Exposed by Eileen Curteis Terrace: CCB Publishing, 2018 $44.06 (via Amazon) / 9781771433594 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * A poem named “Simplicity” begins: “There’s nothing complex/ about the rain.” I ponder the significance of that statement, which seems to me debatable. Then a personality named Simplicity enters the poem to tell us the “soft drizzle”…
Read more #498 Poems of faith and simplicity
George Garrett: Intrepid Reporter by George Garrett Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 $26.95 / 9781550178661 Reviewed by Michael Sasges * George Garrett: Intrepid Reporter is important reading for anyone interested in Vancouver politics and journalism in the last fifty years of the previous century. As a reporter for radio station CKNW from 1956 to 1999,…
Read more #497 Vancouver’s master broadcaster
Across Oceans of Law: The Komagata Maru and Jurisdiction in the Time of Empire by Renisa Mawani Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2018 $27.95 (U.S.) / 9780822370352 Reviewed by Hugh Johnston * Renisa Mawani writes a thoroughly academic prose, not intended for a casual audience. Even so, her book will have fans, especially among…
Read more #496 Too much sail, not enough ballast
North of Familiar: A Woman’s Story of Homesteading and Adventure in the Canadian Wilderness by Terry Milos Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017 $24.95 / 9781987915457 Reviewed by Heather Graham * In the summer of 1974, a newlywed couple from California, completed paperwork in hand, crossed the border into Canada as immigrants to begin a new…
Read more #495 Of moose and rhubarb wine
85 Grams: Art Williams, Drug Czar by Daryl Ashby Victoria: Tellwell Talent, 2018 $19.95 / 9781773703503 Reviewed by Kathryn Neilson * During the 1970s, Arthur James Williams ran the largest MDA lab in North America near the small town of Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. With assistance from trusted confidants, he produced and distributed millions of…
Read more #494 Mycology, MDA & Hells Angels
A History of Canada in Ten Maps: Epic Stories of Charting a Mysterious Land by Adam Shoalts Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2018 $22.00 / 9780143193982 Reviewed by Graeme Wynn * The universe is made of stories, not atoms. American physicist Sean Carroll once used this line by American poet Muriel Rukeyser as a springboard for his…
Read more #493 Canadian maps that mattered
Shaping the Future on Haida Gwaii: Life Beyond Settler Colonialism by Joseph Weiss Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $32.95 / 9780774837590 Reviewed by Molly Clarkson * I’ll admit that I approached Dr. Joseph Weiss’s Shaping the Future on Haida Gwaii: Life Beyond Settler Colonialism with a not-insignificant amount of trepidation. Another ethnographic examination of the Haida…
Read more #492 Future-making in Haida Gwaii
What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation by Rob Taylor (editor) Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2018 $22.95 / 9780889713437 Reviewed by John Pass * A poet may not be the best person to review What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation, edited by Rob Taylor. While my interest and commitment to the task…
Read more #491 Poetry beyond the dumpster fires
The God of Gods: A Canadian Play by Carroll Aikins, edited and with an introduction by Kailin Wright Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2016 $29.95 / 9780776623276 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy First published Feb. 19, 2019 * Although a remarkable piece of British Columbia’s theatre history played out not far from where I write and…
Read more #490 Applauding a forgotten play
The Death and Life of Strother Purcell by Ian Weir Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions, 2018 $22.95 / 9781773100296 Reviewed by Valerie Green First published Feb. 18, 2019 * Whether or not early British Columbia can, in reality, be lumped into a western American formula is for the professional historian to decide. Meanwhile, if you…
Read more #489 Trouble at Hell’s Gate
From Rinks to Regiments: Hockey Hall-of-Famers and the Great War by Alan Livingstone MacLeod Victoria: Heritage House: 2018 $19.95 / 9781772032680 Reviewed by Wayne Norton First published Feb. 15, 2019 * In describing the stellar hockey careers of the men who are the subject matter of his new book, Alan Livingstone MacLeod somehow manages to…
Read more #488 Snipers, rockets, and howitzers
The Little Book of Cannabis: How Marijuana Can Improve Your Life by Amanda Siebert, foreword by Rav Ivker Vancouver: Greystone Books: 2018 $14.95 / 9781771644044 Reviewed by Derek von Essen First published Feb. 14, 2019 * The dialogue surrounding cannabis cultivation and usage in Canada has changed recently with the legalization and the impending corporatization…
Read more #487 Welcome to the new Cann lit
Edith Iglauer (1917-2019). An obituary by Alan Twigg First published Feb. 14, 2019 * Having lived for many decades in a waterfront cottage that was built by her second husband, John Daly, about whom she wrote her memoir Fishing With John, the former New Yorker contributor Edith Iglauer Daly of Garden Bay has died at…
Read more #486 Edith Iglauer (1917-2019)
Practical Anxiety by Heidi Greco Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2018 $18.95 / 9781771335812 Reviewed by Andrew Parkin First published Feb. 13, 2019 * Heidi Greco is known already from her previous books of poetry, notably those about Amelia Earhart, A: The Amelia Poems (Lipstick Press, 2009) and Flightpaths (Caitlin, 2017). I enjoyed her live reading from…
Read more #485 Honouring everyday anxieties
He Speaks Volumes: A Biography of George Bowering by Rebecca Wigod Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $24.95 / 9781772012064 Reviewed by Kathy Mezei First published Feb. 12, 2019 * What a great title. For George Bowering does speak volumes; he is out-spoken, loud, witty, loquacious, a “talk producer” as Virginia Woolf once described a character. And, as…
Read more #484 A life in books: George Bowering
Memories of a Metis Settlement: Eighty Years of East Prairie Metis Settlement by Constance Brissenden (editor) Penticton: Theytus Books, 2018 $14.89 / 9781926886503 Reviewed by Angie Tucker First published Feb. 11, 2019 * When I first received Constance Brissenden’s book, I thumbed through the pages, stopping to look at the faces and places in…
Read more #483 Métis bannock, Métis kinship
Guide to Victoria’s Historic Jewish Cemetery by Amber Woods Victoria: Old Cemeteries Society, 2018 $15.00 / 9780968289945 Available at: jewishvictoria.wordpress.com/ordering/ * Raincoast Jews: Integration in British Columbia by Lillooet Nördlinger McDonnell Vancouver: Midtown Press, 2014 $22.95 / 9780988110120 Both books reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb First published Feb. 9, 2019 * * Here’s a curious pair…
Read more #482 Two views of Raincoast Jews
On The Rocks with Jack Knox: Islanders I will Never Forget by Jack Knox Victoria: Heritage House, 2018 $19.95 / 9781772032666 Reviewed by Keith Norbury First published Feb. 8, 2019 * It’s often said that journalism represents the first rough draft of history. As a reporter, editor, and columnist with the Victoria Times Colonist daily…
Read more #481 Island characters
Return of the Wolf: Conflict and Coexistence by Paula Wild Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2018 $32.95 / 9781771622066 Reviewed by Loys Maingon First published Feb. 7, 2019 * As mankind changes the planet’s ecosystems, imperceptibly it also changes the distribution of animals and their genetics. Evolution never stops. So it is with members of…
Read more #480 Witness to wolves and wilderness
ESSAY: Universal Technologies and Traditional Innovations: A Comprehensive Perspective for Museums by Yosef Wosk An Ormsby Exclusive, in collaboration with the The Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars First published Feb. 5, 2019 * We are pleased to present an essay by Yosef Wosk about nothing less than mankind’s accumulation and appreciation of shared knowledge and wisdom. This extraordinarily…
Read more #479 On the wings of forever