Against the Current: The Remarkable Life of Agnes Deans Cameron by Cathy Converse Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2018 $30.00 / 9781771512701 Reviewed by Charlene Porsild First published Aug. 26, 2018 * Agnes Deans Cameron (1863-1912) was an educator, writer, reformer, and traveller who made her own way in a rapidly changing world. For more than a…
Read more #352 Teacher, traveller, troublemaker
Where it Hurts: Essays by Sarah de Leeuw Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2017 $19.95 / 9781926455846 Reviewed by Heidi Greco First published Aug. 24, 2018 * Heidi Greco reviews Sarah de Leeuw’s Where it Hurts: Essays, a collection that has been much-praised and shortlisted for national and regional non-fiction prizes. “These aren’t the essays your high…
Read more #351 Essays from the north
Churchill and Fisher: The Titans at the Admiralty who fought the First World War by Barry Gough Toronto: James Lorimer, 2017 $39.95 / 9781459411364 Reviewed by James Wood First published Aug. 23, 2018 * Barry Gough of Victoria continues his torrid pace and high-quality output with the publication of his character study, Churchill and Fisher:…
Read more #350 Naval giants of the Great War
Elemental by Kate Braid Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2018 $18.00 / 9781987915631 Reviewed by Christopher Levenson First published Aug. 23, 2018 * Despite the book’s title and its division into five elements — water, fire, wood, sky, and earth — the dominant feature of Elemental, Kate Braid’s seventh book of poetry, is less unity of…
Read more #349 A carpenter poet adept at forms
On the Line: A History of the British Columbia Labour Movement by Rod Mickleburgh Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2018 $44.95 / 97871550178265 Reviewed by Bryan D. Palmer First published Aug. 22, 2018 * For four tumultuous months in 1983, the grassroots labour initiative in B.C. called the Solidarity Coalition–which took its name as an offshoot…
Read more #348 The ghost of Jack Munro
Going the Distance: The Life and Works of W.P. Kinsella by William Steele Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre $34.95 / 9781771621946 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb First published August 22, 2018 * There’s something puzzling early on in this biography of W.P. Kinsella. Kinsella, famous for the iconic “If you build it, he will come” line…
Read more #347 Kinsella – a life like no other
Another Mountain to Climb by Danny Peart Vancouver: Milagro Press, 2017 $25.00 / 9780994932914 Reviewed by Isabella Wang First published Aug. 20, 2018 * Danny Peart’s third book of poetry, Another Mountain To Climb, is an open window into Peart’s exhilarating excursions up the peaks of Grouse Mountain and Kilimanjaro. One simply has to open…
Read more #346 Called to the poethood
Beautiful Communions by Des Kennedy Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2018 $18.95 / 9781553805328 Reviewed by Cherie Thiessen First published Aug. 16, 2018 * Ginger wants to get back the family home from the disgraced church of The Congregation of the Great Convergence. Ginger’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dustin Flynn, gave their mansion to the sect in their…
Read more #345 Lovers and other shenanigans
First published Aug. 15, 2018. The Cure for Death by Lightning: A Play Adapted from the Novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz by Daryl Cloran Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $18.95 / 9781772012057 * Talker’s Town and The Girl who Swam Forever: Two Plays by Nelson Gray and Marie Clements Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $18.95 / 9781772012019 Reviewed by Ginny…
Read more #344 Three curative plays of B.C.
Mudgirls Manifesto: Handbuilt Homes Handcrafted Lives by the Mudgirls Natural Building Collective Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2017 $29.99 / 9780865718777 Reviewed by Kate Braid First published Aug. 14, 2018 * I was excited about being asked to review this book. In the ’70s and ’80s I spent 15 years as a Red Seal Journey(wo)man Carpenter…
Read more #343 Lasqueti mudgirls manifesto
First published Aug. 14, 2018. My West Coast Surveying Adventure by Richard G. Lipsey, OC, FRSC * We are delighted to present a memoir by Richard (Dick) Lipsey, arguably one of Canada’s foremost economists—and it’s not about economics. Here Lipsey recalls his work as a surveyor’s assistant and axeman on the west coast of Vancouver…
Read more #342 The woodsman & the economist
Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire by Lori A. Brotto Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2018 $22.95 / 9781771642354 Reviewed by Becki L. Ross First published August 13, 2018 * New from Greystone Books comes Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire by Lori A. Brotto, a psychologist, sex researcher, and Canada…
Read more #341 Cultivating desire
Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka by Bernadette McDonald Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2017 $32.00 / 9781771602129 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published August 1, 2018 * Born in Biggar, Saskatchewan, in 1951, Bernadette McDonald now divides her time between Naramata, B.C., and Banff, Alberta. She is author of three award-winning…
Read more #340 Kurtyka, the Polish alpinist
Atomic Road Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2018 by Grant Buday, with a foreword by John O’Brian $20 / 9781772141139 Reviewed by Dustin Cole First published Jul. 9, 2018 * So it was all coming down, The future collapsing like a rotten house. – from Atomic Road. Recently I perused the Anvil Press website to see if…
Read more #339 Missiles, murder & emasculation
Julia by Michael Kluckner Vancouver: Midtown Press, 2018 $19.95 / 9781988242200 Reviewed by Yvonne Van Ruskenveld * Born into a wealthy manufacturing family in Durham, England, in 1868, and educated there, Julia Henderson came to Canada in 1884 with her sister and brother-in-law. They settled in Montreal, where Julia married broker and merchant Charles Henshaw…
Read more #338 Julia, graphically yours
First published Jul. 8, 2018. Culture Gap: Towards a New World in the Yalakom Valley by Judith Plant Vancouver: New Star Books, 2017. $19 / 9781554201334 Reviewed by Nancy Janovicek * What had happened to us? Where did it go wrong? What could we have done? What should we have done? What we built together…
Read more #337 True tales of Camelsfoot
First published Jul. 3, 2018. Apples, etc.: An Artist’s Memoir by Gathie Falk with Robin Laurence Vancouver: Figure 1, 2018. $22.95 / 9781773270128 Reviewed by Sheryl Salloum * The opportunity to sit down with an eminent artist and have that person share their reminiscences is rare. In Apples, etc. An Artist’s Memoir by Gathie Falk…
Read more #336 Gathering Gathie
Through Different Eyes by Karen Charleson Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2017 $19.95 / 9781773240060 Reviewed by Paul Headrick First published July 3, 2018 * Through Different Eyes focuses on three women living in Kitsum, a remote First Nations fishing village on Vancouver Island’s west coast. Lonely sixteen-year-old Brenda Joe longs to fit in with the…
Read more #335 Kitsum on Hesquiat Harbour
The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa by Charles Ulrich Vancouver: New Star Books, 2018 $45.00 / 9781554201464 Reviewed by Derek von Essen First published July 3, 2018 * I don’t consider myself a Zappa collector. On a scale of one to ten, my level of fandom is around 7.5, though…
Read more #334 Zappa from A to Z
Southern Northwest Coast Indigenous Canoe Racing: A Brief History by Alan L. Hoover Victoria: NWC Canoe Publications, 2018 $14.95 / 9781775011903 Reviewed by Sanford Osler First published Jul. 2, 2018 * Once a year my local oceanfront park in North Vancouver fills with campers bringing dozens of long sleek wooden canoes to race over the…
Read more #333 Indigenous canoe racing