The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing

Is there one meal that reminds you of home? A dish that brings back childhood memories? For CBC Books producer Talia Kliot, it’s a shortbread, sour cream and walnut cake that makes an appearance at her family’s special milestones. Talia is obsessed with the way that food helps us tell stories and even made a radio documentary about it, where she speaks to writers, an academic and a video game designer. She joined Antonio Michael Downing on The Next Chapter to share what made her hungry for these stories in the first place … and why food is the best way to connect.

Books discussed on this week's show include:
Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan
How to Share an Egg by Bonny Reichert
Poutine by Justin Giovannetti Lamothe

Liked this conversation? Keep listening:
The books that fire up chef Michael Smith
Is food the closest thing to teleportation?

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Set in late-20th-century Cairo, Éric Chacour's novel What I know About You is a heartbreaking story of an impossible love and a family fractured by secrets and expectations. It was selected for One eRead Canada’s live digital book club, which brings libraries and readers together. Originally written in French, the book's translator, Pablo Strauss joins the discussion to share what it was like recreating the world in English for a conversation hosted by the Mississauga Library.

Books discussed on this week's show include:
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour

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Did you know that Ernest Hemingway wrote for the Toronto Star? The iconic cigar-smoking, bull-fighting American writer spent two separate stints living in Canada. It was partly while living and working in Toronto that he developed his stripped-down, sparse writing style. Author and Hemingway expert Terry Fallis reflects on the writer's larger than life reputation and his time spent in Toronto ahead of the upcoming International Hemingway Society Conference. Plus, CBC producer Christine Pagulayan talks about the latest trend to hit the world of romance.

Books discussed on this week's show include:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Little Face by Sophie Hannah
Before You Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh

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Clare Mackintosh joined the police force by accident. But taking what she learned over a 12 year career and using it to become a bestselling mystery and crime writer, was no accident. Nine novels later, she's sold millions of copies and has never looked back. Her latest is a genre-fusing novel titled, It’s Not What You Think. Clare was recently a guest speaker at the yearly MOTIVE crime and mystery festival in Toronto, and dropped by to talk about the books that have shaped her life and career.

Books discussed on this week's show include:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Little Face by Sophie Hannah
Before You Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh

Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

For years Jenny Jackson worked as an editor for some of the biggest authors in the publishing game. Eventually, she took what she had learned as an editor and applied it to writing a book of her own.
The result was a bestselling novel, and a new career as an author. Her new novel, The Shampoo Effect, took inspiration from a sexy, sixties novel about small-town adultery. It’s the story of a young woman who finds her way deep into a close circle of friends, and then writes all about them in a revealing New Yorker story. Plus, we revisit the late writer Gail Bowen’s Proust Questionnaire from 2015.

Books discussed on this week's show include:
Couples by John Updike
The Shampoo Method by Jenny Jackson

Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks