Canada Reads Inspired

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 A...

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 Choru...

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

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...

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): Turni...

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 Ont...

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 Callaha...

Rebecca is excited to chat with professional explorer Adam Shoalts about his latest book, Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell. https://adamshoalts.com/literature/: Voted by over 200 Independent Bookstores as one of the “Must Read Books” of the Year (Canadian Independent Booksellers Association) Globe and Mail #1 National Bestseller/Toronto Star #1 National Bestsell...

Rebecca and Tara return after a two-month hiatus and are ready to share the best of their recent reads!   Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): My Life: Growing Up Native in America edited by IllumiNative The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia #3) by C.S. Lewis The Road to Heaven (Patrick Bird Mystery #1) by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson Mad Dog and the Sea Dragon by Lisa de Nikolits Foster b...

Tara chats with a special guest, the prolific and award-winning Canadian author Merilyn Simonds regarding her latest book, Walking with Beth: Conversations with My 100-year-old Friend. https://merilynsimonds.com/ "In the spring of 2021, Merilyn Simonds asked her friend Beth Robinson if she’d like to go for a walk. Simonds had just turned 70, still active, still writing, but entering what struck he...

Rebecca is excited to speak with award-winning Canadian author Barbara Joan Scott about her debut novel, The Taste of Hunger.   https://freehand-books.com/product/the-taste-of-hunger/#tab-description "In Saskatchewan in the late 1920s, a fifteen-year-old Ukrainian immigrant named Olena is forced into marriage with Taras, a man twice her age, who wants her even though she has refused him. Stuck in...

Rebecca is excited to welcome back to the podcast Canadian author Lucy E.M. Black regarding her new historical novel, A Quilting of Scars, with its unforgettable main character, Larkin Beattie.  https://nonpublishing.com/a-quilting-of-scars "Filled with the pleasure of recognizable yet distinctively original characters and a deftly drawn sense of time and place, A Quilting of Scars brings to life...

Tara is excited to chat with Canadian author David Giuliano, who lives on the north shore of Lake Superior. His storytelling has been compared to Miriam Toews and Elizabeth Strout in its emotional insight and narrative warmth. His books include The Undertaking of Billy Buffone, winner of the 2022 Bressani Prize; the bestselling Postcards from the Valley; and the cancer memoir It's Good to Be Here....

Tara chats with Emily Weedon, a Canadian author and screenwriter, currently living in Toronto. Her web series Chateau Laurier was the most awarded web series in 2023 and won a Canadian Screen Award. Her debut novel Autokrator reimagines gender and power in society against the backdrop of a dystopian world. Her new novel, Hemo Sapiens, will be released into the world on September 30, 2025 from Dund...

Tara speaks with Canadian author Jen Sookfong Lee regarding her latest novel, The Hunger We Pass Down, which is available September 30, 2025 from Erewhon Books. Jen was born and raised in Vancouver's East Side and now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her memoir, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart, was a finalist for the 2024 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and the City of Vancouver Boo...

Rebecca and Tara are back with their "monthly" chat about the books they've read and recommend. Please check out the link below to the Instagram post by Hollay Ghadery on her River Street Writes account regarding independent and small press books sold through Indigo. Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): The Laundryman's Boy by Edward Y.C. Lee A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway Brushed Aside: Th...

Rebecca is excited to speak with Korean Canadian author Jinwoo Park. Born and raised in Seoul, he has lived in various parts of North America and the UK since the age of 11 and is now based in Montreal. Jinwoo obtained his bachelor’s degree from McGill in 2013, followed by a master’s in political economics from the London School of Economics in 2014, and a master’s in creative writing at the Unive...

Welcome to the latest episode of Hidden Gems in which Rebecca and Tara invite guests to recommend authors or titles that may be new to us. Rebecca is excited to introduce author Marion Agnew whose debut novel, Making Up the Gods, from Latitude 46 Publishing, was released in October, 2023.  Kirkus Reviews calls it “A complex, heart-warming tale of love, absolution, and fortitude.” Marion began writ...

Rebecca is excited to interview Canadian author Caitlin Galway on this latest episode. Caitlin is a novelist and short fiction writer whose work can be classified as literary realism, surrealism, and magical realism. A Song for Wildcats, her new short story collection published by Dundurn Press, has been named an Indigo Best Book of 2025, and was featured as a must-read in The Globe and Mail, and...

Tara welcomes Alma Sarai, a Canadian artist, actor, musician, and arts advocate, to promote Tottering Biped Theatre's summer production of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)" at Dundurn Castle Park in Hamilton, ON in August 2025.  Alma graduated from the Theatre and Drama Studies program at the University of Toronto Mississauga, a joint program with Sheridan College. She has been deeply...

Join Rebecca and Tara as they review the progress they've made (or not) on their 2025 reading goals.  Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): Currently reading: A Lost Lady by Willa Cather 2025 Goals: Complete Anne of Green Gables and The Chronicles of Narnia series and read more Redwall; read children's books that have "mischievous, clever, independent girl characters"; track "mood reads"; plus, a s...

Rebecca is excited to speak with Pakistani-Canadian author Saad Omar Khan about his debut novel, Drinking the Ocean, published by Wolsak & Wynn in 2025. Saad was born in the United Arab Emirates to Pakistani parents and lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Korea before immigrating to Canada.  He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and has com...

Rebecca and Tara share their latest vacation highlights as well as their favorite reads over the past month. Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): https://www.thehenryford.org/ A Song for Wildcats: Stories by Caitlin Galway Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black  Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park A Psalm for the Wild-Built; A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers Drinking the Ocean by Saad Omar Khan...

Rebecca is excited to speak with Chinese-Canadian author Su Chang.  Su was born and raised in Shanghai and is the daughter of a former and reluctant Red Guard leader, which was the paramilitary arm of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution beginning in the 1960s. Today, they will be talking about her debut novel, The Immortal Woman, published by House of Anansi in March of this year.  It has already gar...

Rebecca and Tara introduce a new feature, Sharing Our Shelves, that may appear again from time to time in which they each review the other's To Be Read shelf and pick their co-host's next book to read. Rebecca selected Tear by Erica McKeen for Tara and Tara selected Stella's Carpet by Lucy E.M. Black for Rebecca. Rebecca (@canadareadsamericanstyle): A Psalm for the Wild-Built; A Prayer for the Cro...