“Fox is a writer whose sense of humour translates well to the page, and who draws the reader in with his authenticity, a genuine approach that is satisfying to note given how much Hollywood glamour and publicity that has surrounded him in his adult life. His humour can also have a sardonic and even self-deprecating twist to it, and it’s clear that some of his rebellious nature came from his upbringing in British Columbia…” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry (New York: Flatiron Books, 2025) $26.99 / 9781250866783
“Don’t Be Canada contests such a generous comparison between Canada and the rest of the democratic world. Its very basis is that Canada is unique in doing a number of things wrong, voluntarily engaging in self-destructive activities in an attempt to appeal to a progressive American mindset.” Eugene Lacey reviews Don’t Be Canada: How One Country Did Everything Wrong All At Once, by Tristin Hopper (Toronto: Sutherland House, 2025) $23.95 / 9781998365364
“Here, as later in the case of Steven Galloway at UBC, she speaks her mind, for, whatever else, Atwood is unwaveringly her own woman. Nevertheless, and in this case specifically, anyone interested less in her well-documented public life than in her social and political views, would do better to read the more specific, elaborate, and focused essays and articles assembled in Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004-2021.” Christopher Levenson reviews Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2025): $45 / 9780771096433
Further selections from BCR’s community of reviewers…
BCR asked some of our regular contributors about books they read in the past year that really stayed with them. Once again, “eclectic” is our word of the year.
BCR asked some of our regular contributors about books they read in the past year that really stayed with them. Once again, “eclectic” is our word of the year.
“It’s rare to find a holiday book that resists the expectation of comfort. Better Next Year is one such example. These stories sit with estrangement, failed reconciliations, uneasy rituals, and trauma.” Selena Mercuri reviews Better Next Year: An Anthology of Christmas Epiphanies, by JJ Lee (ed.) (New Westminster: Tidewater Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781990160271
“This publication is timely because it invites us to take a step back from the headlines, narratives, and counter-narratives, and to learn who the Secwépemc people were and are; to appreciate their connection with their lands; and to understand the social relationships and responsibilities which foster mutual belonging in their communities.” Richard Butler reviews Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 re Stsq’ey’s-kucw, by Marianne Ignace and Ronald E. Ignace (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) $39.95 / 9780228026358 (paperback release)
“One of the book’s most important implications is that women’s rights are hard won, by women themselves, rather than awarded by a benevolent government or other entity. The stories in the book also show how although an individual woman might have failed in her quest for a legal remedy, she laid a path for others to build on.” Janet S. Pollock reviews Women Who Woke Up the Law: Inside the Cases that Changed Women’s Rights in Canada, by Karin Wells (Toronto: Second Story Press, 2025) $24.95 / 978177264191
“Salt Spring Island-based Acken has written a cookbook both inspiring and surprisingly practical. It’s an homage to the West Coast and the foods we can incorporate into our baking.” Trish Bowering reviews Thyme for Dessert: Sweets & Treats Inspired by the Flavours of the Pacific Northwest Coast, by DL Acken, with Aurelia Louvet (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2025) $30 / 9781771514804
“I find myself in somewhat similar circumstances to Honda, even though our life stories and backgrounds are quite different. I am also a person in her mid-fifties with a daughter who has recently left home, and I too am faced with a time of transformation. Thus, I was riveted by the book, connected in a way that was meaningful and relevant.” Trish Bowering reviews Hidden Flowers
by Keiko Honda (Vancouver: Heritage House, 2025) $29.95 / 9781772035605
“One of the most compelling aspects of the collection is its counterculture energy. There is a clear rejection of the idea that Canada’s value lies in its utility to the United States, a challenge to a worldview that reduces national identity to geopolitical convenience. The essays ripple with a sense of defiance that is both invigorating and necessary, particularly in an era when political rhetoric often blurs the line between hyperbole and threat.” Jeffrey Stychin reviews Canada Is Not the 51st F**king State! Canadians Face Off Against Donald Trump’s Worst Idea Ever (New Westminster: Cosmic Cranium Press, 2025) $27.99 / 9781069072610
