October 5, 2023 • 43 mins
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 by Claire Deverley
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Mair (00:20):
Hello. Welcome back to the red carpet. I am your host,
Amy. And today, I am joined by aregular guest, book blogger,
Susan Matheson with bedsidetable books. And we're going to
do her annual lineup of herfavorite fall reads. But before
(00:43):
we get to that, I just wanted totalk with you about a couple of
things that I'm watching orwatch that I enjoyed. I just got
back from a big trip, my dadturned 90, and my two sisters
and I we went on a cruise withmy dad. And it was really fun.
Unknown (01:02):
But I got home after being away, and I was kind of
jet lagged and just wantedsomething easy. So over the last
few days, I've watched some easythings. I binged the supermodels
on Apple. So I recommend it. Ithought it was good. It was the
kind of the big four models fromthe ad, kind of mid 80s, late
(01:26):
80s, early 90s with CindyCrawford, Linda evangelist,
Christine Turlington, and NaomiCampbell. And it was a great
time capsule back in time, andit showed kind of how they rose
to power. And then they end uphow they were discovered.
(01:47):
Actually, only one of themactually wanted to be a model.
That was Lynda Evangelii stuff.
And then eventually how theywere so powerful that they would
determine they could choose,like, who was shooting them
where they appeared, whether aproduct was sold, it was quite
interesting. And then how kindof the advent of the whole
(02:08):
grunge scene. Kate Mossspecifically sort of dethrone
them, but it was interesting,and they are my age. So I also
was interested in what they'redoing now. And they're all doing
cool things now, and kind of themeaning they found in their
life. But, you know, I liked it.
(02:29):
I thought it was good. And thenext thing I want to recommend
was a very frothy show onNetflix called Love at first
sight. It's a meet cute romancestarring Haley Lu Richardson.
You will remember from thesecond season of the White Lotus
and she was Jennifer Coolidge ishard done assistants. And I
(02:49):
think she was my favoritecharacter of that season.
Anyway, she stars in this movie,as an American going over to
England for her dad's wedding.
And then she bumps into in theairport, a cute British guy
who's at school at Yale. And sothey have this sort of meet meet
(03:10):
cute on the plane and one isgoing to a funeral and one is
going to a wedding and then youkind of can guess what goes on
from there they they end up kindof somehow losing each other's
phone numbers but it is a romcom so you know somehow they're
gonna meet up in the end and,and I thought it was one of the
(03:32):
smarter kind of easy lightmovies I've seen in a while like
it's, it's not taxing. It's astep above I would say it's a
step above, maybe a couple stepsabove and quality of a Hallmark
Christmas romance, but itdoesn't demand much and I liked
it, I thought was really good.
(03:53):
And I thought, Haley Lu has alot of Richardson has a lot of a
lot of charisma. Okay, so let'smove over and talk with Susan.
Susan, welcome back to thepodcast.
Susan Matheson (04:09):
Good morning, Amy.
Amy Mair (04:10):
Delighted to be here as usual. So we're gonna do our
regular round up, but you'rekind of seasonal expert, you
come in, do all the work for meand look at kind of what you're
interested in reading. Butbefore we get into that, I have
a question that I have to askyou. And we only had this
(04:30):
conversation via text but one ofmy favorite books this year was
yellow face. And you were not afan. So what's the deal and I
wanted to hear your opinion on
Susan Matheson (04:44):
this thing.
What's the deal like? I hateever to don't like ever speaking
ill of a book because I knowthese writers have gone to you
know, put all their blood sweatand tears into these books and
And with and this one just tookoff. And I obviously there must
be a reason I find at this stageand maybe just where I am in my
(05:06):
life right now. But if I'm goingto spend time with a book, I
have to like the people in it.
And I really, I did not. And Isort of most mostly probably by
accident, but I kind of figuredit out early. So I lost that
sense of Oh, and, and thatcertainly no, not because I'm so
(05:29):
intelligent. It's just it wasjust by chance. But of course, I
read through the last page toconfirm, but I I don't know, I
get why people are into it. ButI think that, you know, we get
our busy days. And what I lovemost about reading is kind of
cuddling up and going into adifferent world. And this was a
(05:49):
world I didn't want to be in Ididn't it reminded me of that
movie with the dead rabbit andgoing Glencoe Basic, Basic
Instinct, I kind of had thatvibe about it, you know, like,
you just uncomfortable, like, Icouldn't relax into it. So I do
admire how she crafted it. Andits modernity and contemporary
(06:10):
vibe, but I guess sometimes youlook at it, and it wasn't
necessarily the people I justdon't like we're a realist in
some ways, you know, it's, it'suncomfortable. And so I, I put
it aside after I finished it,but I it's not going on the
keepers shelf.
Amy Mair (06:27):
Yeah, so this book, a number of you will know about
it, but it's called Yellow Face.
And the author is Rs Clang,clang. And it is, it's a
thriller. And it is about ayoung woman who essentially
steals another woman'smanuscript, their rising
literary stars, but one isAsian, and she dies in a weird
(06:50):
freak accident. And then thisCaucasian woman steals her
identity and the manuscript. Andreally, I guess for me what I
liked about it, is it it may, Ithink it will, you would agree,
I'm sure it was the post to makeus uncomfortable, because it's
talking about race and culturalidentity. And then also it was a
(07:14):
big portion of it was about thepublishing industry and how
cutthroat it is. And Twitter,and what I liked about it was
the author was so young, like inreal life, she's in our current,
I want to say she's about 26.
Yeah, I think. So I think it waskinda like, I felt I was reading
(07:34):
something that I can't evendescribe because she is so much
younger. It was it just feltreally new and fresh, but it was
uncomfortable, for sure. Andinterestingly, I think what
you're kind of saying is, maybethe plot wasn't all there. And I
was kind of caught up in sort ofthe zing of it and excitement
(07:55):
that I didn't look maybe asclosely at the plot. And
Susan Matheson (07:58):
maybe, maybe I was sort of finding a few
things. Were kind of predictablehere and there, like, you know,
you're okay, now we're waitingfor this person to do this. And,
and then that unfolded. And, butyou know what I do? Say,
especially as you say at her,I'll read your next one, because
I think it's readable. I thinkthere was the, as you say, the
(08:19):
social commentary, and I thinkthere's a lot of room for that
in literature. We can't allsidle into reading the same
thing over and over and overagain. I think this was
challenging. I think, you know,for me reading it, I might have
been looking for somethingdifferent. I haven't found a lot
of time to flip the pageslately. And when I do. I don't I
(08:41):
want comfort, not discomfort.
Unknown (08:43):
Yeah. And it's super, super contemporary. Yeah, yeah.
Maybe it
Susan Matheson (08:47):
doesn't give me faith that, you know, the world
is a polite place or a kindplace it makes you feel like,
Oh, God, here's another onewhere it makes you sort of feel
embarrassed about humanity. It'sa lot for me to take on my
little shoulders, but I'm justsaying that it's, yeah, it
doesn't. It wasn't uplifting inthat way.
Unknown (09:09):
Okay, optimistic? Well, let's go ahead and dive into the
books that you've selected forthe Fall seed
Susan Matheson (09:17):
season. Oh, every time we meet, it's a huge
challenge, I end up with 100books that I have to narrow down
to 25 down to 10. And then downto the final five or six. And
the fall is always the hugestreal number of releases. So it's
been a challenge, but it'sexciting because there's some
some great books coming out.
I've sort of picked a choice.
(09:40):
I'm always conscious of thosekind people who listen to us
babble away, that everybody hasdifferent interests. And
recently, you know, a lot offriends have been talking about
wanting to read more nonfiction.
Ones like we were just sayingthat want a good comfort read
and others we've tried to hit avariety of them but holy smokes,
there's A lot of good thingshappening on the bookshelves. So
(10:02):
let's start off with Geneclocks, the left over woman so
this is being released onOctober 10. Now we're probably
recording this before youpublish but October 10 is comes
out and Gene clock wrote yearsago she wrote girl in
translation and more recentlyshe wrote for Sylvie Lee I have
(10:22):
to say that girl in translation,though I read it probably a
decade ago, I it is such anevocative writing that I can see
the book and like the images inmy mind from that book still
really, really clearly likeshe's it's just a beautiful way
of impacting a reader. Shedescribes things beautifully. So
(10:48):
this one is called the leftoverwoman, Jean Kwok herself moved
from Hong Kong to Brooklyn as achild, she has a BA from Harvard
and an MFA from Columbia. So sheknows she can write on the
books, but she's, she has thatimmigrant experience. And that
tends to be a focus of herwriting. This one, again, pulls
(11:11):
in all the descriptions are as Ifound in her last books,
atmospheric suspenseful,emotional, like she really can
bring in the the senses into herbook, this story is another
family drama, and with anelement of mystery, and it
(11:31):
starts off with a woman wholives in China and has had to,
or has had happened to her haveher daughter removed from her
because of the one child policy.
