Red Fern Book Review by Amy Mair

Book Blogger and author Kerry Clare joins the podcast to discuss her new book Asking for a Friend. It is a novel about intense female friendship and how key relationships created in our youth endure or break apart. We also chat about her blog Pickle Me This and her role as editor of the book recommendation site 49th Shelf. We wrap up with five hot books perfect for all the people on your holiday gift giving list.

Fol...

Lifestyle Instagrammer and best selling author Anna Kloots joins the podcast to discuss her new memoir My Own Magic. She talks about new beginnings in the face of divorce, her love of pumpkin pie, and of course, how to make your own magic. 

Follow Anna:

Instagram: @annakloots

Follow Red Fern Book Review:

Website and to leave a voicemail: https://www.redfernbookreview.com
Instagram: @redfernbookreview<...

A discussion of Ann Patchett's latest novel Tom Lake as well her memoir Truth & Beauty about her deep friendship with writer Lucy Grealy.  Elin Hilderbrand's latest novel, The Five-Star Weekend, is also discussed. 

Follow Red Fern Book Review:

Website and to leave a voicemail: https://www.redfernbookreview.com
Instagram: @redfernbookreview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redfernbookreview/
Newsl...

Award-winning Young Adult fiction novelist Pam Withers stops by the podcast to discuss her latest book Mountain Runaways. This fast-paced novel tells the story of the three kids, Jon, Korka and Aron, who lose their parents in an avalanche and decide to run away into the mountains and fend for themselves until the oldest sibling, Jon, turns 18 and can become their legal guardian. They have to deal with illness, injury, wild animals ...

Book blogger Susan Matheson returns to the podcast with her line up of must have fall reads. We also discuss a book that we both disagreed upon: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang.

Susan's Top Picks for Fall 2023

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
The Class by Ken Dryden
A New Season by Terry Fallis
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
A Clouded Leopard in the Middle of the Road by Darryl Jones
Talking at Night...

Award-winning mystery writer Iona Whishaw drops by the podcast to discuss the latest book in her Lane Winslow mystery series. To Track a Traitor spans both world wars and is a tale of sibling rivalry, infidelity and espionage. Iona's backstory is just as compelling as her writing. Her books are inspired by the British Columbia town of her childhood and her mother's experience as a World War II spy.  She talks about her jo...

Amy kicks off Season Four of the podcast with a discussion of the literary novel The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt and the memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful by poet Maggie Smith. The Librarianist is the story of retired librarian Bob Comet. Hoping to fill a void in his life, he volunteers at a senior's centre.  Amid a community of strange peers, Bob reflects on his past and his character is revealed. You Could M...

Hi Red Fern Listeners! I was recently a guest on a fabulous wine podcast called The TallMikeWine Podcast. Host Mike Stone and I talk about, what else, but books and wine.  I offer up a mini summer reading list and Mike explains how he comes up with all those wine adjectives. Mike is a self-professed wine geek who creates fun, relatable conversations around wine. And did I mention that he is a former disc jockey? Enjoy, and I will b...

Book blogger Susan Matheson stops by the podcast to talk about her favourite reads for summer. Her selections range from a cozy mystery to a contemporary memoir.

Books and Resources discussed:

Go as a River by Shelley Read
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bingley
Darling by India Knight
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mit...

Amy and Geoff review the popular fiction novel Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson and literary fiction novel Ghost Music by An Yu. Pineapple Street is a bird's eye view into the moneyed Brooklyn Heights family The Stocktons. Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, marries into the family and tries to find her way. Set in Beijing, Ghost Music is a quiet book that examines the sad life of retired concert pianist Song Yan. A myste...

Retired English Professor Dr. Mason Harris drops by the podcast to discuss one of his favourite books Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This book combines elements of Gothic, Horror and Romantic literature. Dr. Harris delves in to Shelley's scandalous background and draws parallels between the Romantics and 1960s radicalism.

Books and Resources discussed:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Villa by Rachel Hawki...

We review two of the buzziest books of early 2023: Fast-paced gangster novel set in India Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor and friendship travel story/thriller with Daisy Jones and the Six (by Taylor Jenkins Reid) vibes The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. Age of Vice is a contemporary novel set in India. It is equal parts thriller and family saga and centres around the Wadia crime family. The book is about gangsters, lovers, false friend...

We review one of our favourite books of last year Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin as well as This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the story of three friends Sadie, Sam and Marx and their foray into the video gaming industry. It is a campus novel as well as a look at video gaming as high art. This Time Tomorrow is a fun, nostalgic read with the main character, Alice, trav...

Author Cedar Bowers joins the podcast to discuss her 2021 debut novel Astra. The book follows the life of a young woman who is born on a B.C. commune from the perspective of 10 different people.  Cedar discusses life growing up in a remote community, the failed promise of the back-to-the land movement and if we can ever really know somebody.

Books and Resources discussed:

Astra by Cedar Bowers
A Minor Cho...

I review two novels by current Canadian literary stars Emily St. John Mandel and Heather O'Neill. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel is a science fiction novel about art, time, travel, love and plague that takes readers from 1912 Vancouver Island to a dark colony of the moon 500 years later. The author also incorporates references to her earlier award-winning novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel.

Wh...

Vancouver author Jen Sookfong Lee joins the podcast to talk about her latest book Superfan. Jen uses her lifelong obsession with pop culture as a lens to explore family, grief, the power of female rage, Asian fetish, and what it costs to resist the trap of being a “good Chinese girl.” I pines over Andrew McCarthy and Jen muses over whether Kanye West will get a second chance in the court of public opinion.

Listen to a...

Fantasy Fiction lover turned historian David Gates is back on the podcast to discuss two English history books: The White Ship by Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer and The Splendid and the Vile by journalist Erik Larson. The White Ship is an examination of the 1120 shipwreck that threw the future of the crown into question.  The Splendid and the Vile is a riveting account of Winston Churchill and his first year in ...

My dear friend Alison Schmelke joins the podcast, perhaps a bit reluctantly,  and together we interview our idol author and blogger Catherine Newman. We reminisce about Catherine's column Ben & Birdy and how it got us through the early days of parenthood.  Catherine discusses her poignant, hilarious and nostalgic novel, We All Want Impossible Things. It is the story about two best friends Edi and Ash and Edi's last da...

Geoff and Amy's trip to Europe Part Two. They are back home and reflecting on their recent trip to Paris. They discuss four books set in the City of Light including one book that pushes the podcast's PG rating! 

Books and Resources Discussed:

Ticket to Paradise, movie 2022
Earful Tower https://theearfultower.com/
Marie Antoinette, movie 2006
Henry and June by Anaïs Nin
Murder in Cli...