Ordinary Monsters: A Novel by J.M. Miro Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (McClelland & Stewart), 2022 $39.95 / 9780771000027 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * I have absolutely no talent for world-building; most of the stories I write involve no more than three people and find themselves in situations that could be described as a poor…
Read more 1697 Words and world-building
Converging Empires: Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, 1867-1945 by Andrea Geiger Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022 $35.95 / 9780774867993 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * When Empires Collide: How the Pacific Northwest was won, lost and sold Andrea Geiger takes readers to an early moment in Pacific Northwest history, one that sheds much light…
Read more 1696 When empires collide
Following the Telegraph Trail: A Trek of a Lifetime by Irene J. Huntley Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $14.99 / 9781039110441 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Irene J. Huntley has written a worthy little book — Following the Telegraph Trail — which documents the adventurous trek taken by her father, Don Huntley, and his friend, Gunnar Nillson,…
Read more 1695 South to British Columbia
Michael Turner reviews In My Day by Rick Waines Produced by Norman Armour, Rick Waines and Zee Zee Theatre presented by The Cultch Theatre, Vancouver December 02-11, 2022 * As a late-born North American Baby Boomer, I am not old enough to remember all the defining moments assigned to my generation. I was barely fifteen…
Read more 1694 A history play for the ages
Blue Communion by Sean Arthur Joyce Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2023 $23.95 / 9781771714884 Reviewed by Gary Geddes * In “Words on the Wing,” Sean Arthur Joyce elegantly poses the question many poets face when they decide to sit down to write something: “How light must my touch be / not to snap bone, lose an…
Read more 1693 A poet’s light touch
Gilly the Ghillie: More Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide by David Giblin Victoria: Heritage House, 2020 $19.95 / 9781772033359 Reviewed by Matthew Downey * The treacherous rapids and whirlpools of the many labyrinthine waterways that wind through the islands off Vancouver Island’s northeast coastal stretch may often seem out of time in their…
Read more 1692 Fisherman’s return
Garden of Words by Pnina Granirer Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing, 2022 $24.95 / 9781989467640 Reviewed by Diana Hayes * Pnina Granirer is an internationally respected artist and writer, living in Vancouver. Born in Romania in 1935, she later moved with her family to Israel where she studied at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. She…
Read more 1691 Poppies and sandstone
Out of Hiding: Holocaust Literature of British Columbia by Alan Twigg (editor) Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2022 $24.95 / 9781553806622 Reviewed by Norman Ravvin * Historiographic, creative and commemorative responses to the Holocaust continue to appear in impressive and challenging ways some 75 years after the end of the Second World War. Alan Twigg’s Out of…
Read more 1690 Refuge in British Columbia
Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone by Bri Beaudoin with photos by Anguel Dimov Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Penguin Canada), 2022 $27.00 / 9780735241923 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * I used to work with a woman who claimed not to enjoy eating food, with the rather amusing exception of popcorn; that she was…
Read more 1689 No-pressure vegetarian
The Ramen by Sheldon Goldfarb * Editor’s note: as a Holiday and post-Christmas answer to that leftover turkey or that ham, lamb, or duck roast, we present Sheldon Goldfarb’s solution — The Ramen! Sheldon adds that the poem was inspired by the cartoon below, courtesy Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare — Richard Mackie * Once upon…
Read more 1688 The Ramen
Mayne Queen: The Passing of a Ferry by John Wiznuk Saturna Island: Cliffside Publishing, 2022 $20.00 / 9781777544225 Reviewed by Robert D. Turner * Ferries can be long-lived creatures, and they also have a way of becoming more than just a conveyance, especially after the passage of many years. The Mayne Queen has been with…
Read more 1687 Queen of the Gulf Islands
This is Assisted Dying: A Doctor’s Story of Empowering Patients at the End of Life by Stefanie Green Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada (Scribner), 2022 $24.99 / 9781668004784 Reviewed by Lee Reid * MAiD. Medical Assistance in Dying. I don’t see assisted dying as ending someone’s life; the underlying illness and suffering are doing that….
Read more 1686 Options at the end of life
Two books reviewed by Harper Campbell: Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It by Bruce McIvor Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2021 $21.95 / 9780889714205 * Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice: A Search for Ways Forward by David Milward Black Point, NS, and Winnipeg, MB: Fernwood Publishing, 2022 $32.00 / 9781773635194 * This is…
Read more 1685 Vexation and reconciliation
Water Proof by Aaron Bushkowsky Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2021 $24.95 / 9781770866362 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * When Shakespeare created a pair of hapless sidekicks called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he little knew how similar pairs would proliferate through the following centuries. Samuel Beckett’s Gogo and Didi, like Hollywood’s Laurel and Hardy are amongst the best…
Read more 1684 Gore-Tex and infidelity
From Denmark to the Cariboo: The Epic Journey of the Lindhard Sisters by Linda Peterat Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2022 $26.95 / 9781772033939 Reviewed by Richard Thomas Wright * If one visits today’s centre of the Cariboo gold fields in Barkerville it would be easy to come away with the understanding that Williams creek and…
Read more 1683 The Cariboo sisters
Nobody from Somewhere by Dietrich Kalteis Toronto: ECW Press, 2022 $24.95 / 9781770416116 Reviewed by Bill Paul * The plot of this entertaining crime novel begins at a bar in a casino near the Vancouver airport. Park Won-Soon, a Korean businessman fluent in three languages and working out of Hong Kong, is having a drink…
Read more 1682 Show me the money
Guilty of Everything: 21st Anniversary Edition by John Armstrong Vancouver: New Star Books, 2022 $18.00 / 9781554201914 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * I used to own the original printing of this book. It had to be tossed away, perhaps appropriately enough, after it became one of my many books infested with silver fish and mould…
Read more 1681 Sojourns, gigs, debacles
The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations. Second Edition by Bill McLennan and Karen Duffek Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022 in collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia (first published by UBC Press, 2000; reprinted by Douglas & McIntyre and University of Washington Press, 2007) $65.00 / 9781773271989 Reviewed…
Read more 1680 Northwest Coast artist archive
Hemingway’s Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway by Timothy Christian Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2022 $42.95 / 9781459750548 Reviewed by Peter Hay * Few books survive to become classics; their fame is most oft interred with the authors’ bones. Even fewer writers lead interesting enough lives to create a whole industry of biographies,…
Read more 1679 Mary Welsh’s inheritance
Cold Case BC: The Stories Behind the Province’s Most Intriguing Murder and Missing Person Cases by Eve Lazarus Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022 $22.95 / 9781551529073 Reviewed by Zoe McKenna * One need only to briefly browse through the most popular shows and documentaries on Netflix to begin to understand our culture’s obsession with true…
Read more 1678 Keeping cold cases warm