She remains in China, her childhas been taken from her. And she
has a very controlling husband.
So she's leaving, she manages tomuster the means to get herself
(11:53):
out of China to New York City.
And, but she has no financialsupport, she has no emotional
family support or anything else,but she's in in search of her
daughter. Meanwhile, on theother side of the story, her
daughter has been adopted by avery well off woman who's an
(12:14):
executive high poweredexecutive, the daughters being
raised with nannies andbeautiful home and that sort of
polar opposite economically towhat the birth mother has had.
And things start to crumble inthe New York City. So that that
the saw that so perfect, isstarting to come apart. And the
(12:36):
two women are sort of on thiscollision course with the
daughter in the middle. Andthere's gonna be lots of
commentary on kind of theeconomic differences, the
immigrant experience,motherhood, a lot of big time
Tophet like feelings, you know,and, and I feel like Gene Kwok
(12:56):
has all the ability to make thisone really heart rancher in many
different ways. But it also hasa mystery component, which, you
know, is always always fun whenit keeps you guessing as you're
going along. But this one, I'mreally looking forward to she, I
have all the confidence in anyof her books, and I've heard her
interviewed, she's she's had avery interesting life herself.
(13:18):
And, and she's, you know, veryarticulate, and then that shows
up on the page for sure.
Unknown (13:25):
You know, what's interesting is on the blurb on
the book, because I looked it upLucy Foley, who wrote the
guestlist in the Parisapartment. Yeah, like the little
blurb, which I thought wasinteresting, because you're
talking about it, and it doesn'tsound like they're obviously
trying to like sell it throughthe thriller component. But it
sounds like there's a lot moreto it than Yeah, I
Susan Matheson (13:45):
think I've been number of reviews I've read all
the way through all positive,really focused on the motherhood
elements, which I thought wasinteresting, but it certainly I
mean, it's already pulls on yourheartstrings. So can you imagine
that scenario, and you know,someone having their child taken
from them right there, you'realready engaged in the story you
(14:09):
you've invested and, and thenwork to go on. But a lot of her
writing, as I say, is veryvisual. And these are the ones
that I can see becoming movies,you know, as you read the pages.
Unknown (14:21):
Okay, what's the next book?
Susan Matheson (14:23):
The next one is a bit of a departure. It's
called the class A Memoir of aplace a time and us and it's
written by Ken Dryden. And KenDryden was a goalie for the
Montreal Canadiens for sixStanley Cups, all the way
through in the 1970s. So thosehockey fans of my era and
(14:45):
actually don't have to be ahockey fan because he went on to
become very involved inpolitics. He was an MP and a
cabinet minister, and he'swritten quite a bit about his
hockey experience and has somehas done research into In the
hockey world, a lot ofnonfiction, this one's also
nonfiction. As I said, it's amemoir, it's released on October
(15:08):
17. And it's kind of aninteresting thing he has gone
back. So he's, he's probablyhe's a grandfather now. And, but
he's taken some time to go backand look at his childhood and
in, I think it was grade nine orso he became part of a selected
class. So a class of high schoolstudents, there were 35 of them,
(15:31):
that had to do a test. And theywere sort of put into a special,
you know, maybe they wereadvanced academically or
whatever, but a cohort, and the35 of them spent, you know, we
did the math, like over 200 daysa year together. And they were
from working class families anddifferent backgrounds, their
parents had lived through theDepression and the war. And his
(15:53):
generation, that cohort, werereally the, the kids for whom
their boundless possibilities.
Now, none of them had reallykept in touch over the years, it
was sort of a, you know, youmight run into someone here,
there. So he made it a challengeto go and interview all 35 of
those students are 30, fours,both and find out what they did
(16:14):
with their lives. And wow, sortof a look into a chapter in our,
you know, in Canadian history,in a sense, or world history,
but it's a chapter of thiscohort. And just to see where
they all win, and none of thereviews tell you where anyone
went, but it was a lot of thenorm, you know, there were, you
(16:36):
know, they're all parents orgrandparents, they've lost
parents, they've lost people intheir lives, they've, they've
divorced, they've remarried,they've done things all the way
through, but it's a realconnection into this generation.
And I think we've all sort ofkind of have that nostalgia
about when I wonder whathappened to Sony, or wonder what
happened here. And, and he, hefollowed through on that. And
(16:59):
he's a good writer, and it'skind of a little glimpse of
Canadiana, as well. But I foundthe premise quite, quite
interesting. So I look forwardto reading that one.
Unknown (17:11):
Is it were there men and women or just men? And was
it like men, or women? And wasit one school or across the
city?
Susan Matheson (17:19):
One school was the tobiko Collegiate Institute.
So Wow. Yeah. And so small town,Ontario, and we're not small
town, but a suburb of Toronto.
And they, yeah, they were allsort of brought together.
Because they passed a test, youknow, that would have been an
academic test, I imagine. And itwas just sort of that selected
(17:40):
class or cohort that were throwntogether. And, and then where
they've gone since. So it's justsomething a little different.
And I kind of look forward toreading that it's, you know, we,
we we label all of ourgenerations, you know, Gen X,
Gen Y Gen, whatnot. And, and wehave very clear expectations, it
(18:01):
seems or, or judgments of eachgeneration. And so when you look
back to that generation, I thinkthat was you know, it's our
parents era, and you kind of,it's interesting just to see
like to look into it in moredepth anyway.
Unknown (18:20):
That's, that sounds like it also sounds like a good
gift.
Susan Matheson (18:23):
So, last time, I know we we talked and it's sort
of something always in the backof my mind is, and I spent time
with friends this summer talkingabout man, men books and women
books, and often, but not alwaysjust men, because I know my mom,
for instance, only readsnonfiction. She doesn't read
novels. And we can't share verymany books. But it's
(18:45):
interesting. A lot of peoplelean towards nonfiction. I know
we've had that comment beforehere is, you know, don't forget
to include some nonfiction. Butyou know, you and I have another
choice as well. That isnonfiction. But yeah, there are
things this one I think willappeal to everybody but it might
also because it's Ken Dryden aswell, I think that there may be
(19:05):
people who are curious about hisjourney in particular as well
because obviously going for asmall town, Ontario and then
becoming this big time Montrealgoalie and then high level
politician is an interestingstory, just his
Unknown (19:19):
okay, what's the next book? Okay, the next one
Susan Matheson (19:22):
is called a new season. I'm staying with
Canadiana and maybe boy books,if we want to be so bold as to
call them that, though, I'mreally looking forward to this.
This one's written by Terryvalets, and he's become a bit of
a Canadian treasure. He will bewell, most well known, I suppose
(19:42):
for the book, The best laidplans, which he won the Steven
Lee Kok award. It's it's veryfunny. It's about a fellow who,
you know, is working in Ottawa,in the in the halls of political
world, and it's very thecharacters were wonderful and
heartwarming and poignant andall of those great feelings. So
(20:05):
this author Terry Wallace has,I've seen him in person. He's
hilarious. He's wonderfulspeaker. And he has a great
story with that particular book.
He, it was literally a few pagessitting on the register heat
register in his office, and hesubmitted them. Because he had,
he had to submit 10 pages and in10 pages, it was what he had. So
(20:25):
we submitted it to the LI COCaward, and he won. And it's
great. So that was his veryfirst book, he's published quite
a few cents. best laid plansbecame a TV series even. But he
has his trademark humor and, andheart and his stories. And he
has a new one coming out. Andit's called a new season. And
it's supposed to be a bit of adeparture, maybe a little more a
(20:50):
little more serious. And some ofhis other books, though. They do
promise the good humor as well.
And this one is about a fellowwho's kind of ties in with our
previous choice. He's kind oflater middle age has a grown up
son has a great life big houseplays ball hockey with his
(21:12):
buddies. But he's recentlywidowed and he's struggling. And
so it's a time for him toexamine his life and what's next
and he's not he's he's a bitblue. Now there's going to be
because he plays ball hockey,there's a little bit of Terry
follows humor in the air, youknow, the banter back and forth
with the boys and everything,which is quite entertaining. But
(21:35):
it's really about how thisfellow has to find his way and,
and in typical Canadianlanguage, he says he musters the
gumption to go to Paris, andhe's always wanted. He loves
Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, andhe's quite fascinated by the
1920s. Paris, so he goes toParis. So there's his adventure.
