“The absence of further information is both liberating and frustrating at the same time. On the liberating side of that coin, it is a pleasure to flip through the book wondering what the next page will bring. The purely visual experience allows me to focus on personal familiar favourites, unburdened by any knowledge or misconceptions (apart from my own).” Wayne Norton reviews Classic Photographs of Song and Dance and British Columbia, by Bradford Critchley (Vancouver: South Blossom Books, 2024) $18.49 / 9798326042392
In a magical and original folktale, as three precocious daughters learn to play music, they outsmart wily, bullying Emperor Wang, who learns his own valuable lessons. —Alison Acheson reviews The Three Sisters, by Paul Yee (illustrated by Shaoli Wang) (Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990598265
“Probably my favorite chapter is ‘Adventures in Sexism: Media, Music and Mucking up the Boys’ Club,’ which begins, ‘It’s hard to pinpoint the first time I realized I mattered less to somebody because I was a girl.’ She then carries on beyond her own personal experience to pastiche media critiques of her main four female musicians, demonstrating the cruel extent to which they had to combat multiple forms of reductionism, from being compared to other women performers, to being dismissed as mere puppets of their Svengalis.” Catherine Owen reviews We Oughta Know: How Celine, Shania, Alanis and Sarah Ruled the ’90s and Changed Canadian Music by Andrea Warner (Toronto: ECW Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781770417748
“Most readers are likely to experience the whole narrative sequence, not as a life arc, but, rather, a scrapbook of incidents, many wonderfully ‘insane’.”—Theo Dombrowski reviews Have Bassoon, Will Travel: Memoir of an Adventurous Life in Music, by George Zukerman (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2024) 24.95 / 9781553807131
“Karen Bakker was a visionary scientist and scholar as well as something of a poet in the way she presents her research.” Carol Matthews reviews The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants by Karen Bakker (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022) $33 (USD) / 9780691206288
“…British Columbia’s Songs of the Southern Interior, has Bartlett following in the footsteps of his mentor. The journey shows what time-consuming and labour-intensive efforts are required for such a venture. Bartlett describes his new book as “a companion” to the [Phil] Thomas memoir. He has followed the pattern established by Thomas by travelling widely and actively seeking material ‘made by ordinary people, in ordinary language, for pleasure and not for profit.'” Wayne Norton reviews British Columbia’s Songs of the Southern Interior & Phil Thomas and The Songs of British Columbia by Jon Bartlett (Vancouver: Vancouver Folk Song Society, 2024) $20.00 / 9780987725523
“We get the whole sensory shebang with beer and farts, ‘bad feet and stinky pits’; the real feel of being on the road in a hardcore era when everyone was young.” Catherine Owen reviews Around the World with Mr. Chi Pig: a memorial by Chris Walter (New Westminster: GFY Press, 2023) $31.00 / 9781927053393
“Andrea Warner has written a provocative, lucid, and fierce book of deep connection.” Catherine Owen reviews Rise up and Sing! Power, Protest and Activism in Music by Andrea Warner with illustrations by Louise Reimer (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023) $26.95 / 9781771648981
“People who attended summer camp, or who wish they had, or who, like myself, sent their children to camp, will enjoy the shared memories.” Phyllis Reeve reviews My Paddle’s Keen and Bright: Summer Camp Stories by Rika Ruebsaat (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2023) $24 / 9781554201884
“The book traces Silverman’s two-year (Covid) adventure, when he took 15 months to learn all 48 pieces … in the process conveying the emotion and harmony of the ultimate composer.” Isabel Nanton reviews Bach’s Sonic Tapestry: The Well-Tempered Clavier of 1722, Book I by Robert Silverman (Victoria: FriesenPress, 2023) $24.49 / 9781039165229
“The topics covered in this book cover many issues: portraying girls as full individuals and the theory that anything is possible, sexual awakenings, political activism, and advocating for safe abortions.” Valerie Green reviews The Time of my Life: Dirty Dancing by Andrea Warner (Toronto: ECW Press, April 2024) $19.95 / 9781770417410
A “lively musical and political education” for readers young and old. —Ron Verzuh reviews Rise Up and Sing!: Power, Protest and Activism in Music, by Andrea Warner (illustrated by Louise Reimer) (Vancouver: Greystone Kids, 2023) $26.95 / 9781771648981
“…if you didn’t catch it the first time around, there’s no reason not to own this sweet slice of BC music history now.” Catherine Owen reviews Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver’s Historic Commodore Ballroom (New Updated Edition) by Aaron Chapman (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023) $32.95 / 9781551529370
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!
The Compassionate Imagination: How the arts are central to a functioning democracyby Max Wyman Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2023$19.95 / 9781770866997 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * What is the point–honestly–of putting a lot of energy into discussing the connection between “art” on the one hand and society on the other? Well, Plato seemed to think it… Read more What is the role of art?
Attention students in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University! * Since 2018, students in the Graduate Liberal Studies programme at Simon Fraser University have contributed numerous essays, memoirs, poems, and book reviews to The British Columbia Review. We at the BC Review are delighted to maintain a productive collaboration with the GLS community, as… Read more 1970 Calling Graduate Liberal Studies
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
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 1980s East Van nostalgia
Bloom Where You Are Planted: 50 Conversations with Inspiring British Columbians by Beka Shane Denter Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2022 $39.95 / 9781772034295 Reviewed by Valerie Green * This book by Beka Shane Denter is an inspirational collection of interviews in the form of Q&As with photographs, of a group of fifty (forty-nine women and… Read more 1935 United through art
