Elizabeth Ruth, Daniel David Moses

Elizabeth Ruth, Daniel David Moses
 
"Art is not a democracy. It's a dictatorship and you are in charge."
-- Elizabeth Ruth. 

In this episode:

* Elizabeth Ruth on Matadora
* Elise LeGrow on Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
* Jen Sookfong Lee
 on fantasy in literary fiction and The Miracles of Ordinary Men by Amanda Leduc
* Elisabeth de Mariaffi
on How to Get Along With Women
* Daniel David Moses on A Small Essay on the Largeness of Light and Other Poems

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Greg Malone, Michael Crummey

Greg Malone, Michael Crummey
 
"It's a fraud.  It's a sham.  It's an international crime, is all it is."
-- Greg Malone. 

In this episode:

* Greg Malone on Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland's Confederation with Canada
* Amelia Curran on Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
* Michael Crummey
on Under the Keel
* Pamela Yaye says if you liked 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James, you'll love Blush by Lauren Jameson

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Shelagh's extended conversation with Greg Malone

Shelagh's extended conversation with Greg Malone
Greg Malone has long been fired up by history and politics.  In the 1980s and 90s, he channeled his passion and critique into his work with the comedy troupe CODCO.  Now, he has taken it to the page.  In his new book Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland's Confederation with Canada, Greg rewrites the story of how Canada acquired its tenth province...

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Shelagh's extended conversation with Michael Crummey

Shelagh's extended conversation with Michael Crummey
Michael Crummey made a big splash a few years ago when he published his third novel Galore.  It began with an unforgettable opening scene of the starving residents of an 18th-century Newfoundland outport cutting open the belly of a beached whale and finding mute, reeking man inside.  

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Ruth Ozeki, The Monkey's Paw

Ruth Ozeki, The Monkey's Paw
 
"Kids are cruel. If it's not one thing, it's another. In my case, it was all about race."
-- Ruth Ozeki. 

In this episode:

* Ruth Ozeki on A Tale for the Time Being
* Lynn Miles on The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
* Shelagh
tours The Monkey's Paw book store with owner Stephen Fowler
* Iain Reid
says if you liked A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, you'll love That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan

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Take a look inside The Monkey's Paw bookstore...

Take a look inside The Monkey's Paw bookstore...

The Monkey's Paw bookstore in Toronto doesn't sell bestsellers or books on popular subjects. In fact, it doesn't carry anything published after 1980. What it does specialize in are unusual, arcane, and idiosyncratic books. When Shelagh walked in there to interview the owner, Stephen Fowler, she thought 'this place is like Dickens with a dose of 1950s Gothic thrown in.'

Take a look at the photos below and see for yourself.

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Shelagh's extended conversation with Ruth Ozeki

Shelagh's extended conversation with Ruth Ozeki
One day, while walking along the beach of her remote B.C. island home, a novelist named Ruth discovers something even better than a message in a bottle. Sealed inside a series of barnacle-covered freezer bags is a red Hello Kitty lunch box. Stuffed inside that is a pack of old Japanese letters, an antique wrist-watch and the diary of sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani. 

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Lauren B. Davis, 1950s Mothers and Daughters

Lauren B. Davis, 1950s Mothers and Daughters
 
"If I had continued drinking, I would have died."
-- Lauren B. Davis. 

In this episode:

* Lauren B. Davis on The Empty Room
* Stephen Fearing on A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe
* Lorri Neilsen Glenn
and Sheila Norgate on Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s
* Charles MacPherson on The Butler Speaks
* Frank O'Dea, author of Do the Next Right Thing, answers the Proust Questionnaire

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Shelagh's extended conversation with Lauren B. Davis

Shelagh's extended conversation with Lauren B. Davis
Sometimes a book comes along that grabs ahold of you on the first page and you really can't look away.  That's what happened to Shelagh when she read The Empty Room by Lauren B. Davis.  Shelagh was fascinated and disturbed by the protogonist, Colleen, a woman who wakes up every morning with a hangover and whose life has spiraled out of control because of her drinking.  

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Lisa Moore, Monica Kidd

Lisa Moore, Monica Kidd
 
"It's a story based on lore that I heard all my life."
-- Lisa Moore. 

In this episode:

* Lisa Moore on Caught
* Jarvis Church on One Shot by Lee Child
* Monica Kidd
 on Handfuls of Bone
* Andrew Pyper says if you liked Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, you'll love The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe

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