“I had been helping Craig with his book. It also happened that my wife and I had plans to visit the Okanagan for a week in September which corresponded with the dates for the 2025 Okanagan Columbia run. I was very eager to be introduced to Chief Clarence and perhaps even hang out.” Richard Butler reflects on his time attending the 2025 Salmon Celebration.
“A Perfect Day for a Walk by the Water is an excellent example of the mix of observation, reflection, interpretation, and rich language that brings Bill’s books onto the bestseller list time after time.” Marianne Scott reviews A Perfect Day for a Walk by the Water: Exploring Vancouver’s Shores, by Bill Arnott (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781834050201
“Haig-Brown has said for many years that his 13 years in the fishing fleet educated him every bit as much as his going to university to prepare for being a writer in his life…” DC Reid reviews Raincoast Chronicles 25 – m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing, by Alan Haig-Brown (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $24.95 / 9781998526185
“In this, the third (Giblin says last) of his books on the fishing-guide life and the odd, quirky characters of this profession and region, The Trophy Hunter: The Final Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide, we renew acquaintance with the Lodge’s residents and their favourite fishing holes.” Marianne Scott reviews The Trophy Hunter: The Final Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide, by David Giblin (Victoria: Heritage House, 2025) $24.95 / 9781772035551
“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
“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
“I am a lapsed practitioner of postural yoga. I had no plans to return to my practice when I started this book, but after reading it, I find myself strangely intrigued again. Bramadat shines light into the awkward nooks and crannies of “Yogaland,” some of which felt problematic to me, even if I didn’t fully understand why, and others that I was blissfully unaware of.” Petra Chambers reviews Yogalands: In Search of Practice on the Mat and in the World, by Paul Bramadat (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) $29.95 / 9780228023746
“Gino presents a nuanced, heartwarming, and unsettling portrait of a man who was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame two years before his death and honoured in 2015 with an Indspire Award for his work educating Indigenous youth. Odjick comes off as a complex individual, a cultural bridge builder whose positive influence was far reaching despite his many challenges.” Daniel Gawthrop reviews Gino: The Fighting Spirit of Gino Odjick, by Patrick Johnston and Peter Leech (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2025)
$44.95 / 9781778402708
“When with Jim Wickwire and listening in on the tales of his K2 climb, I was reminded of two Canadians, Jim Haberl and Don Culver who reached the summit of K2 in 1993, Culver dying in the descent. Jim Haberl died when skiing in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in 1999.” Ron Dart recalls his lunch with the accomplished mountaineer, the first American to summit K2, Jim Wickwire.
“If you have dreams of going offshore for an extended voyage, this is the book for you. It’s a well-written, at times poetic, true account of what it takes to traverse the mighty oceans.” Marianne Scott reviews Cape Horn Birthday: Record-Breaking Solo Non-Stop Circumnavigation, by Peter Freeman (Melbourne, FL: Seaworthy Publications, 2018) $26.95 / 9781948494045
“The Yeadon-Jones have drawn the routes they used to explore the region which are helpful, especially for novices to these waterways. Each entry includes text explaining the particulars of the locality.” Marianne Scott reviews The Broughtons and Vancouver Island – Kelsey Bay to Port Hardy, by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $49.95 / 9781990776991
“The 36 chapters in My Soul Lives in these Mountains combine a series of linked stories, poems and paintings that makes this book a finely threaded together collection of geology, history, amusing treks taken, research done as part of the larger project for Chilliwack Search and Rescue-RCMP and a valuable telling of the three fatal airplane crashes in the area.” Ron Dart reviews My Soul Lives in these Mountains: A Collection of Stories, Poems and Paintings of the Chilliwack Cascades —Land of the Ts’elxwéyeqw, by Peter D. Scott (Surrey: Hancock House, 2024) $24.95 / 9780888397881
“Fillo more than survives, he blossoms during the pandem-y. As a talented musician, song-writer, and singer, he’s thrilled to become a source of comfort to the abandonees of urban life. He realizes his true value as a wandering minstrel in what could otherwise have been a dystopic tale.” Cathalynn Labonté-Smith reviews Singing with the Trees, by Rob Fillo (Victoria: Rob Fillo, 2025) $25 / 9798306571607
“Yes! Yes! Yes! A book with swimming places either a few minutes away or no more than a half day’s drive! I know: I am blessed with where I live, and this book confirms it. As you can guess, an important criterion for a place to live or visit is where I can immerse myself in water and swim. So, this book delivers in many ways.” Christina Johnson-Dean reviews Swimming Holes and Beaches of Southwestern British Columbia, including the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island, by Alex McKeen and George Harwood Smith (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2025) $26.95 / 9781778401336
“After Andrew gestured to the foyer table where I placed my helmet, I shook his hand and he offered me a glass of water in his kitchen. I fumbled for my questions as I took the glass from him with thanks. At seventy, he still had the kind, calm, and wise visage I knew from his ‘About the Author’ photos. The lines on his face marked a man who had travelled the outdoors, exposed to the elements, and spent a lot of time in the sun.” Non-fiction editor Trevor Marc Hughes contributes a chapter to his motorcycling travelogue about meeting dedicated kayaker and writer, the late Andrew Scott, and their time talking about modes of travel that connect.
“For people interested in these journeys, perhaps 20 individuals at most in any given year, this book will be an essential starting point for their research. Perhaps the biggest market for this book will be people who just want to read about the region and visit it vicariously. These people will be well rewarded by this book, and ultimately it may be these dreamers who get the most value from it.” Glenn Woodsworth reviews Coast Mountain High Routes: A guide to 46 high route and alpine traverses in the Coast Mountains, by John Baldwin (Vancouver: John Baldwin, 2025) $59.00 / 9780991947966
“[They] have compiled a remarkable collection of archived photographs, denoting and describing the settler culture of an earlier immigration boom, centering around a growing population of Vancouver Island: the Comox Valley.” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews Step Into Wilderness: A Pictorial History of Outdoor Exploration in and around the Comox Valley, by Deborah Griffiths, Christine Dickinson, Judy Hagen, Catherine Siba, and photography editor Ernst Vegt (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2020) $39.95 / 978550178937
“In these pages we meet smugglers, rumrunners, and largely forgotten explorers, and learn of disastrous voyages, horrendous outbreaks of disease, and early maritime maps that reflected political motives more than geographic precision.” Tom Koppel reviews Who Shot Estevan Light? and other tales from the Salish Sea and beyond, by Douglas Hamilton (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $26 / 9781773861531
“After pushing off from the big bronze statue of a reclining moose, seven turns of my pedals take me to where gravity takes over. Osoyoos Lake awaits, three thousand feet below.” Michael McGovern regales us with his essay on the subject of his two-wheeled perambulations to the Okanagan Valley
“Paul Zizka’s compelling and creative images in The Canadian Rockies: Rediscovered are in the highest reach of ‘A’ level evocative photographs. The front cover of the book, ice climber ascending, soft purple northern lights backdrop, focused light on the climber a definite promise and hint of visual beauties to come—such creatively distinct approaches to the Rockies summon forth, for those who have lingered long in such enticing grails of the soul, a longing to return to deeper places.” Ron Dart reviews The Canadian Rockies: Rediscovered, Photographs by Paul Zizka (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $40 / 9781771607391