(21:56):
And while he's there, there,serendipitous encounters, and he
ends up pulled into a longstanding mystery in the art
world. And oh, that sounds fun.
Yeah, and it kind of revitalizeshim. So it's, it's, it'll be a
terry Fallis you know what toexpect if you love him. And I
know lots of people actuallyline up for his next books.
(22:17):
They're super excited, excited.
But here's where we find theante yellow face. This is where
we find a really good comfortread, but also some something
that kind of gives you pause tothink about the big things in
life. And he's very, very goodat that.
Unknown (22:35):
I just covered him i He was part of the package of books
when you're for read for thecure. Yes, yeah. And Vancouver.
I feel like I saw you at thatevent. I'm not sure. But
Amy Mair (22:47):
it's, at least in Canada, they do this event in
the fall, it's coming up. Andit's they pick several cities.
And then they pick a package ofbooks. And then they have the
authors there. And then theygive out the books and you pay
to come listen and for thenight, and it's really good. And
I remember there was a greatauthor. Did you read the book?
(23:10):
They left us everything by plumJohnson.
Susan Matheson (23:12):
Yes, I did. Oh, great book.
Amy Mair (23:14):
I love that book. It's that that was about a woman who
was quite I want to say she was70. I'm not sure. But she wrote
this book. It was basically shelived in Oakville, Ontario and
her parents, she was going toher parents things. And it was
about family secrets. It'snonfiction. Kind of like, who
cares. And it was excellent. Andthe
Susan Matheson (23:37):
house that she had to sort of after they passed
away, she had to take it alldown. And oh my gosh, there are
a lot of us that are a lot offriends I have that are going
through that right now. And itwas Yeah, I thought was very
well
Unknown (23:48):
done. Anyway, that's where I found him and he had
heard the best laid plans buthe's he was really a lively
interview. And so that soundslike you
Susan Matheson (23:57):
very engaging fellow and yeah, so when you
talk about Canadian books and soforth, on CBC Radio, they have
the Show Canada reads where theychoose a book for all of
Canadians to read together. Andhis book was chosen as the book
of the decade. So
Unknown (24:15):
Oh, wow, that's like plants. Yes. Yeah.
Susan Matheson (24:19):
Wow. And I there's one he wrote I think
it's called up and down orsomething or up in something and
it was his characters arebeautiful like he had this older
woman who is a bush pilot orsomething and she lived up in
the north and it was absolutelyfantastic and I and again, just
a really light but fun read andyet one that he always weaves in
(24:41):
a little bit of thingheartwarming. You know, kind of
makes you stop and think of ittoo.
Unknown (24:47):
Okay, what's, what's the next book?
Susan Matheson (24:49):
Next book is called The Golden Gate.
Unknown (24:56):
Oh, I want to read this one. This was the one I was most
it has
Susan Matheson (24:59):
a Very vibrant orange cover. I mean, I was
thinking, Oh, this is going tobe about the great San Francisco
fire because it has this brightorange cover. But no, that's not
what it is. It's Amy Chewa haswritten it, c hu a. It's called
the Golden Gate. It is her debutnovel, but you will know people
(25:20):
know her people know her. She isthe woman who in 2011 wrote
Battle Hymn of the Tiger mother,which became, I mean, it's just
part of our lore in our lexicon.
Now, we'll talk about oh, thetiger mother will she uses that
term all the time, all the time,it's become part of the English
language. And, and she, that'swhere it began. So she is
(25:43):
another academic. She's aprofessor of law at Yale. And
this is her novel, so don't goin expecting the tiger mum. It's
quite different from that. ButI'm quite intrigued by this
setting of this. This is deemeda historical thriller. It's set
in 1944, Berkeley, California.
(26:06):
And this setting is theClaremont Hotel, which is a
beautiful landmark. It was builtin 1915. The story itself takes
place and as I said, in 1944, soit's war time. And it and that I
think has a bit of a an impacton the story. The story itself
(26:27):
starts off, there's a homicidedetective who just happened to
be having a drink at theClaremont hotel, when upstairs,
a presidential candidate isassassinated. And so this
detective gets drawn into thiscrime, and then kind of engages
his wife into researching what'shappened at this hotel and its
(26:50):
impact on this particular crime.
And he uncovers other crimesthat have happened in the past
that are attached to very welloff family, and it kind of
weaves its way through. And sothere's going to be all sorts of
kind of talking points aboutrace and class, and then how the
time in the historical time hasthe impact on on this mystery.
(27:14):
So I think it'll be already thesetting like, you know, old
hotels, I mean, that's just kindof a cool place to have a have a
murder take place. But I thinkit's an intelligently written
book, and that it's not going tobe fluffy. I think there will be
some commentary, especiallybased on her nonfiction
publications in the past.
Amy Mair (27:37):
I was just looking at I remember reading this article.
Did you read that? A coupleyears ago, there was some
controversy around her at Yale.
She's a Yale Law professor. Andthere's something in the New
York Times about I don't know,she was kind of fraternizing
with students giving peoplespecial treatment. I don't know,
like hanging out with them. Idon't know what it was. But you
could Google that. If
Susan Matheson (27:58):
you were interested. I grabbed Ross.
Unknown (28:02):
He's an interesting character.
Susan Matheson (28:03):
He is Yeah. And the interviews with her she's,
yeah, I don't I don't shedoesn't strike me as being soft
and cuddly. But I think thiswill be you know, a smart quick,
like, engaging not as a quickbut a smart read and, and fun.
Just again, like those ones thatare atmospheric. I always find
(28:24):
it. I mean, that's why we readyou want to take a bit of a
trip. That's a cool trip. Okay,what's the next one? All right,
number five. I believe we'realready there. So this is
interesting to me. This one isnonfiction. And again, I'm
thinking of kind of friends ofmine that really prefer
(28:45):
nonfiction. But you want to readsomething that's also
entertaining and not dry. Sothis one is called a clouded
leopard in the middle of theroad, new thinking about roads,
people and wildlife by DarrylJones. So you're like, Well,
Unknown (29:05):
I don't know. You're gonna have to sell me on this
one.
Susan Matheson (29:08):
Well, when I first looked at it, well, that's
interesting. And then I cameacross right away like it well,
was just talking aboutalgorithms. That's another day's
conversation. But right away, Icame up. So this was that one
was released in May of thisyear. And then another one just
came out, and it's calledcrossings, how road ecology is
(29:33):
shaping the future of ourplanet. And that one is by Ben
Goldfarb. And it was released onSeptember 12. So I do find it
astounding how such a specifictopic can have two publications,
like within months of oneanother, and this happens all
the time. I'll give you anotherexample of that in a minute. But
(29:54):
meanwhile, so I'm like, What isthis like what is happening? So
I kind of looked into a littlemore And there are 14 million
miles of roadways on our planet.
And roads are indicative of, youknow, prosperity and urban
development and where, you know,as we expand, we just keep
(30:14):
paving over paradise. And it'shaving an impact on the natural
world. And, you know, we seethese dams bursting, and roads
getting washed out. And, youknow, it's all very prominent in
our news if we start to focus onit. And there's the whole
wildlife components. So youknow, in Banff National Park,
(30:37):
there is a overpasses for the,for the animals to go through in
Australia, they have what theycall the Tunnel of Love, where
they create tunneling for theanimals to go under the roads.
So I thought what a obscurething, but it's, it's really
quite interesting. This, theycall it road ecology. And it's
(30:58):
so these both both of thesebooks, the reviews of them have
been, like, really readable,fascinating, you know, and eye
opening that you look into thisconcept. And again, you know, as
our planet, we've certainlyspent a summer of assessing what
the heck we're doing with ourplanet. This is just another
(31:19):
stream of thought about ourimpact on the planet, and it
feels timely. And I think it'shopeful. I'm hoping it's
helpful, but it's, it isinteresting how we just
sometimes need to step back and,and, and look into these topics.
And and I just found itinteresting that both of them
(31:40):
came out essentially at the sametime. And both I think, I think
a really interesting topic.
Unknown (31:47):
Okay. I'm, I don't know that that's
Susan Matheson (31:52):
for me want to read an article, not the whole
book, but
Unknown (31:54):
maybe well, I'd like to hear. I'd like you to read it.
And then tell me, I'd take yoursuggestion.
