An Irish Country Yuletide by Patrick Taylor New York: Macmillan (Forge Books), 2021 $17.99 (US) / 9781250780904 Reviewed by Ian J.M. Kennedy * With the recent release of Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast, set during the Troubles in 1969, it’s timely that The British Columbia Review should ask for a review of Salt Spring Island resident…
Read more 1394 A great wee book, so it is
Dreamers, Skeptics, and Healers: the Story of BC’s Medical School. The UBC Faculty of Medicine at 70 years by Wendy Cairns, John Cairns, David Ostrow, and Gavin Stuart Vancouver: Page Two Books, 2021 $50.00 / 9781989603895 Reviewed by Jaime Smith * As a graduate of the UBC medical school in 1976 and after training there…
Read more 1363 Beds and infrastructure at UBC
Not of Reason: A Recipe for Outrunning Sadness by Rita Moir Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2021 $22.95 / 9781773860633 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Author Rita Moir’s Memoir Not of Reason connected with me on many levels. It is an impeccable combination of sorrow and humour when life is at its lowest. The author relates…
Read more 1358 Dying in the natural order
ESSAY: Mourning and Burial Rites in Ancient China: A Grief Process by Dorothy Dittrich * Death is part of life, as are the feelings of grief, sorrow and anxiety that follow the loss of a loved one. While coming to terms with death and coping with loss may be part of living, the feelings that…
Read more Mourning rites in Ancient China
Among Silent Echoes: A Memoir of Trauma and Resilience by Phyllis Dyson Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860640 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “My mother had needed help, not bullets” (p. 21). With Phyllis Dyson’s book, Among Silent Echoes, it is not immediately evident why Phyllis, at age 45, decides to explore the…
Read more 1339 When belonging goes bad
Happy is the New Healthy by Joan Neehall Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada, 2021 $36.00 / 9781948677707 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “Keep your heart open in hell,” is a piercing term from the 1980s that has stayed with me for the past forty years. Nowadays, hell seems poignantly applicable to the losses and limitations…
Read more 1317 Survival of the kindest
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2020 $22.99 / 9781443459181 Reviewed by Harper Campbell * Teaching and healing have always been important aspects to Indigenous writing in Canada. Look at any famous Indigenous author, whether that be Pauline Johnson or Richard Wagamese, and you’ll find that teaching and healing are central to…
Read more 1309 The object of Indigenous writing
Ron Verzuh reviews two books: Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic by Bonnie Henry and Lynn Henry Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Allen Lane), 2021 $26.95 / 9780735241855 * Soap and Water & Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease by Bonnie Henry Toronto: House…
Read more 1303 Double-booked by Bonnie
Just One More Drive: The true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car by Robert James O’Brien New Westminster: Tidewater Press, 2021 (2nd edition, first published 2017) $21.95 / 9781990160028 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * The “True Story of a Stuttering Homosexual and His Race Car,” Just One More Drive is Robert…
Read more 1287 Sure was gonna be rough
Pandemic Spotlight: Canadian Doctors at the Front of the Covid-19 Fight by Ian Hanomansing Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2021 $22.95 / 9781771622929 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * For nearly two years we have existed in a time warp. When I see a reference to something which happened in April, and now it is October,…
Read more 1285 From anonymity to spotlight
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto, illustrated by Ann Xu New York: First Second Books (Macmillan), 2021. Distributed by Raincoast Books. Please order from your local independent bookstore $24.99 (U.S.) / 9781626723566 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * Vancouver poet and novelist Hiromi-Goto’s graphic novel Shadow Life, brilliantly illustrated by Ann Xu, is a vollendungsroman, a story…
Read more 1253 Running away in old age
Tower 25: Strung out, homeless, and standing up again; a graphic memoir by PJ Patten Vancouver: Cloudscape Comics Society, 2020 $20.00 / 9781927742174 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * How does an artist draw a shiver? Behold the cover of PJ Patten’s first graphic novel. The central figure is almost all sharp edges, except for the…
Read more 1225 Stand up, take stock, get traction
The Last Goldfish: A True Tale of Friendship by Anita Lahey Windsor, ON: Biblioasis, 2020 $22.95 / 9781771963435 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * Part bildungsroman and part meta-memoir, Anita Lacey’s The Last Goldfish; A True Tale of Friendship is an account of a young girl watching a beloved friend struggle with and ultimately succumb to…
Read more 1214 Loving and losing Louisa
Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures by Ivan Coyote Toronto: Penguin Random House (McClelland & Stewart), 2021 $25.00 / 9780771051722 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * On October 14, 2021, Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures, by Ivan Coyote, reviewed below by Carol Matthews, was announced as one of five books shortlisted in the Non-fiction category…
Read more 1207 Coyote’s Covid correspondence
The Age of Fentanyl: Ending the Opioid Epidemic by Brodie Ramin Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2020 $22.99 / 9781459746701 Reviewed by Jeffrey Stychin * This book is not for the faint of heart, despite its clinical examination of the devastating world of opiate addiction. Brodie Ramin’s heartfelt compassion extends through every chapter. The Age of Fentanyl…
Read more 1188 Facing the fentanyl crisis