Sapphire and the Hollow Bone by Diana Hayes Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2023 $23.95 / 9781771715192 Reviewed by gillian harding-russell * Meditative and elegiac in its imagery and moods and finding resonances in mythology, Diana Hayes’ Sapphire and the Hollow Bone is imbued with the colour blue. Whether such details as the cherished gift of a “star…
Read more 1958 Shades and perplexities of blue
Away From the Dead by David Bergen Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2023 $24.95 / 9781773103105 Reviewed by Trish Bowering * “She asked him to read to her. And so he did. And every evening after that, he picked up his book and read… The story was both simple and difficult. She said that normally people…
Read more 1957 Hardship and a sense of hope
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast by John Vaillant Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2023 $38.00 / 9780735273160 Reviewed by Trevor Marc Hughes * John Vaillant opens his book with a quote from the fire chief of Fort McMurray, Alberta: “No one’s ever seen anything like this…this is rewriting the book.” We are soon…
Read more 1956 The fire dragon
Don’t Call It Hair Metal: Art in the Excess of ‘80s Rock by Sean Kelly Toronto: ECW Press, 2023 $26.95 / 9781770416437 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * Sometimes a book comes along that is simply a dream to read and review. Don’t Call It Hair Metal is one of those reveries: fiercely well-written, nostalgic, energetic,…
Read more 1955 Reaching for 1980s rock’s roots
Unsettled: Lord Selkirk’s Scottish Colonists and the Battle for Canada’s West, 1813-1816 by Robert Lower Toronto: ECW Press, 2023 $29.95 / 9781770417182 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Many of us learned about Lord Selkirk’s Red River Settlement in high school or college, but we’ve never read it so up close and personal as Robert Lower…
Read more 1954 Survival of the fittest Scots
Four Seasons by the Salish Sea: Discovering the Natural Wonders of Coastal Living by Carolyn Redl, photography by Nancy Randall Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2023 $32.95 / 9781772034479 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Author Carolyn Redl has been fascinated with life along the Salish Sea ever since she moved to Vancouver Island from the prairies…
Read more 1953 ‘Observations and discoveries’
The World is But a Broken Heart by Michael Maitland Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2023 $19.95 / 9781773241296 Reviewed by Heidi Greco * As the title suggests, The World is But a Broken Heart is not a cheery book. In fact, the linked stories in this debut collection reveal a family for whom just…
Read more 1952 Heartbreak and ‘passages of such beauty’
In the Belly of the Sphinx by Grant Buday Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2023 $25.00 / 9781990071157 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * In the epigraph to his latest novel, Mayne Island’s Grant Buday reprints this question by Celine: “And where, I ask you, can a man escape to when he hasn’t enough madness inside him?” Celine,…
Read more 1951 Victorian history as a ‘ludicrous romp’
East Side Story: Growing Up at the PNE by Nick Marino Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023 $21.95 / 9781551529332 (paperback) Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * When I moved to Vancouver in August 1985, Nick Marino, aged 17, was working his last summer at the PNE. To me the PNE (the Pacific National Exhibition) was some distant…
Read more 1950 1980s East Van nostalgia
Rains, At Times Heavy by Debi Goodwin Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023 $25.00 / 9781773861227 Reviewed by Trish Bowering * These days, it’s near impossible to escape the news of extreme weather. In Death Valley, the temperatures recently topped 50 degrees Celsius. In our forests, fire has transformed so much of the landscape, smoke obscuring…
Read more 1949 A personal quest amid weather extremes
Nimrods: A Fake-Punk, Self-Hurt Anti-Memoir by Kawika Guillermo Durham: Duke University Press, 2023 $25.95 / 9781478024927 Reviewed by Logan Macnair * Given that his complicated relationship with his father serves as the catalyst for much of the book’s content, it seems fitting that author Kawika Guillermo begins Nimrods with a reflection of his own experiences…
Read more 1948 ‘Anti-memoir’ meditates on fatherhood, perseverance
ESSAY: Canadian Mountain Culture and Mountaineering by Ron Dart * And sliding on the mountain snow, Dear Friend, we’ll let our worries go. -Alexander Pushkin, “Winter Morning” Great things are done when men and mountains meet; this is not done by jostling in the street. -William Blake, Gnomic Verses The…
Read more 1947 Canadian mountain culture and mountaineering
Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life – A Memoir by Maria Coffey Calgary: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023 $28.00 / 9781771606400 Reviewed by Mary Ann Moore * Maria Coffey who is based in Victoria, British Columbia and Catalonia, Spain, started travelling when she was a teenager. Various circumstances including her keen sense of adventure,…
Read more 1946 Choice, responsibility, consequence
Queers Like Me by Michael V. Smith Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2023 $20 / 9781771668507 Reviewed by Carellin Brooks * “Is a day tormenting oneself really a day / of nothing?” observes the wry first-person speaker of “Everyday,” from Michael V. Smith’s gorgeous new book of verse, Queers Like Me. Neatly skewering the first-world problems of…
Read more 1945 A ‘thoughtful … outrageous … funny’ collection
The Morning Bell Brings the Broken Hearted by Jennifer Manuel Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023 $24.95 / 9781771623193 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In The Morning Bell Brings the Broken Hearted, southern Vancouver Island author Jennifer Manuel has written an outstanding book full of compassion and hope. The former college, elementary, and high school…
Read more 1944 Determination and hope
When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery & Transformation by Tara Sidhoo Fraser Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023 $22.95 / 9781551529271 Reviewed by Betty Jane Hegerat * Tara Sidhoo Fraser’s When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery & Transformation pieces together the aftermath of a stroke and diagnosis of a rare…
Read more 1943 ‘Don’t you dare forget me’
How to Be Found by Emily Pohl-Weary Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023 $19.95 / 9781551529356 Reviewed by Rhea Tregebov * Emily Pohl-Weary’s YA novel, How to be Found, makes for propulsive, compelling reading. Sixteen-year-old best friends Michie and Trissa consider themselves sisters and offer each other both standard sisterly grief and fierce sisterly loyalty. Only-children…
Read more 1942 Teenage girls, ‘unredacted’
Do You Eat the Red Ones Last? Canada’s Not-so-clandestine War to Expropriate Indigenous Lands and Resources by Marc G. Stevenson Altona: FriesenPress, 2022 $18.99 / 9781525585838 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * First, a word about the title to this book. It came from a 1980s meeting, as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans co-chair emptied…
Read more 1941 Confronting antipathy towards Indigenous Canadians
Out of the Dark by Julie Lawson Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 2023 $14.95 / 9781774712344 Reviewed by Alison Acheson * “… just don’t get anything fancy. We are who we are”: words spoken by the main character’s mother in Julie Lawson’s middle grade/young adult novel Out of the Dark. The words reflect a theme to the…
Read more 1940 For YA readers: Halifax in WWI
Antarctic Pioneer: The Trailblazing Life of Jackie Ronne by Joanna Kafarowski Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2022 $25.99 / 9781459749535 Reviewed by Amy Tucker * Prepare to embark on an awe-inspiring adventure as author Joanna Kafarowski takes us on a captivating exploration of one of the most remarkable women in the history of polar exploration in her…
Read more 1939 Remarkable journey of courage