Voices from Bridge River: The Bridge River Hydroelectric Projects, the People Who Built Them, and the Lives They Touched by BC Hydro Power Pioneers with Kerry Gold Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022 $29.95 / 9781773271071 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * With her caustic wit and outspoken opinions, local newspaper publisher Ma [Margaret] Murray put BC’s…
Read more 1874 Bridge River Gold
Not Quite So Handsome By Danny Peart Vancouver: Milagro Press, 2022 $20.00 / 9780994932969 Reviewed by Patrick Connors * Vancouver’s Danny Peart begins Not Quite So Handsome with the poem “Intention,” which serves as sort of a prologue to the collection. The epigraph of the poem features lyrics from “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” by…
Read more 1873 Last words, famous and otherwise
Shamus, The Urban Rez Dog, P. I. By Leslie Gentile Toronto: Cormorant/DCB, 2023 $14.95 / 9781770867079 Reviewed by Linda Rogers * Teacher, singer, and now writer Leslie Gentile’s second middle grade novel is Shamus, The Urban Rez Dog, P.I. There’s no doubt juvenile readers with an appetite for fiction to match Shamus shameless pursuit of…
Read more 1872 An ‘adventure-filled whodunnit’ (for kids)
Derelict Bicycles By Dale Tracy Vancouver, BC: Anvil Press, 2022 $18.00 / 9781772141986 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch * If you’ve been looking for a new book of poems that bends reality, your search is over. Derelict Bicycles is a perspective-bending book. Sometimes it’s like looking at consciousness inside out, such as in “Stomach End of…
Read more 1871 ‘Heralding the future’
Capturing the Summit: Hamilton Mack Laing and the Mount Logan Expedition of 1925 by Trevor Marc Hughes Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2023 $24.95 / 9781553806806 Reviewed by Sage Birchwater * When naturalist/cinematographer Hamilton Mack Laing was commissioned by the National Museum of Canada to accompany the expedition making the first ascent of Mount Logan in 1925,…
Read more 1870 Mack Laing in Alaska
You Have Been Referred: My Life in Applied Anthropology by Michael Robinson Calgary: Bayeux Arts, 2021 $21.95 / 9781988440705 Reviewed by Kirsten Bell * Many of my anthropological brethren jealously guard the boundaries of the discipline. Although there is no formal registration process for anthropologists, the standard view within most professional associations is that a…
Read more 1869 Fascinating life, flawed memoir
Ukrainian Scorpions: A Tale of Larceny and Greed by Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson Toronto: ECW Press, 2023 $28.95 / 9781770415676 Reviewed by Larry Hannant * Their proxy war in Ukraine against Russia floundering, the Western War Heads have been able to retain their mastery only on one crucial front line – propaganda. At least…
Read more 1868 An inconvenient tale of Ukraine
Sophia’s Secrets By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Sara Casilda) New York: Clavis Publishing, 2023 $28.50 / 9781605376103 How Hope Became An Activist By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Danielle Grandi) London, UK: Dixi Books, 2020 $19.99 / 9781913680008 Marisa and the Mountains By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne) Vancouver: Simply Read Books,…
Read more 1867 ‘Altogether lovely’ books for kids
Tides of the Sovereign By Kate Gateley Victoria: FriesenPress, 2022 $37.99 / 9781039126572 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * Kate Gateley’s debut novel Tides of the Sovereign is a tale a millennium in the making. Julia and Domhnall are fated lovers kept apart lifetime after lifetime when they’re cursed by the infamous Child of Rome: Cassius…
Read more 1866 Magic, curses, and prophecies
Killer Coin: A Vancouver Island Mystery by Elka Ray Toronto: Seventh Street Books, 2020 $17.95 / 9781645060154 Reviewed by C.L. Shoemaker * Written by Victoria author Elka Ray, Killer Coin: A Vancouver Island Mystery follows Toronto divorce lawyer Toby Wong. Having recently relocated to Victoria to be close to her mother, Toby is…
Read more 1865 Twist endings and ‘aha’ moments
