Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie, illustrated by Kathleen Fu Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2022 $29.95 / 9781459821880 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Was the Tower of Jericho built as a defensive watchtower or a mechanism to help farmers calculate the summer solstice? What are the advantages…
Read more 1737 The sky’s the limit
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2022 $12.95 / 9781459835580 Reviewed by Cassidy Jean * Growing up is tough. Crushes, hormones, and the expectations that come with going from child to “preteen” are difficult to navigate. Add to that racial tensions, and growing up as an Indigenous girl in the…
Read more 1736 Weird rules we all follow
Long Time Dead: My Investigation into the Unsolved Murder of Ralph Wilson Snair by Susan McIver Victoria: FriesenPress, 2022 $14.99 / 9781039151123 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * The great advantage a fictional murder mystery has over a true crime saga is that in fiction the detective always gets his man. Oh, okay, there was that…
Read more 1735 The matter of Snair & Weasner
Dance Me to the End: Ten Months and Ten Days with ALS by Alison Acheson Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2019 (also available as an audiobook) $22.99 / 9781927366868 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “What will become of me? Who will take care of me? Will you stay with me to the end?” People ask these questions…
Read more 1734 Moving to the end
Alone in the Great Unknown: One Woman’s Remarkable Adventures in the Northwestern Wilderness by Caroll Simpson Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $26.95 / 9781550179941 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * As I load birch logs a local woodsman has chopped into my wood pit bin, groaning slightly at the work in only minus three conditions, I…
Read more 1733 Maintenance and sustenance
The Secret of Bell Island by Mike Phelan Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $28.99 / 9781039127296 Reviewed by Valerie Green * This author has written a very thought-provoking story set on Bell Island in Newfoundland during two time periods – the Second World War and the present-day — which also makes for an intriguing narrative of a…
Read more 1732 Bell Island intrigue
Don’t Tell: Family Secrets by Donna McCart Sharkey and Arleen Paré, editors Bradford, ON: Demeter Press, 2023 $44.95 / 9781772584240 Reviewed by Mary Ann Moore * Sisters Donna McCart Sharkey and Arleen Paré have gathered contributions of essays and poetry from sixty-one writers for Don’t Tell: Family Secrets. McCart Sharkey who grew up in Montreal…
Read more 1731 Secrets spared and shared
See You Later Maybe Never by Lenore Rowntree Surrey: Now or Never Publishing, 2022 $19.95 / 9781989689400 Reviewed by Amy Whitmore * What does a tough, creative woman do when she retires to join her husband (and to avoid accepting her new “ageist” position in the fashion industry) in his retirement? Turn into a lust-struck…
Read more 1730 The Vanessa papers
The Growing Season by Nelson Boschman, with a foreword by Lois Cho Vancouver: Nelson Boschman, 2022 $23.99 / 9781778083105 Reviewed by Dennis Wilkinson * Nelson Boschman displays an orgasmic-like giddiness towards wine. He is the eight-year-old at Christmas time, and wine is the biggest present under the tree with his name on it. This book…
Read more 1729 Wine and spirits
Ariadne Then and Now: The Labyrinth and the End of Times (third edition) by Carol Matthews Seattle and elsewhere: NeoPoiesis Press, 2022 $21.95 ($16.95 (U.S.) / 9798985833607 Reviewed by Lenore Rowntree * A modern labyrinth in the classical Cretan-style with the addition of Chartres-style double-ax shapes at the turning points. A stone construction labyrinth surrounded…
Read more 1728 Out of the labyrinth
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (McClelland & Stewart), 2022 $24.95 / 9780771047244 Reviewed by Daniel Gawthrop * Over the past six decades, as the People’s Republic of China has turned its brutal invasion and occupation of Tibet into the permanent subjugation of an entire…
Read more 1727 Blood, soil, and memory
Our Love Affair with Dance by Karen McKinlay Kurnaedy Privately printed, 2022 (Ingram Distributors and Karen Kurnaedy) $24.99 / 9781778111402 Reviewed by Maria Tippett * In Our Love Affair with Dance Karen McKinlay Kurnaedy makes clear that Canadian historians have given dance, and especially modern dance, far too little attention. But this is just one…
Read more 1726 For the love of dance
A note from Richard Mackie Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Readers of The British Columbia Review: In the last few days we have resumed the fundraiser we started on December 12, 2022, which we put aside while we posted 43 reviews for the Christmas book-buying rush. Thank you, everyone, for your donations and your continued support,…
Read more 1725 The fundraiser continues
The Untold Stories of Fort Langley by Michael Wuensche Self-published: Michael Wuensche, 2022 $18.99 / 9781778031106 Reviewed by Cara Faganello * The Untold Stories of Fort Langley by Michael Wuensche imagines the founding of Fort Langley from the point of view of explorer James McMillan and Whattlekanium, a warrior and leader among the Kwantlen people….
Read more 1724 Awakening Fort Langley
Hard Is the Journey: Stories of Chinese Settlement in British Columbia’s Kootenay by Lily Chow Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $26.00 / 9781773860749 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Looking Deeper into History: The Trails of Chinese Immigrants Revealed in the Kootenays What a pleasant surprise to see Cameron Mah on the first page of Lily…
Read more 1723 The forgotten Chinese
Two books reviewed by Carole Gerson in consultation with Clarissa Gerson Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort Of) by Kathleen Gros Toronto: HarperCollins Canada (Quill Tree Books), 2020 $15.99 / 9780062875969 * Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of) by Kathleen Gros Toronto: HarperCollins Canada (Quill Tree Books), 2022 $28.50 /…
Read more 1722 Time travel with Jo & Anne
An essay by Patrick A. Dunae Naming British Columbia * The British Columbia Review is a year old. Previously known as The Ormsby Review (2016), it was renamed The British Columbia Review on February 10, 2022. The new name was greeted enthusiastically, for the most part.[1] A few readers were unhappy that it had ‘British…
Read more 1721 Naming British Columbia
The Love Olympics by Claire Wilkshire St. John’s, Newfoundland: Breakwater Books, 2021 $21.95 / 9781550819083 Reviewed by Peter Babiak * I re-read this collection of short stories during that tranquil week between Christmas and New Years and came to a slightly different conclusion than I did after the first read. When I first read The…
Read more 1720 Eleven galvanized narratives
When Stars Arise by E.G. Alaraj (text) and Martyna Czub (illustrations) Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2023 $10.95 / 9781459835665 Reviewed by Cassidy Lea * A sweet story to send little ones to sleep, When Stars Arise is the perfect addition to a bedtime routine. The author, E.G. Alaraj, crafts a poetic account of the close…
Read more 1719 Don’t close your eyes
Imitation Crab by Hamish Ballantyne Toronto: Knife/Fork/Book, 2020 $15.00 / 9781989355268 Reviewed by Terry Trowbridge * Rhetoric in Hamish Ballantyne’s Imitation Crab and Future Literacy in Canadian Publics In the Autumn of 2022, Toronto publisher Knife/Fork/Book restructured their operations. They closed their street-level bricks-and-mortar retail store, opting for online sales and to focus more energy…
Read more 1718 The rhetoric of Imitation Crab