Susan Matheson (32:02):
I actually may have sent this to a friend of
mine for her husband and saidthe very thing I would be
welcome to the book review. I'mnot sure if I'll get to it. But
I do find it that an interestingtopic. And on the topic of
synchronicity of these, youknow, Publications at the same
time, there are two other booksas these are bonuses for you
that have come out one in Julyof last year, and one in
(32:26):
September of this year. One, theone you will be seeing now on
the shelves because as mostbeautiful cover is called Mrs.
Van Gogh, or how do you want topronounce it? You've just been
to that part of the world youpronounce it. But Mrs. Van Gogh
the artists is this, obviouslywho they're referencing, and
it's written by Caroline couch,see a uch and it's about the
(32:52):
woman who was Van Gogh's thisthe daughter in law, and her
name was Johanna balangir. Andshe is the reason the rest of
the world knows about Vincent.
So Oh, yes. Now at the sametime. So last year, The Secret
Life of sunflowers was ahistorical fiction novel, again,
(33:12):
was released. And that waswritten by Marta Molnar and it's
the same story. So it's afascinating story about oh,
Vincent sister in law, so whenhe died, she was the only living
relative and received all of hispaintings. And so the fact that
released them to the world iswhere in the storylines I
(33:35):
gather, she was quite acharacter. There's enough there
to sink their teeth into butboth of these came out at the
same time. So it's, you know, alot of book clubs like to kind
of compare books to tap one ortwo at the same chapter. Similar
I
Unknown (33:51):
think that's a I've done that before. And you could
you just say these are the twobooks. The Keeners can read both
read one,
Susan Matheson (34:01):
right? We just had that. You know, I think
right now is the MANET one butthat that in the round Van Gogh
with all the sunflowers youknow, when you went to the room
and the round and the lightprojections that this event is
worth traveling around the worldright now so he's kind of back
at the forefront of people'sminds and to know that there's
(34:22):
more to the story and again, youknow, a woman focused story both
coming out at the same time butyou'll see the Mrs. Van Gogh
went on the shelves right nowhas a woman walking through the
sunflowers. It's a beautifulcover.
Unknown (34:37):
Okay, um, let's let's the last book.
Susan Matheson (34:41):
Now this one for the romance lovers. It's called
talking at night. And it's anovel by Claire Davar li D A V E
R L E y, and Holy smokes. Thisis you know, it's a UK book, but
it's had so much interest andpromotion. And it's on every UK
(35:05):
recommended list. It's workingits way over here. But it took
off over there more. The authoris a book editor in the UK, she
lives in Scotland. And this isher first book. And it's some,
you know, I'm kind of sometimesI'm a little heavy. You know,
we've talked about this before,we're the sort of juggernauts
get going in the media behind aparticular Fave author because
(35:28):
she's connected in some way. ButI feel like this one is actually
legit. But it's it's had a hugenumber of positive reviews. And
a lot of mentions that it's kindof has Sally Rooney vibes, which
isn't a selling point for me,but it might be for others. So
what is the story, the story isa use all these lovely words
(35:50):
like beautiful, tender,poignant, emotional, and it's
about the people we need, whochange us irrevocably, and who
we always carry with us. So it'sa young love. Couple meets each
other when they're teenagers.
They're sort of the starcrossedlovers. They're not. They're not
anything like each other.
(36:12):
complete opposites. And yet,they keep coming into each
other's lives, but they've beenkept apart by sounds like
tragic, perhaps circumstances.
So they're kept apart, theirlives evolve. They kind of come
back and forth a little bitthrough the years. And which
would draw all of us into thecheerleading squad, I'm sure.
See if they get back together.
(36:35):
But it's, it's very much thestory of all the different loves
we have in a lifetime. And itkind of gives me the feel of
remember the book one day. Oh,yes. So that's a great book.
Yeah. And David Nicholls hadwritten that one, I sort of feel
like it might have that samekind of engagement by the
(36:55):
reader. And it goes to over anumber of decades, it's
contemporary in that way itmoves to modern time. But boy,
is it ever taking off like,people who are reading it are
really loving it. So yeah, Ilook forward to that one. And
it's, yeah, that's our romance.
Well, throw into mix.
Unknown (37:13):
I think I'm gonna get that one. That sounds fine.
Yeah. Might be good. That mightone might be good on audio. I
know. I know. You're not bigaudio person. But
Susan Matheson (37:22):
no, but you know, it's so okay. Topic of the
summer was covenant of water.
And I know you and I talkedabout because I was a bit miffed
that I was
Unknown (37:30):
got a hold of my, my secret. I was going to ask you
about that. Yeah, yeah. And
Susan Matheson (37:35):
so I've had a number of people say, Oh, I've
listened to it is 31 hours. I'velistened my God. Yeah, I've
listened to it on audio, andAbraham Verghese reads it
himself. And apparently, it'samazing. I have a friend who's
going on a trip and she's justdownloaded because she hasn't
(37:55):
read the book yet. And all of uskeep talking about every time
you know, the group getstogether. It's it's such a, it's
such great conversations comeout of that park. It's just
wonderful. So yeah. And then theother one, I was going to
suggest today that you and Iwould probably enjoy another
roadmaps, similar to what wejust suggest is called Wellness,
(38:17):
a novel by Nathan Hill. And darnit, if Oprah didn't get there
again. I know her new book forthe fall. And you know, and it's
another one that looks great.
But yeah, the covenant of water,I think, because I said to you
before, when I finished thatbook, the last page, I just
wanted to start all over again.
(38:38):
So that's one where I mightactually take a download and
listen to him read it, becausehe's an impressive interview as
well. Very interesting, man. Andhe has a lovely, gentle voice.
And I imagine it's excellent onon audio.
Unknown (38:55):
I've heard the same thing. Like I've been sort of
hesitant to dip into that bookbecause of the length. And the
Oprah thing just because Ifigured she tends to pick pretty
heavy books, and I wasn't sure.
And everybody tells me they loveit so
Susan Matheson (39:11):
well. It's one of those books that you will
remember where you were when youread it. It Wow. Yeah, it
impacts your life like it's andit's interesting, so many people
still speak so fondly of cuttingfor stone, one of his previous
novels that yes, the onlyprevious novel, I don't think
he'd written a few others, butit was the one that went big
(39:32):
anyway, the and people rememberwhere they were when they read
that one? It's, he's very good.
And I just picked up the tennispartner, which was is
nonfiction. It's a memoir ofhis. When he was a doctor, you
just gone through a divorce andyou had a young resident who is
his tennis partner, and it's agood good book for men. It's
sort of the brotherlyrelationship that evolves, but
(39:55):
the young doctor is a drugaddict, which in the medical
arena gather fairly frequently.
So it's it's a very interestingstory. And but it's his story
and, and they play tennistogether. So it's the tennis
(40:15):
partner is what it's called. Soyeah, he said this that book
mean yes, it's an investment 700and some odd pages. You're, it's
a tome, but so beautifully woventogether all the different
stories and yeah, it'swonderful. Well,
Unknown (40:33):
thank you again for dropping by the podcast. And
hopefully everyone has their nowtheir reading list set or even
just talking to you. It makes methink, kind of organize my
reading like, should I dononfiction? Should I
Susan Matheson (40:48):
find out? Oh, man, I have a little of each.
I'm reading bittersweet by SusanCain right now, which is
nonfiction. And I find withnonfiction, I read it and I have
to think about it. And it's verygood. She's the one who wrote
quiet Yes, reverse a number ofyears ago, excellent writer, and
she weaves in stories. So itdoesn't feel like heavy
(41:08):
nonfiction. But yes, I'm tryingto be mindful of mixing it all
up and pushing myself into thosecontemporary ones that people I
don't like to face.
Unknown (41:19):
Well, thanks again. And I will talk to you soon.
Susan Matheson (41:24):
You will. That's great. Thanks. Okay, bye, bye.
Unknown (41:31):
Thanks so much to Susan for coming on the podcast. And
those are some greatrecommendations as always, and I
liked that they're not your runof the mill. I think I'm gonna
check out the first one I thinkI'm interested in is the
thriller, by Amy Chu, the GoldenGate, so I'm gonna give that a
try. And then I also wanted toshare about an upcoming episode.
(41:54):
So on October 20, I have youngadult writer, author, I should
say, Pam withers and she's goingto be on to talk about her
latest book mountain runaways.
And it's a fast paced novel thattells the story of three kids
who lose the parents in theavalanche, and it's really good.
And I think it would appeal to alot of boys and or boys or girls
(42:22):
who are really interested inventure sports. And she also
does a really cool websitecalled Why do books.ca And
that's a resource for young malereaders. And she's also the
author of a book calledjumpstarting boys. Help your
(42:42):
reluctant reader find success inschool and life. So thanks so
much for tuning in. And I willtalk with you later.
Hello. Welcome back to the red carpet. I am your host,
Amy. And today, I am joined by aregular guest, book blogger,
Susan Matheson with bedsidetable books. And we're going to
do her annual lineup of herfavorite fall reads. But before
(00:43):
we get to that, I just wanted totalk with you about a couple of
things that I'm watching orwatch that I enjoyed. I just got
back from a big trip, my dadturned 90, and my two sisters
and I we went on a cruise withmy dad. And it was really fun.
Unknown (01:02):
But I got home after being away, and I was kind of
jet lagged and just wantedsomething easy. So over the last
few days, I've watched some easythings. I binged the supermodels
on Apple. So I recommend it. Ithought it was good. It was the
kind of the big four models fromthe ad, kind of mid 80s, late
(01:26):
80s, early 90s with CindyCrawford, Linda evangelist,
Christine Turlington, and NaomiCampbell. And it was a great
time capsule back in time, andit showed kind of how they rose
to power. And then they end uphow they were discovered.
(01:47):
Actually, only one of themactually wanted to be a model.
That was Lynda Evangelii stuff.
And then eventually how theywere so powerful that they would
determine they could choose,like, who was shooting them
where they appeared, whether aproduct was sold, it was quite
interesting. And then how kindof the advent of the whole
(02:08):
grunge scene. Kate Mossspecifically sort of dethrone
them, but it was interesting,and they are my age. So I also
was interested in what they'redoing now. And they're all doing
cool things now, and kind of themeaning they found in their
life. But, you know, I liked it.
(02:29):
I thought it was good. And thenext thing I want to recommend
was a very frothy show onNetflix called Love at first
sight. It's a meet cute romancestarring Haley Lu Richardson.
You will remember from thesecond season of the White Lotus
and she was Jennifer Coolidge ishard done assistants. And I
(02:49):
think she was my favoritecharacter of that season.
Anyway, she stars in this movie,as an American going over to
England for her dad's wedding.
And then she bumps into in theairport, a cute British guy
who's at school at Yale. And sothey have this sort of meet meet
(03:10):
cute on the plane and one isgoing to a funeral and one is
going to a wedding and then youkind of can guess what goes on
from there they they end up kindof somehow losing each other's
phone numbers but it is a romcom so you know somehow they're
gonna meet up in the end and,and I thought it was one of the
(03:32):
smarter kind of easy lightmovies I've seen in a while like
it's, it's not taxing. It's astep above I would say it's a
step above, maybe a couple stepsabove and quality of a Hallmark
Christmas romance, but itdoesn't demand much and I liked
it, I thought was really good.
(03:53):
And I thought, Haley Lu has alot of Richardson has a lot of a
lot of charisma. Okay, so let'smove over and talk with Susan.
Susan, welcome back to thepodcast.
Susan Matheson (04:09):
Good morning, Amy.
Amy Mair (04:10):
Delighted to be here as usual. So we're gonna do our
regular round up, but you'rekind of seasonal expert, you
come in, do all the work for meand look at kind of what you're
interested in reading. Butbefore we get into that, I have
a question that I have to askyou. And we only had this
(04:30):
conversation via text but one ofmy favorite books this year was
yellow face. And you were not afan. So what's the deal and I
wanted to hear your opinion on
Susan Matheson (04:44):
this thing.
What's the deal like? I hateever to don't like ever speaking
ill of a book because I knowthese writers have gone to you
know, put all their blood sweatand tears into these books and
And with and this one just tookoff. And I obviously there must
be a reason I find at this stageand maybe just where I am in my
(05:06):
life right now. But if I'm goingto spend time with a book, I
have to like the people in it.
And I really, I did not. And Isort of most mostly probably by
accident, but I kind of figuredit out early. So I lost that
sense of Oh, and, and thatcertainly no, not because I'm so
(05:29):
intelligent. It's just it wasjust by chance. But of course, I
read through the last page toconfirm, but I I don't know, I
get why people are into it. ButI think that, you know, we get
our busy days. And what I lovemost about reading is kind of
cuddling up and going into adifferent world. And this was a
(05:49):
world I didn't want to be in Ididn't it reminded me of that
movie with the dead rabbit andgoing Glencoe Basic, Basic
Instinct, I kind of had thatvibe about it, you know, like,
you just uncomfortable, like, Icouldn't relax into it. So I do
admire how she crafted it. Andits modernity and contemporary
(06:10):
vibe, but I guess sometimes youlook at it, and it wasn't
necessarily the people I justdon't like we're a realist in
some ways, you know, it's, it'suncomfortable. And so I, I put
it aside after I finished it,but I it's not going on the
keepers shelf.
Amy Mair (06:27):
Yeah, so this book, a number of you will know about
it, but it's called Yellow Face.
And the author is Rs Clang,clang. And it is, it's a
thriller. And it is about ayoung woman who essentially
steals another woman'smanuscript, their rising
literary stars, but one isAsian, and she dies in a weird
(06:50):
freak accident. And then thisCaucasian woman steals her
identity and the manuscript. Andreally, I guess for me what I
liked about it, is it it may, Ithink it will, you would agree,
I'm sure it was the post to makeus uncomfortable, because it's
talking about race and culturalidentity. And then also it was a
(07:14):
big portion of it was about thepublishing industry and how
cutthroat it is. And Twitter,and what I liked about it was
the author was so young, like inreal life, she's in our current,
I want to say she's about 26.
Yeah, I think. So I think it waskinda like, I felt I was reading
(07:34):
something that I can't evendescribe because she is so much
younger. It was it just feltreally new and fresh, but it was
uncomfortable, for sure. Andinterestingly, I think what
you're kind of saying is, maybethe plot wasn't all there. And I
was kind of caught up in sort ofthe zing of it and excitement
(07:55):
that I didn't look maybe asclosely at the plot. And
Susan Matheson (07:58):
maybe, maybe I was sort of finding a few
things. Were kind of predictablehere and there, like, you know,
you're okay, now we're waitingfor this person to do this. And,
and then that unfolded. And, butyou know what I do? Say,
especially as you say at her,I'll read your next one, because
I think it's readable. I thinkthere was the, as you say, the
(08:19):
social commentary, and I thinkthere's a lot of room for that
in literature. We can't allsidle into reading the same
thing over and over and overagain. I think this was
challenging. I think, you know,for me reading it, I might have
been looking for somethingdifferent. I haven't found a lot
of time to flip the pageslately. And when I do. I don't I
(08:41):
want comfort, not discomfort.
Unknown (08:43):
Yeah. And it's super, super contemporary. Yeah, yeah.
Maybe it
Susan Matheson (08:47):
doesn't give me faith that, you know, the world
is a polite place or a kindplace it makes you feel like,
Oh, God, here's another onewhere it makes you sort of feel
embarrassed about humanity. It'sa lot for me to take on my
little shoulders, but I'm justsaying that it's, yeah, it
doesn't. It wasn't uplifting inthat way.
Unknown (09:09):
Okay, optimistic? Well, let's go ahead and dive into the
books that you've selected forthe Fall seed
Susan Matheson (09:17):
season. Oh, every time we meet, it's a huge
challenge, I end up with 100books that I have to narrow down
to 25 down to 10. And then downto the final five or six. And
the fall is always the hugestreal number of releases. So it's
been a challenge, but it'sexciting because there's some
some great books coming out.
I've sort of picked a choice.
(09:40):
I'm always conscious of thosekind people who listen to us
babble away, that everybody hasdifferent interests. And
recently, you know, a lot offriends have been talking about
wanting to read more nonfiction.
Ones like we were just sayingthat want a good comfort read
and others we've tried to hit avariety of them but holy smokes,
there's A lot of good thingshappening on the bookshelves. So
(10:02):
let's start off with Geneclocks, the left over woman so
this is being released onOctober 10. Now we're probably
recording this before youpublish but October 10 is comes
out and Gene clock wrote yearsago she wrote girl in
translation and more recentlyshe wrote for Sylvie Lee I have
(10:22):
to say that girl in translation,though I read it probably a
decade ago, I it is such anevocative writing that I can see
the book and like the images inmy mind from that book still
really, really clearly likeshe's it's just a beautiful way
of impacting a reader. Shedescribes things beautifully. So
(10:48):
this one is called the leftoverwoman, Jean Kwok herself moved
from Hong Kong to Brooklyn as achild, she has a BA from Harvard
and an MFA from Columbia. So sheknows she can write on the
books, but she's, she has thatimmigrant experience. And that
tends to be a focus of herwriting. This one, again, pulls
(11:11):
in all the descriptions are as Ifound in her last books,
atmospheric suspenseful,emotional, like she really can
bring in the the senses into herbook, this story is another
family drama, and with anelement of mystery, and it
(11:31):
starts off with a woman wholives in China and has had to,
or has had happened to her haveher daughter removed from her
because of the one child policy.