“This is Cecilia’s story and it is about a truly remarkable woman, her many accomplishments, and the lives of a quintessential Cariboo family of mixed Indigenous and European blood lines.” David Williams reviews One Arrow Left: A Memoir of Secwépemc Knowledge Keeper Cecilia DeRose, by Cecilia Dick DeRose w/ Sage Birchwater (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $26 / 9781773861586
“The individuals profiled in this book use all kinds of narrative formats, telling stories through poetry and prose, pictographs, maps, ribbon skirts, and beadwork. There is a serious challenge of scope with such a short volume, but it is successful in its brevity at providing a glimpse of the multitude of Indigenous storytellers.” Kristina Hannis reviews Ours to Tell: Reclaiming Indigenous Stories, by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger (Toronto: Annick Press, 2025) $24.99 / 9781773219530
“The strongest part of this book is her detailed and unflinching description of life with an intimate partner who has bipolar disorder. The description of Lembi’s hospitalization for cancer treatment coupled to Jim’s hospitalization in the psych ward is harrowing, and a classic example of how those who commit to caring for someone with such a mental disorder are often the first to feel the physical, emotional, and mental consequences.” Wendy Burton reviews An Accidental Advocate, by Lembi Buchanan (Victoria: Beresford Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781738947621
“In some respects, the school already had a number of carefully nurtured traditions tending in that direction. We played rugger rather than the more plebeian soccer. We competed with several minor public schools at cricket and rugger and, although twelve miles from the River Thames, entered one or two rowing eights in the Head of the River races.” Christopher Levenson recalls his schoolboy days in England in the next instalment of his memoir “Not One of the Boys.”
“Trevor Marc Hughes’ The Final Spire, is a history of the ascent of Mount Waddington, whereas Susanna Oreskovic’s Expedition to Mystery Mountain is a personal account of a 2018 reenactment of one of Don and Phyl Munday’s early expeditions to the area. Reenactments of famous climbs have been done in many places. In B.C., such re-creations include Mount Garibaldi near Vancouver and Bugaboo Spire northwest of Invermere. The reenactment of the Munday’s 1926 attempt on Mount Waddington (called ‘Mystery Mountain’ by them) would be a much more serious undertaking.” Glenn Woodsworth reviews Expedition to Mystery Mountain: Adventures of a Bushwhacking Knickerbocker-Wearing Woman, by Susanna Oreskovic (Montreal: Walnut Tree Press, 2021) $24.95 / 9780993918711 & The Final Spire: ‘Mystery Mountain’ Mania in the 1930s, by Trevor Marc Hughes (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781553807223
“A musician, or any artist, can have an infinite variety of origin stories, yet I cannot help but feel that it largely comes down to this line from Case: ‘The ways to be unwanted were inexhaustible, it seemed, and as a child I still had no clue how to claim a spot for myself in the world.’ I’m sure there are exceptions, but feeling bereft of security and belonging often becomes a natural prerequisite to longing for artistic autonomy—to be and embody the thing you admire.” Jessica Poon reviews The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, by Neko Case (Toronto: Hachette Book Group, 2025) $30 / 9781538710500
“The book is engaging, frank and occasionally a little salty. It’s a nicely turned-out book in hardcover with a dust jacket with a colour image of John Horgan in the prime of life. Undoubtedly, it’s not a coincidence the hardcover itself is NDP orange.” Steven Brown reviews John Horgan In His Own Words: A Memoir, by John Horgan with Rod Mickleburgh (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $38.95 / 9781998526260
“This sense of purpose would fuel Mouchet for the rest of his days in his development of skiing programs for youth, and Firth not only chronicles those days but, impressively, and with great persuasiveness, illustrates and argues in favour of their benefits. Firth points out the programs’ success with Indigenous youth, brought by this ‘Man of God’ who brings out the best in kids, showing ‘that sport should be as much a connection with traditional values and history as it was an agent for social and cultural change.’” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews North Star: The Legacy of Jean-Marie Mouchet by John Firth (Victoria: Friesen Press, 2024) $19.99 / 9781039194328
“What will also appeal to British Columbians is the passionate defense of his Vancouver home from all those who criticize it from ‘Back East.’ He credits the ‘Terminal City’ with inventing the California Roll, calls Canadian Tire ‘Crappy Tire’ (‘Canadian Tire has more actual real money than God’) and celebrates Tim Horton’s ‘Double-double’ (‘the salt-of-the-earth-and-the-winter-driveway coffee’). Ron Verzuh reviews The Eh Team: A Celebration of Canadianisms from Elbows Up to Poutine, by Charles Demers (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2025) $26.95 / 9781778403743
