Debut author blends memoir, mall history, and critique with a “self-effacing love letter to her hometown’s most famous institution.” —Logan Macnair reviews Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning, by Kate Black (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2024) $23.95 / 9781552454725
“Wuest firmly roots her book’s subject as a Western Canadian cultural institution.” Matthew Downey reviews Douglas Lake Ranch: Empire of Grass by Donna (Yoshitake) Wuest with Joe W. Gardner (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $50.00 / 9781990776427
“If British Columbia is the edge of Canada, then Tofino and its surrounding waters and islands are the outer limits.” Robin Fisher reviews Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: A History by Margaret Horsfield and Ian Kennedy (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $34.95 / 9781990776601
“Regime of Obstruction documents the corruption of Canadian democracy that has become characteristic of our governmental systems, corporate regimes, and even the environmental organizations that have collaborated in the greening of the business ethos.” Dr. Loys Maingon reviews three titles he considers “guides for unscrupulous psychopathic capitalism.” Regime of Obstruction by William K. Carroll (ed.) Athabasca University Press, 2021 $39.99 / 9781771992893 & A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and The Politics of American Environmentalism by Melissa Aronczyk and Maria I. Espinoza, Don Mills: Oxford University Press – Canada, 2022
$108.95 / 9780190055349 & The New Corporation: How “Good” Corporations Are Bad for Democracy by Joel Bakan (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2020) $19.95 / 9780735238848
“Not only does she tell us the history of the horse, but more particularly she describes the wild horses that roam the plains of North America and how their existence is under threat as the environment around them is changing.” Valerie Green reviews Wild Horses Running Free by Linda L. Richards (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2023) $24.95 / 9781459825598
Memoirist’s debut novel traces one man’s life-altering experiences in northern BC. —Theo Dombrowski reviews A Season in Chezgh’un, by Darrel J. McLeod
(Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023) $24.95 / 9781771623629
“With the research aspects of this book the specialist in bear scholarship will feel right at home but there’s plenty of interest here for the general reader with a desire to know more about these great hairy creatures.” Steven Brown reviews Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of Wilderness Life: Forty Years of Research in the Flathead Valley by Bruce McLellan (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $32.00 / 9781771605656
“Lisa would deliver fresh food to Ella and her brother Barkley at Wickaninnish Community School. Among the lunch time treats were fish tacos and warm polenta fries.” Mary Ann Moore reviews Together at SoBo: More Recipes and Stories from Tofino’s Beloved Restaurant by Lisa Ahier with Susan Musgrave (Toronto: Appetite by Random House, 2023)
$37.50 / 9780525610632
Novel recreates life of a rural farm collective circa 1969…
Amy Whitmore reviews Commune, by Des Kennedy (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing 2023) $24.95 / 9781990776519
“Informing her adolescent readers but not leaving them feeling helpless is a delicate balance that Ridge achieves…” Ginny Ratsoy reviews Evolution under Pressure: How we Change Nature and How Nature Changes Us by Yolanda Ridge (Toronto: Annick Press, 2023) $17.99 / 9781773217529
“Soderstrom prefaces each chapter with a poem, song, or memory that personalize the warnings of the book…” Ryan Mitchell reviews Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters, by Mary Soderstrom (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2023) $26.99 / 9781459750487
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023 $34.95 / 9781771648165 Reviewed by David Milward * “The true measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.” The quote has been attributed to both Mahatma Gandhi and former American Vice…
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Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World’s Most Vulnerable Placesby Christopher Pollon Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023$39.95 / 9781771649124 Reviewed by Alexandra Pedersen, PhD * The term “sacrifice zones” conjures images of a toxic landscape left permanently barren by rapacious capitalism; consumed until there is nothing left with no possibilities, no hope for the future. Billionaires,…
Read more What should we extract?
When we launched The British Columbia Review — then The Ormsby Review — in September 2016, little did we expect that seven years later we’d post our 2000th review. I’m grateful to everyone — reviewers, publishers, authors, booksellers, and readers — for making it such a success and promoting BC writers, writing, and culture. It…
Read more No. 2000 for the BC Review!
A Brief and Endless Sea by Barbara Pelman Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023 $20.00 / 9781773861258 doom eager by Karl Meade Salt Spring Island: Rainbow Publishers/Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $22.95 / 9781778160349 Reviewed by Joe Enns * Two Vancouver Island poets draw on vast landscapes as they examine grief and mortality through life’s seasonality. Victoria-based poet…
Read more Life’s seasonality, in two poem collections
The Boy and the Mountain: A Father, His Son, and a Journey of Discovery By Torbjørn Ekelund (Translated by Becky L. Crook) Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023 $27.95 / 9781771645096 Reviewed by Ron Dart * The Boy and the Mountain was originally published in Norwegian in 2017 and translated into English in 2023. Ekelund has, thus…
Read more ‘Trek by father and son’
Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past by Brett Popplewell Toronto: Harper Collins, 2023 $25.99 / 9781443457859 Reviewed by Daniel Gawthrop * British Columbia has long been a magnet for eccentric new settlers with mysterious backgrounds who come here seeking to reinvent themselves. Thanks to an investigative journalist from Ontario,…
Read more 1974 Marathon man like no other
Grounded by Granite: a memoir by Patti Shales Lefkos SilverStar Mountain: Loon Island Press, 2023 $27.62 / 9781999229825 Reviewed by: Valerie Green * Before I read Patti Shales Lefkos’ book Grounded by Granite, I decided to research the area known as the Canadian Shield in Ontario. That is where the author’s memoir takes place, and…
Read more 1973 Out-of-doors at the Canadian Shield
Uncontrolled Flight by Frances Peck Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2023 $25.95 / 9781774390757 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * Frances Peck has once again written a story that will grip British Columbian’s fears and hearts. Her debut novel, The Broken Places, envisioned fall-out from the big earthquake predicted to hit the Vancouver area. Uncontrolled Flight’s catalyst is…
Read more 1964 Literary thriller, ‘by all accounts … thrilling’
Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest by Amanda Lewis Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023 $24.95 / 781771646734 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * As I write from our province’s southern Interior, amidst the worst air quality in the world, I find I must state the obvious. The lessons Amanda Lewis accrues in…
Read more 1963 A quest for Champions