Reading has always been a big part of Tegan Quin’s life. 

She and her sister Sara make up the acclaimed band Tegan and Sara, and have fond memories of trips to the library in their childhood. 

“We got library cards as soon as we were eligible and we were allowed to take out as many books as how old we were,” Quin told CBC Books in an interview. “That became such a joy.”

Now, when she isn’t touring, writing or producing, she’s reading. 

From searing fiction to powerful memoir, she enjoys books of all genres and is thrilled to be bringing a debut novel, Loghan Paylor’s The Cure for Drowning, to this year’s Canada Reads debates.

On Canada Reads, five Canadian celebrities each select one book that all Canadians should read. They debate their choices over the course of four days, voting to eliminate one every day. The last book standing is the winner.

Canada Reads will take place from April 13 to 16. 

Ahead of the competition, Quin shared the gateway books that drew her into the worlds of some of her favourite authors. 

“They were entry points,” she said. “They were Narnia.”

Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers

A pivotal book in Quin’s childhood was Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers. 

The middle-grade novel, part of the Ramona and Beezus series and starring the titular sisters, wasn’t something that was assigned to her in school, nor was it a book she plucked from her mother’s shelf. 

Ramona Forever was the first book that “felt like mine,” Quin said. It also opened her up to the rest of the series and Cleary’s other books, which she says she also devoured. 

Quin saw herself in Ramona, who is full of imagination and mischief, but is always self-assured even if she doesn’t always conform to the expectations of how a young girl is “supposed” to act. 

“Ramona was the first time I felt like there was a girl character that I related to because she was kind of weird and different and a tomboy,” Quin said. 

Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Another key book for Quin is Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Fall On Your Knees, a sweeping family saga following four sisters, the Pipers of Cape Breton Island. 

“I do believe that was the first book I’d ever read that had any queer story in it,” Quin said. 

Fall On Your Knees came out in 1996, when Quin was in high school, and her mom read it before passing it on to her daughters. 

Quin loved the writing and the story of Fall On Your Knees but was especially exhilarated by the queer representation. 

“The fact that there was queerness in it, especially at a time where queerness was such a big part of my inner world, but it was starting to become part of my external world as well, felt very exciting,” she said. “It felt like stumbling on treasure.”

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Quin also read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving in high school. 

The novel, about a young boy who hits a foul ball in little league and accidentally kills his friend’s mother, captivated her, and caused her to dive right into the rest of Irving’s catalogue. 

“It was the first book experience I had where it made me seek out every book from one author and then become a lifetime fan,” she said. “Now, the day John Irving’s new book came out, I went and got it.”

Quin is drawn to Irving’s writing, character development and the recurring aspects that she has come to expect from his books. 

“I love that there’s always weirdos in his books,” said Quin. “I love the way that he writes women.”

Despite not having a strong connection to the Northeast, where he sets most of his books, nor wrestling, which often makes an appearance, reading Irving’s work over the years has made her feel like a part of it.

“I love that he basically just writes the same book over and over and over again,” she said. “I feel like John Irving’s just trying to tell us something. His books get bigger and bigger and bigger … And I’m like, ‘I hear you, John!’”

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Patrica Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, which was adapted into the movie Carol, came into Quin’s life in her late 20s.

The book follows Therese, who is working at a department store when she meets and falls in love with an older enigmatic woman named Carol, who is in a crumbling marriage.

“The Price of Salt … really inspired me and also made me want to write, made me want to tell a story,” said Quin. 

In fact, after she read the book, similar experiences Quin was having in her own life helped inspire her music.

“With that book, that era of my life, I wrote The Con and Sainthood, and those are records about literally trying to get into a relationship with an older woman who didn’t want me and who had somebody else.”

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

The book that made Quin a fan of her now-beloved memoir genre was Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. 

In it, Burroughs writes about his unorthodox childhood after his mother sent him to live with a strange psychiatrist and his family.

“It was just haunting,” said Quin. 

Reading Running with Scissors showed that it’s possible to tell your story on your own terms — and inspired her to do the same. 

“Now that’s so normalized because we all do it all the time on social media. We do it on our blogs,” she said. “But, in 2003, … it just blew my mind. It just rocked me. I was like, ‘Oh, I can be more vulnerable. I can say more. I can do more.’”

She and her sister wrote their joint memoir, High School, in 2019, and have since also published the middle-grade graphic novel duology Tegan & Sara: Junior High, illustrated by Tillie Walden.

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett

One author that Quin always recommends to people looking to get more into reading is Ann Patchett. 

Quin first discovered Patchett’s work when she moved to Vancouver at 19. Though she already loved to read, she says that when she picked up The Patron Saint of Liars randomly at a bookstore, it opened up a whole new world.

“She just writes really good, solid stories that feel cinematic,” she said. “It’s really easy to get into. They’re accessible.”

The Patron Saint of Liars is about a home for young unwed women who are pregnant — and one woman who decides to stay there with her daughter instead of giving her up for adoption.

“I just love her books, her stories, the way she writes women,” said Quin. “I was just really hooked to this one in particular because it’s about younger people.”