Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between Oct. 22-29, 2024.
Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach
Absolution, the final instalment of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series explores the conditions that may have contributed to the formation of Area X, including government complicity and scientific experimentation. It includes an account of the very first expedition into Area X, which is surrounded by an invisible border on a coastline that’s referred to as the Forgotten Coast.
In some expeditions into Area X, researchers don’t find anything unnatural. Instead, they find that Area X is actually getting rid of some of the pollution in the region.
Jeff VanderMeer is an American author based in Tallahassee, Florida. His bestselling Southern Reach series includes four books: Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance and Absolution. Annihilation won the Nebula Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. His other work includes Hummingbird Salamander, Dead Astronauts, Borne and The Strange Bird. His reporting has appeared in Current Affairs, TIME, the Nation and Esquire.
Bookends with Mattea Roach31:58Jeff VanderMeer: How his blockbuster Southern Reach series reflects our own fight against climate change
When Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series was first published 10 years ago, it was a sensation. The mysterious environmental phenomenon known as Area X captivated readers and inspired a movie. Now the saga continues with a highly anticipated fourth installment, Absolution. Jeff talks to Mattea Roach about the inspiration behind the series, dealing with climate threats to his home in Florida and what fiction can teach us about our own environmental crisis.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
The Haters follows writer and teacher Camryn Lane as she publishes her first novel after years of effort. When suddenly she receives an unnerving anonymous message, her dream turns into a nightmare. Camryn is bombarded with bad and accusatory reviews online. As the harassment begins to seep into her personal life, Camryn is determined to find the culprit. In this psychological thriller about the dark corners of the Internet, Camryn falls further into a path of deadly consequences.
Harding is a crime and thriller writer based in Vancouver. She has published 13 novels including The Perfect Family, The Drowning Woman and The Party, which was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award.
The Next Chapter18:32How one bad review ruined an author’s career in The Haters
Vancouver-based author Robyn Harding imagines her worst nightmare come to life in her latest novel, where an aspiring novelist gets cancelled at the peak of her success.
Heard on: Ideas
An old story about the “Old Stone Age” in North America is now giving way to new evidence — or to be precise, evidence that is much, much older than scientists used to accept. Archaeologists long believed that the first peoples to set foot on this continent arrived by crossing a land connection, the Bering Strait, from Siberia at the end of the last ice age, around 11,500 to 12,000 years ago. They are often called ‘Clovis people’ — named after the first discovery of stone tools used around this time, at a site near Clovis, New Mexico.
In her book The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, archaeologist Paulette Steeves argues that the settlement of the Americas may have occurred closer to 130,000 ago. Her book gathers together the latest evidence and arguments in favour of believing the human presence in North America goes back many tens of thousands of years — at a minimum.
Paulette Steeves is a professor of sociology at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, and a Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation.
Ideas53:59Indigenous Archaeologist Reclaims Pleistocene Epoch Story from Colonial Scholars
The dominant story in archaeology has long been that humans came to North America around 12,000 years ago. But Indigenous archaeologist Paulette Steeves points to mounting evidence suggesting it was more like 130,000 years ago. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 13, 2022.
Heard on: Q with Tom Power
Matheson is one of the best-known celebrity chefs in the world. Not only are his restaurants packed every night, but he’s one of the executive producers of the Emmy-winning series The Bear, and he’s just released his third bestselling cookbook, Soups, Salads, Sandwiches.
Matty Matheson is celebrity chef and owner of multiple restaurants and author of multiple cookbooks. He worked on the acclaimed FX series The Bear as a co-producer, actor and consulting chef.
39:27Matty Matheson: His journey as a chef, from culinary school to The Bear
When the Canadian chef Matty Matheson was growing up, first in Nova Scotia and later in Ontario, he liked going to punk shows, he didn’t do particularly well in school, and he didn’t think he was athletic or cool like his brothers. But once he moved to Toronto to study cooking, he discovered what he was great at. With no big plan or ambition, Matty became one of the best-known chefs and restaurateurs in the world. Not only are his restaurants packed every night, but his YouTube videos have hundreds of millions of views, he’s one of the executive producers of the Emmy-winning series “The Bear,” and he’s just released his third bestselling cookbook, “Soups, Salads, Sandwiches.” In a conversation with Tom Power recorded in front of a sold-out live audience, Matty shares his story and what he thinks you might be able to learn from it.
Heard on: The Current
In his new book, Should We Go Extinct?, philosopher Todd May calls us to reflect on whether we deserve to inhabit this planet in the face of human-made climate change and environmental collapse.
Todd May is an American philosopher and the author of 18 books of philosophy.
The Current24:53Should we let humans go extinct?
In the face of human-made climate change, philosopher Todd May calls us to reflect on whether we deserve to inhabit this planet in his new book, Should We Go Extinct? The question, he says, can force us to consider how to be better stewards of the Earth.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Perfectionism isn’t the answer to our imperfections. Instead, we can choose to see what they can offer and teach us. The Gifts of Imperfection is a guide to accepting imperfections and living without shame.
It’s about the art of practicing courage, connection and compassion, while letting go of the need to be perfect.
Brené Brown is a bestselling American author and podcaster. Her books include Atlas of the Heart, Dare to Lead, You Are Your Best Thing and The Gifts of Imperfection.
The Next Chapter13:39Taking control of your life with Mirian Njoh
The former Canada Reads panellist, model and influencer shares three of her favourite self-help books for those looking to level up their mindfulness.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Atomic Habits outlines how great success can come from small, consistent changes. Featuring stories of real-life professionals and drawing on ideas from psychology, biology and neuroscience, James Clear has created a guide to building good habits and getting rid of bad ones.