She remains in China, her childhas been taken from her. And she
has a very controlling husband.
So she's leaving, she manages tomuster the means to get herself
(11:53):
out of China to New York City.
And, but she has no financialsupport, she has no emotional
family support or anything else,but she's in in search of her
daughter. Meanwhile, on theother side of the story, her
daughter has been adopted by avery well off woman who's an
(12:14):
executive high poweredexecutive, the daughters being
raised with nannies andbeautiful home and that sort of
polar opposite economically towhat the birth mother has had.
And things start to crumble inthe New York City. So that that
the saw that so perfect, isstarting to come apart. And the
(12:36):
two women are sort of on thiscollision course with the
daughter in the middle. Andthere's gonna be lots of
commentary on kind of theeconomic differences, the
immigrant experience,motherhood, a lot of big time
Tophet like feelings, you know,and, and I feel like Gene Kwok
(12:56):
has all the ability to make thisone really heart rancher in many
different ways. But it also hasa mystery component, which, you
know, is always always fun whenit keeps you guessing as you're
going along. But this one, I'mreally looking forward to she, I
have all the confidence in anyof her books, and I've heard her
interviewed, she's she's had avery interesting life herself.
(13:18):
And, and she's, you know, veryarticulate, and then that shows
up on the page for sure.
Unknown (13:25):
You know, what's interesting is on the blurb on
the book, because I looked it upLucy Foley, who wrote the
guestlist in the Parisapartment. Yeah, like the little
blurb, which I thought wasinteresting, because you're
talking about it, and it doesn'tsound like they're obviously
trying to like sell it throughthe thriller component. But it
sounds like there's a lot moreto it than Yeah, I
Susan Matheson (13:45):
think I've been number of reviews I've read all
the way through all positive,really focused on the motherhood
elements, which I thought wasinteresting, but it certainly I
mean, it's already pulls on yourheartstrings. So can you imagine
that scenario, and you know,someone having their child taken
from them right there, you'realready engaged in the story you
(14:09):
you've invested and, and thenwork to go on. But a lot of her
writing, as I say, is veryvisual. And these are the ones
that I can see becoming movies,you know, as you read the pages.
Unknown (14:21):
Okay, what's the next book?
Susan Matheson (14:23):
The next one is a bit of a departure. It's
called the class A Memoir of aplace a time and us and it's
written by Ken Dryden. And KenDryden was a goalie for the
Montreal Canadiens for sixStanley Cups, all the way
through in the 1970s. So thosehockey fans of my era and
(14:45):
actually don't have to be ahockey fan because he went on to
become very involved inpolitics. He was an MP and a
cabinet minister, and he'swritten quite a bit about his
hockey experience and has somehas done research into In the
hockey world, a lot ofnonfiction, this one's also
nonfiction. As I said, it's amemoir, it's released on October
(15:08):
17. And it's kind of aninteresting thing he has gone
back. So he's, he's probablyhe's a grandfather now. And, but
he's taken some time to go backand look at his childhood and
in, I think it was grade nine orso he became part of a selected
class. So a class of high schoolstudents, there were 35 of them,
(15:31):
that had to do a test. And theywere sort of put into a special,
you know, maybe they wereadvanced academically or
whatever, but a cohort, and the35 of them spent, you know, we
did the math, like over 200 daysa year together. And they were
from working class families anddifferent backgrounds, their
parents had lived through theDepression and the war. And his
(15:53):
generation, that cohort, werereally the, the kids for whom
their boundless possibilities.
Now, none of them had reallykept in touch over the years, it
was sort of a, you know, youmight run into someone here,
there. So he made it a challengeto go and interview all 35 of
those students are 30, fours,both and find out what they did
(16:14):
with their lives. And wow, sortof a look into a chapter in our,
you know, in Canadian history,in a sense, or world history,
but it's a chapter of thiscohort. And just to see where
they all win, and none of thereviews tell you where anyone
went, but it was a lot of thenorm, you know, there were, you
(16:36):
know, they're all parents orgrandparents, they've lost
parents, they've lost people intheir lives, they've, they've
divorced, they've remarried,they've done things all the way
through, but it's a realconnection into this generation.
And I think we've all sort ofkind of have that nostalgia
about when I wonder whathappened to Sony, or wonder what
happened here. And, and he, hefollowed through on that. And
(16:59):
he's a good writer, and it'skind of a little glimpse of
Canadiana, as well. But I foundthe premise quite, quite
interesting. So I look forwardto reading that one.
Unknown (17:11):
Is it were there men and women or just men? And was
it like men, or women? And wasit one school or across the
city?
Susan Matheson (17:19):
One school was the tobiko Collegiate Institute.
So Wow. Yeah. And so small town,Ontario, and we're not small
town, but a suburb of Toronto.
And they, yeah, they were allsort of brought together.
Because they passed a test, youknow, that would have been an
academic test, I imagine. And itwas just sort of that selected
(17:40):
class or cohort that were throwntogether. And, and then where
they've gone since. So it's justsomething a little different.
And I kind of look forward toreading that it's, you know, we,
we we label all of ourgenerations, you know, Gen X,
Gen Y Gen, whatnot. And, and wehave very clear expectations, it
(18:01):
seems or, or judgments of eachgeneration. And so when you look
back to that generation, I thinkthat was you know, it's our
parents era, and you kind of,it's interesting just to see
like to look into it in moredepth anyway.
Unknown (18:20):
That's, that sounds like it also sounds like a good
gift.
Susan Matheson (18:23):
So, last time, I know we we talked and it's sort
of something always in the backof my mind is, and I spent time
with friends this summer talkingabout man, men books and women
books, and often, but not alwaysjust men, because I know my mom,
for instance, only readsnonfiction. She doesn't read
novels. And we can't share verymany books. But it's
(18:45):
interesting. A lot of peoplelean towards nonfiction. I know
we've had that comment beforehere is, you know, don't forget
to include some nonfiction. Butyou know, you and I have another
choice as well. That isnonfiction. But yeah, there are
things this one I think willappeal to everybody but it might
also because it's Ken Dryden aswell, I think that there may be
(19:05):
people who are curious about hisjourney in particular as well
because obviously going for asmall town, Ontario and then
becoming this big time Montrealgoalie and then high level
politician is an interestingstory, just his
Unknown (19:19):
okay, what's the next book? Okay, the next one
Susan Matheson (19:22):
is called a new season. I'm staying with
Canadiana and maybe boy books,if we want to be so bold as to
call them that, though, I'mreally looking forward to this.
This one's written by Terryvalets, and he's become a bit of
a Canadian treasure. He will bewell, most well known, I suppose
(19:42):
for the book, The best laidplans, which he won the Steven
Lee Kok award. It's it's veryfunny. It's about a fellow who,
you know, is working in Ottawa,in the in the halls of political
world, and it's very thecharacters were wonderful and
heartwarming and poignant andall of those great feelings. So
(20:05):
this author Terry Wallace has,I've seen him in person. He's
hilarious. He's wonderfulspeaker. And he has a great
story with that particular book.
He, it was literally a few pagessitting on the register heat
register in his office, and hesubmitted them. Because he had,
he had to submit 10 pages and in10 pages, it was what he had. So
(20:25):
we submitted it to the LI COCaward, and he won. And it's
great. So that was his veryfirst book, he's published quite
a few cents. best laid plansbecame a TV series even. But he
has his trademark humor and, andheart and his stories. And he
has a new one coming out. Andit's called a new season. And
it's supposed to be a bit of adeparture, maybe a little more a
(20:50):
little more serious. And some ofhis other books, though. They do
promise the good humor as well.
And this one is about a fellowwho's kind of ties in with our
previous choice. He's kind oflater middle age has a grown up
son has a great life big houseplays ball hockey with his
(21:12):
buddies. But he's recentlywidowed and he's struggling. And
so it's a time for him toexamine his life and what's next
and he's not he's he's a bitblue. Now there's going to be
because he plays ball hockey,there's a little bit of Terry
follows humor in the air, youknow, the banter back and forth
with the boys and everything,which is quite entertaining. But
(21:35):
it's really about how thisfellow has to find his way and,
and in typical Canadianlanguage, he says he musters the
gumption to go to Paris, andhe's always wanted. He loves
Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, andhe's quite fascinated by the
1920s. Paris, so he goes toParis. So there's his adventure.
