A Lover’s Grimoire by Linda Quibell Grimoire: a book of magic devised to invoke supernatural entities such as angels, deities or demons * The Plague The first year of the plague we knew nothing being neither doctors nor priests nor midwives we did not know that eyes were infectious that mouths were a vector and…
Read more 1517 A lover’s grimoire
A Funny Kind of Paradise by Jo Owens Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Random House Canada), 2021 $22.95 / 9780735278820 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * An extended care facility in Victoria might seem a claustrophobic setting for a novel, particularly when a stroke has rendered speechless its narrator, Francesca, who inhabits a room with four…
Read more 1516 Memories and caregivers
Haunting British Columbia: Ghostly Tales from the Past by Mike McCardell Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2021 $34.95 / 9781550179552 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * A browse through the history section at a local bookstore often turns up its fair amount of dust. There are archives of articles, biographies of BC’s most famous, tales of extraordinary…
Read more 1515 Jock, the unreliable narrator
Connecting the Kootenays: The Kootenay Lake Ferries. A Hundred Years of Service, 1921-2020 by Michael A. Cone Nelson: Maa Press, 2022 $45.00 / 9781778350511 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Sternwheeler Majesty: A century of sailing the Kootenays on the “boats” that plied the region’s waterways My childhood memory of the bygone era of sternwheelers on…
Read more 1514 Sternwheeler majesty
Possessing Meares Island: A Historian’s Journey into the Past of Clayoquot Sound by Barry Gough Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2021 $26.95 / 9781550179576 Reviewed by Jason M. Colby * Barry Gough opens his newest book with a phone call that he received in early 1986. On the other end of the line was Jack Woodward,…
Read more 1513 History matters: Meares Island
Failed to Return: Canada’s Bomber Command Sacrifice in the Second World War by Keith C. Ogilvie Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $26.95 / 9781772033816 Reviewed by Rod Szasz * RCAF Halifax bomber LL178 ploughed into the high Yorkshire moor disintegrating with its nine crew on a cold December night in 1944. Off course and in poor visibility…
Read more 1512 Aircrew of Bomber Command
Learning to Carve Argillite by Sara Florence Davidson & Robert Davidson, illustrated by Janine Gibbons Winnipeg: HighWater Press, 2021 (Sk’ada Stories Series, ages 6-8) $21.95 / 9781553799849 * Jigging for Halibut with Tsinii by Sara Florence Davidson & Robert Davidson, illustrated by Janine Gibbons Winnipeg: HighWater Press, 2021 (Sk’ada Stories Series, ages 6-8) $21.95 /…
Read more 1511 Halibut & argillite
Dempsey Bob: In His Own Voice by Dempsey Bob, with a foreword by Sarah Milroy Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022, in collaboration with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection & the Audain Art Gallery $40.00 / 9781773271613 Reviewed by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa * I flip open the Dempsey Bob in his own voice book and I am…
Read more 1510 Truths from Tahltan & Tuscany
Me Three by Susan Juby Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, 2022 $22.99 / 9780735268722 * Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2022 $24.99 / 9781443464437 Both books reviewed by Dana McFarland * “If you follow your dharma, you will bring good into the world.” – from Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby In…
Read more 1509 A twosome from Susan Juby
Swan Song by Sonja Ahlers Wolfville, NS: Conundrum Press, 2021 $20.00 / 9781772620627 Reviewed by Jeff Stychin * Sonja Ahlers’ Swan Song makes me wonder if we’re taking full advantage of the written discourse we use daily to communicate. Ahlers seems to have found an improved precept in which the form of the page becomes…
Read more 1508 Panels and palindromes
Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call, Second Edition by Arthur Manuel and Ronald M. Derrickson, with a foreword by Naomi Klein Toronto: Between the Lines, 2021 (first published 2016) $29.95 / 9781771135566 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call has been called a roadmap to action for Indigenous peoples in Canada…
Read more 1507 A decolonization manifesto
Under an Outlaw Moon by Dietrich Kalteis Toronto: ECW Press, 2021 $19.95 / 9781770415478 Reviewed by Alma Lee * This book might never have been written. Dietrich Kalteis was researching for another book and came across the intriguing story of Bennie and Stella Mae Dickson. How could an author resist telling this tale of tragic…
Read more 1506 The time-lock bandits
Neighbourhood Houses: Building Community in Vancouver by Miu Chung Yan and Sean Lauer (editors), with a foreword by David Hulchanski Vancouver, UBC Press, 2021 $32.95 / 9780774865821 Reviewed by Jennifer Chutter * The text opens with a compelling question: “What would it be like to live in a welcoming community?” It is a provocative start…
Read more 1505 Vancouver’s neighbourhood hubs
Close to the Bone: A Memoir by Lisa Ray Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Doubleday Canada), 2020 $24.95 / 9780385695725 Reviewed by Gurpreet Singh * A powerful memoir by a multifaceted personality, a supermodel, an actor, a cancer survivor, a traveller and a born writer restores faith in life and humanity in these difficult times….
Read more 1504 Lisa: a ray of hope
Caring for Critters: One Year at a Wildlife Rescue Centre by Nicholas Read Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $19.95 / 9781772033878 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * Caring for Critters starts at the beginning of Nicholas Read’s year-long volunteer service at Critter Care, a wildlife rehab centre in Langley, British Columbia, and the book logs his 12-month…
Read more 1503 Critter care at Langley
Victim: A feminist manifesto from a fierce survivor by Karen Moe Lantzville, BC: Vigilance Press, 2022 $24.99 / 9781647044701 Reviewed by Daniel Gawthrop * For any new author seeking a large audience for a polemical work, the self-declared “manifesto” is a risky undertaking. Driven by the urgency of singular purpose, a manifesto in the wrong…
Read more 1502 Rapist, your time is up
One Inch from Disaster: True Tales from the Wilds of British Columbia by Kelly Randall Ricketts Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $22.95 / 9781550179262 Reviewed by Dave Flawse * Flip over a copy of One Inch from Disaster and you’ll see a picture of a shirtless Kelly Randall (Zeus) Ricketts glancing back at the camera,…
Read more 1501 Tales of a rural ethos
Plants of Haida Gwaii: Third Edition by Nancy J. Turner Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2021 $29.95 / 9781550179149 Reviewed by Jasḵwaan Bedard * Plants of Haida Gwaii: Third Edition by Nancy Turner is a celebrated study of the Haida people’s relationship with the plants of Haida Gwaii. Dr. Turner, a renowned ethnobotanist, chronicles her extensive…
Read more 1500 Plant journey in Haida Gwaii
Going to Ground: Essays on Aging, Chronic Pain and the Healing Power of Nature by Luanne Armstrong Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $24.95 / 9781773860756 Reviewed by Claire Sicherman * I was really looking forward to reading Luanne Armstrong’s new book, Going to Ground: Essays on Aging, Chronic Pain and the Healing Power of Nature,…
Read more 1499 Not done yet
Using Power Well: Bob Williams and the Making of British Columbia by Bob Williams with Benjamin Isitt and Thomas Bevan Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2022 $22.95 / 9780889714243 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * A Man for All Political Seasons: meet the creator of ICBC, the land reserve and an improved Downtown Eastside If B.C. ever had…
Read more 1498 A politician for all seasons