James Clear is a bestselling American author. His writing focuses on habits, decision making, and continuous improvement.
The Next Chapter13:39Taking control of your life with Mirian Njoh
The former Canada Reads panellist, model and influencer shares three of her favourite self-help books for those looking to level up their mindfulness.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Rather than crediting intelligence and ambition alone, Gladwell makes a different case for success in his book Outliers, especially in people outside of the ordinary. He argues that understanding how people thrive involves looking at the environment around them, including their family, their birthplace and even their birthdate. While uncovering the way these elements affect our lives, Gladwell presents a compelling guide for making the most of human potential.
Malcolm Gladwell has written many nonfiction books including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, Talking to Strangers and The Bomber Mafia. Gladwell is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, a company that produces the podcast Revisionist History among others as well as audiobooks. Gladwell grew up in Elmira, Ont. and now lives in the U.S.
The Next Chapter13:39Taking control of your life with Mirian Njoh
The former Canada Reads panellist, model and influencer shares three of her favourite self-help books for those looking to level up their mindfulness.
Heard on: Q with Tom Power
The summer of 1975 starts out as carefree as any other for ten-year-old Paul Gilligan. His only worries are keeping his comics in pristine condition and keeping up with his friend David’s increasingly bold stunts. That is until the movie Jaws to town, leaving Paul a cowering mess as he begins to seemingly be haunted by the big screen shark.
Paul Gilligan is a Toronto-based cartoonist. He is also the author-illustrator of Pluto Rocket: New in Town, Pluto Rocket: Joe Pidge Flips a Lid, King of the Mole People and its sequel, Rise of the Slugs.
Helge Dascher is a frequent translator of comic books. She’s also translated many of Guy Delisle’s titles, Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, White Rapids by Pascal Blanchet and Paul Goes Fishing by Michel Rabagliati.
20:13Paul Gilligan: How his childhood fear of Jaws inspired his new graphic memoir
When Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” came out nearly 50 years ago, the Toronto cartoonist Paul Gilligan (Pooch Café) remembers cowering in the theatre and having recurring nightmares about the movie’s animatronic shark. He was only 10 at the time, but his fear left him with countless questions about what it means to be a man. Ahead of the film’s 50th anniversary, Paul has released a new graphic memoir, “Boy vs. Shark.” He joins Tom Power to talk about the book, what he hopes anxious kids might get out of it, and how “Jaws” transformed an entire generation’s definition of manliness.
Heard on: The Current
Historian Timothy Snyder says thinking about freedom as “me against the system” is actually a trap that stops people from being truly free. The best-selling author of On Tyranny is back with his latest book On Freedom, which explores freedom from multiple angles.
Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin professor of history and global affairs at Yale University. He is an expert in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and the Holocaust. His books include Bloodlands, Black Earth, The Road to Unfreedom and On Tyranny.
The Current43:19Timothy Snyder on avoiding the trap of ‘negative freedom’
Historian Timothy Snyder says thinking about freedom as “me against the system” is actually a trap that stops people from being truly free. The best-selling author of On Tyranny spoke with Matt Galloway at the Vancouver Writers Fest about his new book On Freedom, and why he’s now “100 per cent convinced” that there will be violence around the looming U.S. election.
Heard on: The Sunday Magazine
Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa is an accomplished doctor and poet – but in 2016 she made headlines for something else. In her medical school class at the University of Toronto, she was the only Black student. She went on to become the first Black woman named sole valedictorian of the department. Since then, Dr. Oriuwa has taken up the work of creating opportunities for other racialized people in medicine. Her memoir Unlike the Rest explores her journey to becoming a doctor and finding her voice.
Oriuwa is a psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto. She was named one of Time magazine’s 2021 Next Generation Leaders and was on Maclean’s Power 50 list in 2022. She has been on multiple boards and is an advocate for creating spaces of wellness and inclusion.
The Sunday Magazine23:33Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa draws on adversity to advocate for racialized people in medicine
Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa is an accomplished doctor and poet – but in 2016 she made headlines for something else. In her medical school class at the University of Toronto, she was the only Black student. She went on to become the first Black woman named sole valedictorian of the department. Since then, Dr. Oriuwa has taken up the work of creating opportunities for other racialized people in medicine. She tells Piya Chattopadhyay about her journey to becoming a doctor and finding her voice, as explored in her new memoir Unlike the Rest: A Doctor’s Story.
Heard on: Q with Tom Power
In late 2022, Lisa Marie set out to write a memoir and asked her daughter Riley Keough for help. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead at age 54, and Keough took it upon herself to finish her mother’s final project, relying on hours of audio tapes that were left behind. From Here to the Great Unknown is the culmination of that work and tells the story of the heir to one of America’s biggest musical legacy.
Riley Keough is an Emmy-nominated actor and director, and the eldest granddaughter of Elvis Presley and the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley.
25:43Riley Keough: Finishing her mom Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir
Before her sudden death in 2023, Lisa Marie Presley was working on a memoir with the help of her eldest daughter, Riley Keough. After her passing, Riley took it upon herself to finish her mother’s project, relying on hours of audio tapes that Lisa Marie left behind. The result is the posthumous memoir “From Here to the Great Unknown,” which looks at what it was like to grow up in the whirlwind of celebrity around Elvis Presley and Graceland. Riley joins Tom Power to explain why she felt so strongly about finishing her mother’s story, plus, she reflects her own legacy as Elvis’ eldest granddaughter.
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