“Not only does she tell us the history of the horse, but more particularly she describes the wild horses that roam the plains of North America and how their existence is under threat as the environment around them is changing.” Valerie Green reviews Wild Horses Running Free by Linda L. Richards (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2023) $24.95 / 9781459825598
Memoirist’s debut novel traces one man’s life-altering experiences in northern BC. —Theo Dombrowski reviews A Season in Chezgh’un, by Darrel J. McLeod
(Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023) $24.95 / 9781771623629
“Writer Pierre Berton called him a ‘quite ordinary naval officer.’ Novelist Margaret Atwood called him ‘a dope.’ McGoogan argues that he was ‘a well-meaning plodder.'” Ron Verzuh reviews Searching for Franklin: New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery by Ken McGoogan (Madeira Park, BC, Douglas and McIntyre, 2023) $38.95 / 9781771623681
Poet explores an “illness of the mind” and its effects within a family.
Daniela Elza reviews In the Blood, by Alan Hill (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022) $20.00 / 9781773860787
“With the research aspects of this book the specialist in bear scholarship will feel right at home but there’s plenty of interest here for the general reader with a desire to know more about these great hairy creatures.” Steven Brown reviews Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of Wilderness Life: Forty Years of Research in the Flathead Valley by Bruce McLellan (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $32.00 / 9781771605656
“…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
“…maybe we should live and let live and allow people to do things their own way.” Sheldon Goldfarb reviews Best Canadian Essays 2024, edited by Marcello Di Cintio (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $23.95 / 9781771965644
“…just don’t expect that your food will look like the photos in the book. And that’s okay.” Rebecca Coleman reviews Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts: Wholesome Everyday Recipes Made With Love (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2023) $45.00 / 9780735240780
Sophomore novel features a “brash anti-hero moving through an eerie, gothic landscape.” —Bill Paul reviews The Father of Rain, by Martin West (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2023) $22.95 / 9781772142105
Pondering an “innovative homage to other innovators in poetry.”
Peter Babiak reviews Broken Glosa: An Alphabet Book of Post-Avant Glosa, by Stephen Bett (Tucson: Chax Press, 2023) $32.35 / 9781946104427
Praise in a minor key for this year’s ‘best of’ in short fiction.
Jessica Poon reviews Best Canadian Stories 2024 by Lisa Moore (editor)
(Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $23.95 / 9781771965668
“George belongs to the Tsleil-Waututh people, the People of the Inlet, who for thousands of years have lived along Burrard Inlet, the site of present Vancouver.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews It Stops Here: Standing Up for Our Lands, Our Waters, and Our People by Rueben George with Michael Simpson (Toronto: Penguin Random House/Allen Lane, 2023)
$34.00 / 9780735242807
“Even among the group of young architects who were transforming Victoria’s post-war urban landscape in the 1950s and ’60s with their ambitious Modernist designs, John Di Castri was an outlier.” Architectural historian Martin Segger reviews Wentworth Villa Architectural Heritage Museum’s recent retrospective ‘John Di Castri, Architect.’
“[Henaway] cites many cases where workers have been exploited and then deported using the laws of the land, including Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.” Ron Verzuh reviews Essential Work, Disposable Workers: Migration, Capitalism and Class by Mostafa Henaway (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2023) $27 / 9781773632254
“In Train Beyond the Mountains: Journeys on the Rocky Mountaineer, Rick Antonson takes us on a trip through time as he recounts a multi-day excursion on historic train, the Rocky Mountaineer.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Train Beyond the Mountains: Journeys on the Rocky Mountaineer (Vancouver: Greystone Books, April 2023) $34.95 / 9781771644860
An ‘excellent gift for anyone kinky in your life.’
Carellin Brooks reviews Transland: Consent, Kink & Pleasure
by Mx. Sly (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781551529318
“Lisa would deliver fresh food to Ella and her brother Barkley at Wickaninnish Community School. Among the lunch time treats were fish tacos and warm polenta fries.” Mary Ann Moore reviews Together at SoBo: More Recipes and Stories from Tofino’s Beloved Restaurant by Lisa Ahier with Susan Musgrave (Toronto: Appetite by Random House, 2023)
$37.50 / 9780525610632
“British Columbia’s first professional artist – and her life from birth in a far-flung colony to being a senior citizen here active in the arts demonstrates what determination and resiliency can produce.” Christina Johnson-Dean reviews Sophie Pemberton: Life & Work by Kathryn Bridge (Online: Art Institute of Canada, 2023)
“The building of the CPR has been one of the core myths of the country, one of the stories that explain how Canada came about.” Daniel Francis reviews Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada by Stephen R. Bown (Toronto: Penguin Random House, 2023) $39.95 / 9780385698726
Captivating essays trace authors’ careers from childhood onward…
Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Off the Record, by John Metcalf (editor) (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2023) $26.95 / 9781771965453