It's not too late to join in!

Rebecca and Tara shared the news that they are planning to launch a patreon account in January 2024 to grow their bookish community!

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Book Chat #10

Rebecca and Tara chat about their most recent reads!

Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): 

• George: A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes
• The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Felix Castor series by Mike Carey
• Everyone Here is Lying; The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
• The Break; The Strangers; The Circle by Katherena Vermette
• Migrations; Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Tara (@onabranchreads):

• I Have Some Questions for You; The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
• Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes
• Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• A History of Burning by Janika Oza
• Care of: Letters, Connections, and Cures by Ivan E. Coyote
• Much Ado about Nada; Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Stephanie Domet and Afterwords Literary Festival

Tara chats with our guest Stephanie Domet about two of her favourite things — literary festivals and books!

Stephanie Domet is the co-founder and co-executive director of the Afterwords Literary Festival based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is also an award-winning author of two books — Homing and Fallsy Downsies — and is currently at work on her third novel, Good Birds Don’t Fly Away.

 

Websites:

https://www.afterwordsliteraryfestival.com/ Tickets go on sale September 8, 2023 for the festival that runs November 1-5, 2023.

https://stephaniedomet.com/ 

https://invisiblepublishing.com/authors/stephanie-domet/

https://nanowrimo.org/

https://bellabagu.com/

Instagram:

@afterwordsliterary

@stephanierdomet

 

Highlighted Books & Authors:

• The Fake by Zoe Whittall
• Heartbreaker by Claudia Day
• A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter
• Hollow Bamboo by William Ping
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
• Happening by Annie Ernaux
• Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison
• Monoculture by Sue Goyette
• Alice Munro

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Fantasy Fiction Redux

Tara is back from vacation and wants to share her take on fantasy fiction! 

• The Lions of Al Rassan; The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay
• The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
• Between Earth and Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse
• The Midnight Bargain; Witchmark by C.L. Polk
• Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
• https://www.thehugoawards.org/

The cozy fantasy series Rebecca couldn't remember is the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

 

Rebecca's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/canadareadsamericanstyle/

Tara's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/onabranchreads/

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Fantasy Fiction

With Tara on vacation, Rebecca and Sarah chat about Fantasy Fiction with a quick nod at the end to Sci-Fi.

What Is the Fantasy Genre? History of Fantasy and Subgenres and Types of Fantasy in Literature by author Dan Brown

The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Time Magazine

Rebecca (@canadareadsamerican style):

• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• Redwall by Brian Jacques
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

Sarah (@sareshears):

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Final Empire (Mistborn #1); Tress of the Emerald Sea; Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Book Chat #9

Rebecca and Tara chat about their latest reads, including a few titles to celebrate Disability Pride Month, celebrated annually in July.

Also, Teach Media, an educational media company and publisher of graphic novels, reached out to Rebecca and is offering their followers a special 20% discount at their online bookstore for No Reason to Apologize with the code: CanLit20.  The discount will be active through August 14, 2023.  https://shop.teachmag.com/

Rebecca:

• Wise Little One: Learning to Love and Listen to My Inner Child by Jana Wilson
• Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
• Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures by Ivan E. Coyote
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Open Throat by Henry Hoke
• Mazebook by Jeff Lemire
• No Reason to Apologize: The Resilient Legacy of Viola Desmond by W.L. Liberman, Andrea Scott, Tajliya Jamal (illustrator)

Tara:

• A Real Somebody by Deryn Collier
• The Centaur's Wife; Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio
• Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan E. Coyote
• Message in a Bottle: Ocean Dispatches from a Seabird Biologist by Holly Hogan
• Bad Cree by Jessica Johns 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Midyear Reading Goals Update

Rebecca and Tara review their 2023 Reading Goals at the halfway point in the year.  

Rebecca:

• The Boxer by Kat Fink
• Aesop's Fables
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• A Promised Land by Barack Obama
• Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
• The Strangers by Katherena Vermette
• A Quality of Light; Keeper'n Me by Richard Wagamese
• The Bingo Hall Detectives; The Village Hall Vendetta by Jonathan Whitelaw
• Vancouver Noir published by Akashic Books

Tara:

• Echo Man by Sam Holland
• We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
• Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie
• Son of a Critch by Mark Critch (memoir and tv series)
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (August 1, 2023)
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• Author Emily Henry

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Bookshelf Banter

Rebecca and Tara chat about their home bookshelves.  How many books do they have?  Where are they shelved?  How are they organized?  Check out their Instagram accounts below to see photographs of their bookshelves!
 

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Book Chat #8 with Trish

Rebecca and Tara welcome Bookstagram friend Trish (@trishtalksbooks) to chat about their next best reads.  Also, check out Trish's blog and subscribe to her newsletter!

Trish : 

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality by Lindsay Wong
• The Betrothed by Allessandro Manzoni, translated by Michael F. Moore
• A Public Space

Tara @onabranchreads: 

• Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• This is How We Love; February by Lisa Moore
• A Dress Made from Light by Sheri Doyle (Instagram: @the.river.pages)
• Lostboy: True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

Rebecca @canadareadsamericanstyle: 

• True North Rising: My 50 Year Journey with the Inuit and Dene Leaders Who Transformed Canada's North by Whit Fraser
• Ted Kennedy: A Life by John A. Farrell

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Pride Month Picks

Rebecca and Tara share their picks for Pride Month!

Rebecca: 

• Missed Connections: A Memoir in Letters Never Sent by Brian Francis
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
• Cam & Beau by Maria Cichosz
• Open Throat by Henry Hoke

Tara: 

• Fall on Your Knees; Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald
• Are You My Mother?; Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic; The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For; The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
• Red, White & Royal Blue; One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
• Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote
• Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

Also mentioned:

Trish Talks Books : sign up on the website for her Monthly Bookish Roundup.

Buzzfeed: 24 Of The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2023

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Interview - Wilson Coneybeare and A Feast of Wolves

Rebecca chats with author Wilson Coneybeare, a proud Canadian-American, to discuss his first novel, A Feast of Wolves.  It is a page-turning political thriller set in the US and imagines a modern day French revolution, complete with guillotine on the steps of the capitol. 

Also, of interest to Canadians, he is the son of Rod Coneybeare, who played Jerome and Rusty on the beloved CBC children’s show, “The Friendly Giant.” 

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0174551/

Twitter: @WConeybeare

Blog: http://www.wilsonconeybeare.com/

Instagram: @wilsonconeybeare

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show. 

Book Chat #7

Rebecca and Tara share their latest reads.

Rebecca:

• The Measure by Nikki Erlick
• The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
• author Val McDermid
• Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
• Cleo by Jean Brody
• My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David Néel

Tara:

• The River; The Guide by Peter Heller
• Carol Shields Prize for Fiction long list
• Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades
• Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
• What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
• The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones:
  • My Heart is a Chainsaw
  • Don't Fear the Reaper 
• The Trees by Percival Everett

 

Rebecca's Instagram: @canadareadsamericanstyle

Tara's Instagram: @onabranchreads

 

Canada Reads American Style is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local independent bookstores.  Our curated shop includes books discussed on the podcast.  When you purchase a book through our virtual bookshop, a portion of the sales benefits a local bookstore, as well as the podcast, which helps offset the costs of the show.