Sentient Stones by Susan McCaslin Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $20.00 / 9781778160332 Wild Kin By Marlene Grand Maître Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $20.00 / 9781778160325 Green Islands: Poems from the Great Bear Rainforest By Ian Thomas Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $22.95 / 9781778160318 …
Read more 1864 Three takes on spirituality and nature
Scandal at the Savoy: A Priscilla Tempest Mystery (Book 2) by Ron Base & Prudence Emery Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023 $19.95 / 1771623452 Reviewed by Amy Whitmore * “Our Savoy… is populated by made-up characters who exist only in the world that we shaped for them. The royal, rich and famous who…
Read more 1863 Quick plot, too many twists
Naked Defiance: A Comedy of Menace by Patrik Sampler Vancouver, BC: New Star Books, 2023 $19.00 / 9781554202003 Reviewed by Steven Brown * A Comedy of Menace is the subtitle of this fine novel. Although it can be looked at as menacing comedy, there’s a lot else going on. Naked Defiance is also an arcane…
Read more 1862 ‘Part of the spectacle’
The Broken Heart of Winter By Judy LeBlanc Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023 $24.95 / 9781773861050 Reviewed by Carole Gerson * E.M. Forster’s well-known phrase, “Only connect … Live in fragments no longer,” could well serve as the epigraph to The Broken Heart of Winter, Judy LeBlanc’s novel about the need to connect with family…
Read more 1861 ‘Only connect’
Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada, 2022 $32.00 / 9781982158804 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In Our American Friend, Whistler, BC-born author Anna Pitoniak (Necessary People) has produced a political thriller second to none. This fast-paced, page-turner tells the story of White House Correspondent, Sofie Morse, who has become jaded…
Read more 1860 A Cold War thriller
Sasquatch Discovered: The Biography of Dr. John Bindernagel by Terrance N. James, PhD. Surrey, B.C.: Hancock House, 2022 $26.95 / 9780888397515 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * Sasquatch seems to be everywhere in our daily lives, or mine anyways. My wife Linda recently purchased a block of “Sasquatch Trails” ice cream, a blend of chocolate and…
Read more 1859 A career tracking an elusive creature
Exploring Vancouver: Ten tours of the City and its Buildings (Fifth Edition) by Harold Kalman and Robin Ward Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2023 $29.95 / 9781990776274 Reviewed by Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe * Exploring Vancouver has evolved alongside the city. Once a series of First Nations settlements amidst a stupendous maritime setting, it became a lumber…
Read more 1858 ‘Obscure as much as to reveal’
Cardboard City By Katarina Jovanovic Afterword by Hedina Tahirović-Sijerčić Vancouver, BC: Tradewind Books, 2023 $14.95 / 9781990598104 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * In 2009, Katarina Jovanovic published a novel titled Kartonac. In English, this title translates to “cardboard box.” Now, as of June 15, 2023, Jovanovic has translated her novel into Cardboard City. This middle…
Read more 1857 A ‘deeply heartwarming’ YA novel
Harrowings By Cecily Nicholson Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2022 $19.95 / 9781772014051 Reviewed by Marguerite Pigeon * A bright red tractor churning Southern Ontario soil, BC orchards, waving prairie wheat fields. Christian uplift, and hardscrabble Euro-immigrant toil. All idealized scenes that participate in a specific farming imaginary that lets some Canadians eat our veggies without much bile—mostly…
Read more 1856 Connecting to ‘a vital abolitionist tradition’
Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2023 $26.00 / 9781039005273 Reviewed by Zoe McKenna * Vancouver Island-born writer Michelle Min Sterling’s debut novel Camp Zero opens in a barren landscape on the shortest day of the year. It’s 2049, and the temperatures are rising. The United States is unbearably hot and the…
Read more 1855 A ‘careful and nuanced approach to dystopia’