The E.J. Hughes Book of Boats by Robert Amos Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2020 $22.00 / 9781771513364 Reviewed by Brian Harvey * For the British Columbia painter E.J. Hughes, who died in Duncan in 2007, the sea was never far away. Hughes wasn’t the only famous Canadian artist to include boats in his canvases — we’ll…
Read more #966 A torrent of collective memory
A Story of Karma: Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya by Michael Schauch Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2020 $25.00 / 9781771604673 A review essay by Trevor Carolan * Adventure travel goes through phases. In the Sixties you went off to Formentera in the Balearics or Corfu to find yourself. India…
Read more #964 Travelling the higher heights
Rocky Mountain Cooking: Recipes to Bring Canada’s Backcountry Home by Katie Mitzel Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada [Appetite by Random House], 2019 $25.00 / 9780147530981 Reviewed by Luanne Armstrong * I love reading cookbooks, especially in the winter, partly because in my community, every winter dinner is a potluck and also because winter just seems…
Read more #855 Rocky Mountain cooking
105 Hikes in and around Southwestern British Columbia by Stephen Hui, foreword by Cease Wyss (T’uy’t’tanat) Vancouver: Greystone, 2018 $24.95 / 9781771642866 * The Glorious Mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore: A Peakbagger’s Guide by David Crerar, Harry Crerar, and Bill Maurer Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2018 $40.00 / 9781771602419 Both books reviewed by Ron Dart…
Read more #558 Go climb a mountain
The Glorious Mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore: A Peakbagger’s Guide by David Crerar, Harry Crerar, and Bill Maurer Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2018 $40.00 / 9781771602419 Reviewed by Glenn Woodsworth * From various points in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, it is possible to look north to mountains that have had just a handful of…
Read more #549 Peak satisfaction
End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood by Jan Redford Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, 2018 $21.00 / 9780345812322 Reviewed by Cherie Thiessen First published January 17, 2019 * With the subtitle Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood, Jan Redford‘s End of the Rope alerts us to the fact that her memoir merges two subjects—ferocity and…
Read more #467 Mountains and motherhood
Searching for Tao Canyon by Pat Morrow, Jeremy Schmidt, Art Twomey Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2018 $30.00 / 9781771602587 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published June 29, 2018 * The Canadian-American duo of Pat Morrow and Jeremy Schmidt, authors of the acclaimed Himalayan Passage: Seven Months in the High Country of Tibet, Nepal, China, India,…
Read more #331 Slot canyons for Twomey
The Green Horse: My Early Years in the Canadian Rockies — A Park Warden’s Story by Dale Portman Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2017 $25.00 / 9781771602266 Reviewed by Michelle Murphy First published May 7, 2018 * Like many, I am captivated by the beauty and vastness of the Canadian Rockies – and curious about the…
Read more #301 Glory days of Park Wardens
Surveying the Great Divide: The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1913-1917 by Jay Sherwood Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017 $29.95 / 9781987915525 Reviewed by Robert Allen First published Feb. 25, 2018 * Retired teacher-librarian at Vanderhoof and past president of the Nechako Valley Historical Society, Jay Sherwood has provided nine indispensable – and overdue — histories and…
Read more #253 The divide of mountains and wine
REVIEW: Surviving Logan by Erik Bjarnason and Cathi Shaw Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, $28 2016 / 9781771601924 Reviewed by PearlAnn Reichwein First published August 16, 2017 * In Surviving Logan, Erik Bjarnason of North Vancouver and his cousin Cathi Shaw of Summerland have joined with Rocky Mountain Books to produce what reviewer PearlAnn Reichwein calls…
Read more #156 Frostbitten on Canada’s Everest
A Great Old Tramp: Letters from a Canadian Sojourner in British Columbia, 1873-1875 by Greg Stott First published April 22, 2017 * Editor’s note, December 9, 2022: The SS Pacific, on which George Skippon met his death in November 1875, has been found! See this CTV news story and a CTV video here. Editor’s foreword:…
Read more #123 Out of this world: George Skippon in BC, 1873-1875
The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies by Brandon Pullan Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2016 $45.00 / 9781771601153 Reviewed by Rod Szasz First published Dec. 4, 2016 * In The Bold and Cold, Brandon Pullan tells the story of the classic climbs in the Canadian Rockies in the…
Read more #58 Off the danger scale