Canada Reads Inspired

Canada Reads Inspired

Two friends -- one American, one Canadian -- who share a love for CBC’s Canada Reads and Canadian literature! https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads

  1. 1d ago

    Interview - Théodora Armstrong and Welcome to Sunny Town

    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

    45 min
  2. 2026 Summer Reading Bingo Challenge

    Jun 9

    2026 Summer Reading Bingo Challenge

    CANADA READS INSPIRED 2026 SUMMER READING BINGO CHALLENGE: Rebecca and Tara have filled in the boxes with books they’ve read or that are on their TBR (the Bingo card and list of titles will be pinned to Rebecca and Tara’s Instagram accounts) The Challenge will begin June 5 and run through September 5, 2026 When you complete a bingo line, dm Rebecca (@canadareadsinspired) or Tara (@onabranchreads) on Instagram or email them at  craspod2019@gmail.com with a screenshot or list of titles You may enter more than one Bingo line; one completed line equals one entry If you have already read a book on the card, you can count it towards your bingo At the end of the Challenge, they will draw the name of one winner and that person will receive a $50 gift card from the independent bookstore of their choice. The giveaway is not affiliated with YouTube or Instagram 2026 BINGO TITLES:  Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards – Indigenous fiction, 368 pages Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive by Alison Gadsby — short stories, 200 pages The Distance of a Shout by Michael Ondaatje – poetry, 240 pages Nowhere by Jon Claytor – graphic novel, 445 pages Doubles by Nora Gold – novella, 86 pages Lies I Told My Sister by Louise Ells – literary fiction, 268 pages Opposite Sully’s Gym by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson – mystery, 320 pages Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin – cozy mystery, 329 pages Lilac People by Milo Todd – LGBT historical fiction, 303 pages The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee — horror, 367 pages Finding Flora by Elinor Florence – historical fiction, 384 pages All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whittaker — crime fiction, 576 pages I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop – graphic novel, 496 pages Vanished Beyond the Map by Adam Shoalts – non-fiction, 288 pages Legendary Frybread Drive-In by Indigenous authors – YA short stories, 352 pages Nosy Parker by Lesley Crewe – historical fiction, 264 pages Outsider by Brett Popplewell – non-fiction, 384 pages Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson — memoir, humour, 363 pages Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive – LGBT romance Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey — literary fiction,320 pages Pennies by Lora Senf – middle grade horror, 384 pages Chasing Summer by Frankie Scott – romance, 368 pages Suddenly Light by Nina Dunic – short stories, 240 pages Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo — literary fiction, 498 pages 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

    21 min
  3. May 1

    Interview - Alison Gadsby and Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive

    Tara sits down for a chat with Canadian author Alison Gadsby, a first-generation Canadian living in Tkaronto, about her debut collection of short stories, Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive, published by Guernica Editions in spring 2026. https://guernicaeditions.com/en-us/products/breathing-is-how-some-people-stay-alive "Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive blurs the lines between horror, catastrophic speculative fiction, and psychological realism in a collection that might best be described as weird fiction. These connected stories offer dark reconstructions of lives brimming with desperate loneliness. They allow us to bear witness to the life-altering love of sisters, brothers, mothers… the life-altering love that buoys them as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of childhoods they merely survived." https://alisongadsby.ca/home/ https://junctionreads.ca Books and Authors mentioned: Weird Babies by Jaclyn Desforges Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality by Lindsay Wong Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu Rafael Has Pretty Eyes by Elaine McCluskey Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster by Damian Tarnopolsky Last Woman; Bad Endings by Carleigh Baker A Song for Wildcats by Caitlin Galway A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt Layaway Child by Chanel Sutherland Remaindered People & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy Skin by Catherine Bush Chrysalis; Kiss of Crimson Ash by Anuja Varghese Smash & Grab by Mark Anthony Jarman Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat Flights by Olga Tokarczuk The Longest Way to Eat a Melon by Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza by Hassani Kanafani Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen Wonderland Road by Carrianne Leung Stan on Guard by K.R. Wilson The Lost Queen by Heidi von Palleske "Poet pals" going on tour with Alison: Sublunary by Lisa Richter Ajar by Margo LaPierre Inside Every Dream, a Raging Sea by Liz Worth

    33 min

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5
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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

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