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, Feb 2023
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
Definitely Not James Herriot: A Memoir, of Sorts by Jocelyn Reekie Campbell River: Peregrin Publishing, 2022 $21.95 / 9781896402208 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Jocelyn Reekie’s small book is a delightful treasure for anyone who loves animals. This short memoir covers Reekie’s life from the time she discovered a passion for animals as a child…
Read more 1717 Quadra Island chronicles
The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner Fort Collins, Colorado: Entangled Publishing, 2022. Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books $14.99 / 9781649373984 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * The Valkyrie’s Daughter is the uplifting story of three underdogs in the Nine Realms. Sigrid is a sixteen-year-old woman who has dreamed her entire life of becoming a Valkyrie….
Read more 1716 Paired with a wingless horse
14 Months on Franz Joseph Land by Mykhailo Ivanychuk, edited and translated by Gloria Atamanenko Summerland: Danny Evanishen/ Ethnic Enterprises, 2002 $20.00 / 9780973242812 Reviewed by Sage Birchwater Editor’s note: Contact Sage Birchwater by email at sagebirchwater@shaw.ca or on Facebook to buy a copy of 14 Months on Franz Joseph Land for $20.00 plus $5.00…
Read more 1715 Franz Josef Land to Tatla Lake
Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins New York: Macmillan (St. Martin’s Griffin), 2022 $16.99 (U.S) / 9781250836502 Review by Alison Acheson * “In a world filled with messages to be louder and bigger, to take up more space, to garner more attention, denying those messages seems pretty brave to me.” Twenty-something costume-designer, Marlowe Banks, moves…
Read more 1714 Marlowe’s second chance
Feeling Feminism: Activism, Affect, and Canada’s Second Wave by Lara Campbell, Michael Dawson, and Catherine Gidney (editors) Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022 $34.95 / 9780774866507 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * Increasingly I feel myself becoming historical. The feeling comes with advancing age, enhanced by encountering the work of a younger generation of scholars such as Lara…
Read more 1713 Getting emotional
The Oysters I Bring to Banquets by Gary Geddes Montreal: Guernica Editions, 2022 $22.00 / 9781771837101 Reviewed by Doug Beardsley * Opening Gary Geddes’ new book of poems, The Oysters I Bring to Banquets, I am reminded of something Irving Layton said some thirty years ago, when he intuitively discussed the essential characteristics of the…
Read more 1712 Liberating the ordinary
Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood by Hilary Peach Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2022 $22.00 / 9781772141955 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * “People love to read about work” — Stephen King The best writers make readers interested in a subject they never imagined they might be compelled by. I think of Cormac…
Read more 1711 Manways and shabby motels
River of Mists: People of the Upper Skeena, 1821-1930 by Geoff Mynett Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $26.00 / 9781773860930 Reviewed by Tyler McCreary * Geoff Mynett has quickly emerged as the leading public historian of the Upper Skeena region of British Columbia. A remarkably proficient and prodigious author, he has now published his fourth…
Read more 1710 Mynett’s Skeena stories