(21:56):
And while he's there, there,serendipitous encounters, and he
ends up pulled into a longstanding mystery in the art
world. And oh, that sounds fun.
Yeah, and it kind of revitalizeshim. So it's, it's, it'll be a
terry Fallis you know what toexpect if you love him. And I
know lots of people actuallyline up for his next books.
(22:17):
They're super excited, excited.
But here's where we find theante yellow face. This is where
we find a really good comfortread, but also some something
that kind of gives you pause tothink about the big things in
life. And he's very, very goodat that.
Unknown (22:35):
I just covered him i He was part of the package of books
when you're for read for thecure. Yes, yeah. And Vancouver.
I feel like I saw you at thatevent. I'm not sure. But
Amy Mair (22:47):
it's, at least in Canada, they do this event in
the fall, it's coming up. Andit's they pick several cities.
And then they pick a package ofbooks. And then they have the
authors there. And then theygive out the books and you pay
to come listen and for thenight, and it's really good. And
I remember there was a greatauthor. Did you read the book?
(23:10):
They left us everything by plumJohnson.
Susan Matheson (23:12):
Yes, I did. Oh, great book.
Amy Mair (23:14):
I love that book. It's that that was about a woman who
was quite I want to say she was70. I'm not sure. But she wrote
this book. It was basically shelived in Oakville, Ontario and
her parents, she was going toher parents things. And it was
about family secrets. It'snonfiction. Kind of like, who
cares. And it was excellent. Andthe
Susan Matheson (23:37):
house that she had to sort of after they passed
away, she had to take it alldown. And oh my gosh, there are
a lot of us that are a lot offriends I have that are going
through that right now. And itwas Yeah, I thought was very
well
Unknown (23:48):
done. Anyway, that's where I found him and he had
heard the best laid plans buthe's he was really a lively
interview. And so that soundslike you
Susan Matheson (23:57):
very engaging fellow and yeah, so when you
talk about Canadian books and soforth, on CBC Radio, they have
the Show Canada reads where theychoose a book for all of
Canadians to read together. Andhis book was chosen as the book
of the decade. So
Unknown (24:15):
Oh, wow, that's like plants. Yes. Yeah.
Susan Matheson (24:19):
Wow. And I there's one he wrote I think
it's called up and down orsomething or up in something and
it was his characters arebeautiful like he had this older
woman who is a bush pilot orsomething and she lived up in
the north and it was absolutelyfantastic and I and again, just
a really light but fun read andyet one that he always weaves in
(24:41):
a little bit of thingheartwarming. You know, kind of
makes you stop and think of ittoo.
Unknown (24:47):
Okay, what's, what's the next book?
Susan Matheson (24:49):
Next book is called The Golden Gate.
Unknown (24:56):
Oh, I want to read this one. This was the one I was most
it has
Susan Matheson (24:59):
a Very vibrant orange cover. I mean, I was
thinking, Oh, this is going tobe about the great San Francisco
fire because it has this brightorange cover. But no, that's not
what it is. It's Amy Chewa haswritten it, c hu a. It's called
the Golden Gate. It is her debutnovel, but you will know people
(25:20):
know her people know her. She isthe woman who in 2011 wrote
Battle Hymn of the Tiger mother,which became, I mean, it's just
part of our lore in our lexicon.
Now, we'll talk about oh, thetiger mother will she uses that
term all the time, all the time,it's become part of the English
language. And, and she, that'swhere it began. So she is
(25:43):
another academic. She's aprofessor of law at Yale. And
this is her novel, so don't goin expecting the tiger mum. It's
quite different from that. ButI'm quite intrigued by this
setting of this. This is deemeda historical thriller. It's set
in 1944, Berkeley, California.
(26:06):
And this setting is theClaremont Hotel, which is a
beautiful landmark. It was builtin 1915. The story itself takes
place and as I said, in 1944, soit's war time. And it and that I
think has a bit of a an impacton the story. The story itself
(26:27):
starts off, there's a homicidedetective who just happened to
be having a drink at theClaremont hotel, when upstairs,
a presidential candidate isassassinated. And so this
detective gets drawn into thiscrime, and then kind of engages
his wife into researching what'shappened at this hotel and its
(26:50):
impact on this particular crime.
And he uncovers other crimesthat have happened in the past
that are attached to very welloff family, and it kind of
weaves its way through. And sothere's going to be all sorts of
kind of talking points aboutrace and class, and then how the
time in the historical time hasthe impact on on this mystery.
(27:14):
So I think it'll be already thesetting like, you know, old
hotels, I mean, that's just kindof a cool place to have a have a
murder take place. But I thinkit's an intelligently written
book, and that it's not going tobe fluffy. I think there will be
some commentary, especiallybased on her nonfiction
publications in the past.
Amy Mair (27:37):
I was just looking at I remember reading this article.
Did you read that? A coupleyears ago, there was some
controversy around her at Yale.
She's a Yale Law professor. Andthere's something in the New
York Times about I don't know,she was kind of fraternizing
with students giving peoplespecial treatment. I don't know,
like hanging out with them. Idon't know what it was. But you
could Google that. If
Susan Matheson (27:58):
you were interested. I grabbed Ross.
Unknown (28:02):
He's an interesting character.
Susan Matheson (28:03):
He is Yeah. And the interviews with her she's,
yeah, I don't I don't shedoesn't strike me as being soft
and cuddly. But I think thiswill be you know, a smart quick,
like, engaging not as a quickbut a smart read and, and fun.
Just again, like those ones thatare atmospheric. I always find
(28:24):
it. I mean, that's why we readyou want to take a bit of a
trip. That's a cool trip. Okay,what's the next one? All right,
number five. I believe we'realready there. So this is
interesting to me. This one isnonfiction. And again, I'm
thinking of kind of friends ofmine that really prefer
(28:45):
nonfiction. But you want to readsomething that's also
entertaining and not dry. Sothis one is called a clouded
leopard in the middle of theroad, new thinking about roads,
people and wildlife by DarrylJones. So you're like, Well,
Unknown (29:05):
I don't know. You're gonna have to sell me on this
one.
Susan Matheson (29:08):
Well, when I first looked at it, well, that's
interesting. And then I cameacross right away like it well,
was just talking aboutalgorithms. That's another day's
conversation. But right away, Icame up. So this was that one
was released in May of thisyear. And then another one just
came out, and it's calledcrossings, how road ecology is
(29:33):
shaping the future of ourplanet. And that one is by Ben
Goldfarb. And it was released onSeptember 12. So I do find it
astounding how such a specifictopic can have two publications,
like within months of oneanother, and this happens all
the time. I'll give you anotherexample of that in a minute. But
(29:54):
meanwhile, so I'm like, What isthis like what is happening? So
I kind of looked into a littlemore And there are 14 million
miles of roadways on our planet.
And roads are indicative of, youknow, prosperity and urban
development and where, you know,as we expand, we just keep
(30:14):
paving over paradise. And it'shaving an impact on the natural
world. And, you know, we seethese dams bursting, and roads
getting washed out. And, youknow, it's all very prominent in
our news if we start to focus onit. And there's the whole
wildlife components. So youknow, in Banff National Park,
(30:37):
there is a overpasses for the,for the animals to go through in
Australia, they have what theycall the Tunnel of Love, where
they create tunneling for theanimals to go under the roads.
So I thought what a obscurething, but it's, it's really
quite interesting. This, theycall it road ecology. And it's
(30:58):
so these both both of thesebooks, the reviews of them have
been, like, really readable,fascinating, you know, and eye
opening that you look into thisconcept. And again, you know, as
our planet, we've certainlyspent a summer of assessing what
the heck we're doing with ourplanet. This is just another
(31:19):
stream of thought about ourimpact on the planet, and it
feels timely. And I think it'shopeful. I'm hoping it's
helpful, but it's, it isinteresting how we just
sometimes need to step back and,and, and look into these topics.
And and I just found itinteresting that both of them
(31:40):
came out essentially at the sametime. And both I think, I think
a really interesting topic.
Unknown (31:47):
Okay. I'm, I don't know that that's
Susan Matheson (31:52):
for me want to read an article, not the whole
book, but
Unknown (31:54):
maybe well, I'd like to hear. I'd like you to read it.
And then tell me, I'd take yoursuggestion.
Susan Matheson (32:02):
I actually may have sent this to a friend of
mine for her husband and saidthe very thing I would be
welcome to the book review. I'mnot sure if I'll get to it. But
I do find it that an interestingtopic. And on the topic of
synchronicity of these, youknow, Publications at the same
time, there are two other booksas these are bonuses for you
that have come out one in Julyof last year, and one in
(32:26):
September of this year. One, theone you will be seeing now on
the shelves because as mostbeautiful cover is called Mrs.
