Canada Reads Inspired

Rebecca and Tara are winding down their summer reading with historical fiction, poetry, memoir, a graphic novel, short stories, and horror. Rebecca: The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager Kill Not the Butterfly by Ken Wyder If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer Solito by Javier Zamora Looking for Frank Wills by Wesley Brown The Choir by Carol M. Cram Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf Tara: The Collected Stories of Carol Shields The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt Becalming by Aga Maksimowska The Woods by Jessica Hamilton The Lilac People by Milo Todd Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher 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 [email protected]  

Tara welcomes Canadian author Erin Singer to the podcast and they share a lovely chat about romance and family ties in her first novel, Dangerland!  Erin also divulges that she has seen Carrot Top in suburban Las Vegas, which is, apparently, a thing! https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Erin-Singer/234549770 "Nora Ephron meets The Hangover in this screwball romantic comedy and family drama with a big, beating heart, set in the sun-bleached neon of Las Vegas. Kurt Richter has been in love with Eugenie Zepp since he was eight years old. Now he’s in his fifties, twice divorced, a father of four. The entire neighborhood is suing him, and he’s been estranged from Eugenie for a decade. In other words: perfect timing to declare himself to her. Kurt and Eugenie grew up in Vegas among the glamour and the grit, slot machines in pharmacies, off-Strip tiki bars, all night poker games, shimmering desert heat. They’ve spent a lifetime orbiting each other, building families and making a beautiful mess of them while trying to decide if what they share is destiny or disaster. Now their adult children are back in town with grudges, heartbreaks, and schemes of their own. As secrets surface and loyalties shift, will this be the right time for Eugenie and Kurt, after everything they’ve been through? In this delicious, darkly funny, romantic comedy, everyone is looking for love in all the wrong places and gambling on the biggest games in life—but in Dangerland, there’s always one more chance to win." Reading Recommendations: Tough Love by Tajja Isen (March 2027) Yellow Pine; Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick  

Tara welcomes Canadian (Nova Scotia) author Corinne Hoebers to discuss her latest novel, Tethered Spirits: Wiaqtaqne'wasultijik na Kjijaqmijinaq, OC Publishing, 2025. Corinne explains how she worked with the Mi'kmaq community to ensure historical accuracy while also telling the story of her own 1753 settlers of Lunenburg ancestors. From Goodreads: "Against the violent backdrop of the French and Indian (Seven Years) War, two German siblings come to learn about and understand the Mi'kmaq. Christian, now named Bear Cub, lives with the ancient People and develops a deep bond with his chosen brother, Eagle Feather, while his new family's way of life is increasingly threatened. On the outskirts of Lunenburg, Hanna, his younger sister, befriends a Mi'kmaw Elder and questions her papa's ownership of the land they are settling. Christian immerses himself in the Mi'kmaw language and the ways of the land, prepared to defend the People alongside Eagle Feather. Christian's father and older sister, Elisabeth, refuse to accept his new way of life; nor will they recognize the humanity of their perceived enemy. Christian is caught between two diverse families and cultures- the one to which he was born and to whom he feels obligated, and the one he has grown to love and respect. Settlers and Mi'kmaq alike struggle on land that is the ancestral home to one and promised to the other, a struggle that resonates to this day." https://corinnehoebers.mywriting.network/   Recommended titles: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William Paul Young The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy  

Tara is joined by Canadian author JoAnn McCaig and they discuss her latest novel, Beneficiary, published in May 2026 by University of Calgary Press. https://shelflifebooks.ca/item/r5ypYwSBQz_hNTMssW3i2g "Seren was doomed to a country club cage and a leash of pearls until out of the blue on a Tuesday night in 1969, she found herself suddenly saying "no." More than fifty years later, she looks back on her life and each choice that followed, beautiful, tragic and completely her own. Leaving her family for the freedom of the 1970s, Seren began a quest to discover how to live in this world as her true self—a quest that would take her from the heady countercultural milieu of communal houses on Vancouver Island through marriage and motherhood, divorce, and an unexpected inheritance that changed everything. Suddenly wealthy, Seren must wrestle with money, with class, and what it means to have more than most. What does it mean to live truly, through tragedy and heartbreak? How do we create ourselves in a world that keeps changing? What does it mean to have money when so many people don't? A richly written, fiercely feminist novel imbued with real bravery, Beneficiary weaves the past and the present in a rich tapestry of life." Suggested Reading: Ripeness; Summerwater; My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir by Sarah Moss Scary Monsters; Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser Lampedusa by Steven Price https://joannmccaig.com/ https://www.instagram.com/shelflifebooks/ https://shelflifebooks.ca/

Rebecca is excited to chat with Canadian author Théodora Armstrong about her debut novel, Welcome to Sunny Town, published by Freehand Books in May 2026.  https://freehand-books.com/product/welcome-to-sunny-town/#tab-description : In this striking debut novel, a young artist rashly moves overseas to teach ESL and to find herself, and gets more — and less — than she bargained for. It’s the turn of the 21st century and Maggie is looking for reinvention. Fresh out of art school with — as her undergraduate advisor put it — a lack of vision for her future, Maggie follows a talented classmate to Japan, leaving behind a fractured family and a toxic relationship with her professor. Little does she know, not only her own life, but the entire world around her is about to change. Upon arrival in Japan, Maggie meets a group of maladjusted foreigners and immediately becomes enmeshed in their volatile friendships and personal dramas. Despite having no real qualifications whatsoever, she gets a job teaching English at Language Love Academy where she meets Keiko, an overzealous, middle-aged student and self-proclaimed language lover. When Keiko offers to teach Maggie Japanese, an unlikely friendship develops between them, and before long Keiko has become a ballast amid the disruptive forces in Maggie’s life overseas. Have Maggie and her friends come to Japan to disappear or find themselves? Are their friendships and hook-ups real or just another illusion? Maggie struggles to discern whether she is sinking deeper into her hapless life abroad or gaining a foothold on a real future for herself. Welcome to Sunny Town is a striking, at times darkly satirical novel that cracks open a popular rite of passage, critically examining teaching overseas and the worldwide ESL industry. Bringing to mind the work of Elif Batumen, or Ottessa Moshfegh, Armstrong’s debut novel paints a deft portrait of twenty-somethings yearning for identity, connection, and freedom abroad during the turbulent years of the early aughts. Recommended reading: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori The Diving Pool: Three Novellas by Yoko Ogawa; translated by Stephen Snyder "The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain by Yoko Ogawa; translated by Stephen Snyder: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/09/06/the-cafeteria-in-the-evening-and-a-pool-in-the-rain https://theodoraarmstrong.ca/ https://www.instagram.com/theodorafranc