Van Gogh, or how do you want topronounce it? You've just been
to that part of the world youpronounce it. But Mrs. Van Gogh
the artists is this, obviouslywho they're referencing, and
it's written by Caroline couch,see a uch and it's about the
(32:52):
woman who was Van Gogh's thisthe daughter in law, and her
name was Johanna balangir. Andshe is the reason the rest of
the world knows about Vincent.
So Oh, yes. Now at the sametime. So last year, The Secret
Life of sunflowers was ahistorical fiction novel, again,
(33:12):
was released. And that waswritten by Marta Molnar and it's
the same story. So it's afascinating story about oh,
Vincent sister in law, so whenhe died, she was the only living
relative and received all of hispaintings. And so the fact that
released them to the world iswhere in the storylines I
(33:35):
gather, she was quite acharacter. There's enough there
to sink their teeth into butboth of these came out at the
same time. So it's, you know, alot of book clubs like to kind
of compare books to tap one ortwo at the same chapter. Similar
I
Unknown (33:51):
think that's a I've done that before. And you could
you just say these are the twobooks. The Keeners can read both
read one,
Susan Matheson (34:01):
right? We just had that. You know, I think
right now is the MANET one butthat that in the round Van Gogh
with all the sunflowers youknow, when you went to the room
and the round and the lightprojections that this event is
worth traveling around the worldright now so he's kind of back
at the forefront of people'sminds and to know that there's
(34:22):
more to the story and again, youknow, a woman focused story both
coming out at the same time butyou'll see the Mrs. Van Gogh
went on the shelves right nowhas a woman walking through the
sunflowers. It's a beautifulcover.
Unknown (34:37):
Okay, um, let's let's the last book.
Susan Matheson (34:41):
Now this one for the romance lovers. It's called
talking at night. And it's anovel by Claire Davar li D A V E
R L E y, and Holy smokes. Thisis you know, it's a UK book, but
it's had so much interest andpromotion. And it's on every UK
(35:05):
recommended list. It's workingits way over here. But it took
off over there more. The authoris a book editor in the UK, she
lives in Scotland. And this isher first book. And it's some,
you know, I'm kind of sometimesI'm a little heavy. You know,
we've talked about this before,we're the sort of juggernauts
get going in the media behind aparticular Fave author because
(35:28):
she's connected in some way. ButI feel like this one is actually
legit. But it's it's had a hugenumber of positive reviews. And
a lot of mentions that it's kindof has Sally Rooney vibes, which
isn't a selling point for me,but it might be for others. So
what is the story, the story isa use all these lovely words
(35:50):
like beautiful, tender,poignant, emotional, and it's
about the people we need, whochange us irrevocably, and who
we always carry with us. So it'sa young love. Couple meets each
other when they're teenagers.
They're sort of the starcrossedlovers. They're not. They're not
anything like each other.
(36:12):
complete opposites. And yet,they keep coming into each
other's lives, but they've beenkept apart by sounds like
tragic, perhaps circumstances.
So they're kept apart, theirlives evolve. They kind of come
back and forth a little bitthrough the years. And which
would draw all of us into thecheerleading squad, I'm sure.
See if they get back together.
(36:35):
But it's, it's very much thestory of all the different loves
we have in a lifetime. And itkind of gives me the feel of
remember the book one day. Oh,yes. So that's a great book.
Yeah. And David Nicholls hadwritten that one, I sort of feel
like it might have that samekind of engagement by the
(36:55):
reader. And it goes to over anumber of decades, it's
contemporary in that way itmoves to modern time. But boy,
is it ever taking off like,people who are reading it are
really loving it. So yeah, Ilook forward to that one. And
it's, yeah, that's our romance.
Well, throw into mix.
Unknown (37:13):
I think I'm gonna get that one. That sounds fine.
Yeah. Might be good. That mightone might be good on audio. I
know. I know. You're not bigaudio person. But
Susan Matheson (37:22):
no, but you know, it's so okay. Topic of the
summer was covenant of water.
And I know you and I talkedabout because I was a bit miffed
that I was
Unknown (37:30):
got a hold of my, my secret. I was going to ask you
about that. Yeah, yeah. And
Susan Matheson (37:35):
so I've had a number of people say, Oh, I've
listened to it is 31 hours. I'velistened my God. Yeah, I've
listened to it on audio, andAbraham Verghese reads it
himself. And apparently, it'samazing. I have a friend who's
going on a trip and she's justdownloaded because she hasn't
(37:55):
read the book yet. And all of uskeep talking about every time
you know, the group getstogether. It's it's such a, it's
such great conversations comeout of that park. It's just
wonderful. So yeah. And then theother one, I was going to
suggest today that you and Iwould probably enjoy another
roadmaps, similar to what wejust suggest is called Wellness,
(38:17):
a novel by Nathan Hill. And darnit, if Oprah didn't get there
again. I know her new book forthe fall. And you know, and it's
another one that looks great.
But yeah, the covenant of water,I think, because I said to you
before, when I finished thatbook, the last page, I just
wanted to start all over again.
(38:38):
So that's one where I mightactually take a download and
listen to him read it, becausehe's an impressive interview as
well. Very interesting, man. Andhe has a lovely, gentle voice.
And I imagine it's excellent onon audio.
Unknown (38:55):
I've heard the same thing. Like I've been sort of
hesitant to dip into that bookbecause of the length. And the
Oprah thing just because Ifigured she tends to pick pretty
heavy books, and I wasn't sure.
And everybody tells me they loveit so
Susan Matheson (39:11):
well. It's one of those books that you will
remember where you were when youread it. It Wow. Yeah, it
impacts your life like it's andit's interesting, so many people
still speak so fondly of cuttingfor stone, one of his previous
novels that yes, the onlyprevious novel, I don't think
he'd written a few others, butit was the one that went big
(39:32):
anyway, the and people rememberwhere they were when they read
that one? It's, he's very good.
And I just picked up the tennispartner, which was is
nonfiction. It's a memoir ofhis. When he was a doctor, you
just gone through a divorce andyou had a young resident who is
his tennis partner, and it's agood good book for men. It's
sort of the brotherlyrelationship that evolves, but
(39:55):
the young doctor is a drugaddict, which in the medical
arena gather fairly frequently.
So it's it's a very interestingstory. And but it's his story
and, and they play tennistogether. So it's the tennis
(40:15):
partner is what it's called. Soyeah, he said this that book
mean yes, it's an investment 700and some odd pages. You're, it's
a tome, but so beautifully woventogether all the different
stories and yeah, it'swonderful. Well,
Unknown (40:33):
thank you again for dropping by the podcast. And
hopefully everyone has their nowtheir reading list set or even
just talking to you. It makes methink, kind of organize my
reading like, should I dononfiction? Should I
Susan Matheson (40:48):
find out? Oh, man, I have a little of each.
I'm reading bittersweet by SusanCain right now, which is
nonfiction. And I find withnonfiction, I read it and I have
to think about it. And it's verygood. She's the one who wrote
quiet Yes, reverse a number ofyears ago, excellent writer, and
she weaves in stories. So itdoesn't feel like heavy
(41:08):
nonfiction. But yes, I'm tryingto be mindful of mixing it all
up and pushing myself into thosecontemporary ones that people I
don't like to face.
Unknown (41:19):
Well, thanks again. And I will talk to you soon.
Susan Matheson (41:24):
You will. That's great. Thanks. Okay, bye, bye.
Unknown (41:31):
Thanks so much to Susan for coming on the podcast. And
those are some greatrecommendations as always, and I
liked that they're not your runof the mill. I think I'm gonna
check out the first one I thinkI'm interested in is the
thriller, by Amy Chu, the GoldenGate, so I'm gonna give that a
try. And then I also wanted toshare about an upcoming episode.
(41:54):
So on October 20, I have youngadult writer, author, I should
say, Pam withers and she's goingto be on to talk about her
latest book mountain runaways.
And it's a fast paced novel thattells the story of three kids
who lose the parents in theavalanche, and it's really good.
And I think it would appeal to alot of boys and or boys or girls
(42:22):
who are really interested inventure sports. And she also
does a really cool websitecalled Why do books.ca And
that's a resource for young malereaders. And she's also the
author of a book calledjumpstarting boys. Help your
(42:42):
reluctant reader find success inschool and life. So thanks so
much for tuning in. And I willtalk with you later.
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