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Historical masterpiece, revised

“This important book spans five decades and a global geography. In its ten chapters, historical geographer and professor emeritus at York University, James R. Gibson weaves together the complex economic and transportation history of the maritime fur trade along the northwest coast of North America in a remarkable study.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews the revised edition of Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: Voices of the Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841, by James R. Gibson (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) $47.95 / 9780228007319

Re:, re-, re

A poet’s playful, “intellectually vigorous” pastiche “left me inquisitive, sometimes to the point of being bewildered, but this bewilderment is a good thing. It provides us with existential insights that, for one thing, are a counter-language to the blithe and frenetic thoughtlessness of our own profoundly unpoetic administered world,” writes Peter Babiak in his review of Recombinant Theory, by Joel Katelnikoff (Calgary: U Calgary Press, 2024) $26.99 / 9781773855790

Lovemaking, paratrooping

“Sprawling [and] ambitious” 1940s-set debut novel captures the death and male camaraderie of wartime Europe and the romantic challenges of a mixed-race couple in Vancouver. —Jessica Poon reviews The Riveter, by Jack Wang (Toronto: House of Anansi, 2025) $24.99 / 9781487007614

Juxtapositions of cityscape and home

“Whether illustrating the unique contents or uniform structure of carts, the carefully pruned or overgrown hedges guarding homes, or the materiality of prefabricated elements such as iron, brick, or stone, Yamamoto’s drawings encourage us to take a closer look at the structures which surround our daily environment…” Stella Gatto reviews Carts, Hedges, Lions by Taizo Yamamoto (with essays by Kevin Chong, Aaron Peck and Jackie Wong), (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2024), $40 / 9781773272429

Historical ‘visual feast of images’

“The absence of further information is both liberating and frustrating at the same time. On the liberating side of that coin, it is a pleasure to flip through the book wondering what the next page will bring. The purely visual experience allows me to focus on personal familiar favourites, unburdened by any knowledge or misconceptions (apart from my own).” Wayne Norton reviews Classic Photographs of Song and Dance and British Columbia, by Bradford Critchley (Vancouver: South Blossom Books, 2024) $18.49 / 9798326042392

‘Always in flux’

In a wide-ranging and eclectic debut volume of poems, themes range from personal growth and transformation to motherhood and ancestry. —Mary Ann Moore reviews Soft Shelters, by Marie Metaphor Specht (Norfolk County, ON: Write Bloody North, 2023) $20.00 / 9781778162619

Music’s power and magic

In a magical and original folktale, as three precocious daughters learn to play music, they outsmart wily, bullying Emperor Wang, who learns his own valuable lessons. —Alison Acheson reviews The Three Sisters, by Paul Yee (illustrated by Shaoli Wang) (Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990598265

Romance tropes, refreshed

Aspiring ballerina meets NHL rookie. Eventually, romance blossoms. “Any reader remotely familiar with the trope of I’m Only Pretending to Like You will know where this story is going; however, it’s how Khabra delays the inevitable that I was most impressed by,” writes Jessica Poon in her review of Spiral, by Bal Khabra (Toronto: Berkley, 2025) $24.95 / 9780735250468

‘Moving with purpose’

Elegant, careful, sparse, and yet complex verse that is “a dense, rich reflection on the natural world and the human impact” presents a poet who is “a walker, a watcher, a muser, a recorder.” —Steven Ross Smith reviews The Middle, by Stephen Collis (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024) $18.95 / 9781772016420

Architectural legacies in ‘complex territories’

“Michael Prokopow, former curator of the Design Exchange, is a cultural historian with a distinguished academic career investigating the varied international streams influencing Western Canadian architects and designers…He is particularly sensitive to the fact that no self-declared Indigenous architects, or clients, are represented in these pages.” Martin Segger reviews Reside: Contemporary West Coast Houses by Michael Prokopow (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2024) $55 / 9781773272634

Respect and reverence

“Of course, throughout the book Butler wrestles with the degree of knowledge a non-Indigenous person requires to have a truly culturally informed appreciation of Coastal Peoples’ artwork. As a reader, I was somewhat enmeshed in this wrestle at first, then found a kind of community in Butler’s struggle in the knowledge that I was not alone in my wish to be respectful and culturally informed.” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews What Is This? Who Am I? Culturally Informed Appreciation of Coastal Peoples’ Artworks by Richard Butler (Victoria: A&R Publishing, 2024) $12.65 / 9798339967507

Showcasing Sunshine Coast stories

“It’s all BC coastal lore – this is Harbour Publishing and Howard White after all. Yet each volume is very different from the other. And the many authors involved amount to a virtual who’s who of the coast’s contemporary non-fiction writers.” Howard Macdonald Stewart reviews Raincoast Chronicle: Fifth Five, by Howard White [ed.] (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $60 / 9781990776939

Solution for AI and cryptocurrency?

“The absence of major nuclear reactors in British Columbia may lead British Columbians to believe that nuclear energy is not an immediate concern. Not so. It is important to remember that, from its inception in 1961, BC Hydro has repeatedly proposed building reactors in the earthquake-prone Lower Mainland.” Dr. Loys Maingon reviews Nuclear Is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change by M.V. Ramana (Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2024) $39.95 / 9781804290002

Passionate travel, terrible loss

“What Todd has written and photographed is a riveting, honest book which Bruce Kirkby aptly states in his introduction – examines ‘mortality, meaning and connection’ with a ‘ruthless honesty (which) reminds me at times of Anthony Bourdain on two wheels.'” Isabel Nanton reviews Inside the Belly of an Elephant: A Motorcycle Journey of Loss, Legacy and Ultimate Freedom by Todd Lawson (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023) $30 / 9781771605755

An Indigenous rights maverick

“At first, I was intimidated by the complexity and scope of the book. Especially with so many voices involved. But very quickly Wake provides a conduit into Berger’s story that makes it reader-friendly.” Sage Birchwater reviews Against The Odds: The Indigenous Rights Cases of Thomas R. Berger by Drew Ann Wake (Calgary: Durvile & Uproute Books, 2024)
$37.50 / 9781990735486

Cooking over an open campfire

“This is a fun and informative cookbook that will connect camp cooks to the land. Its compact size encourages novice or experienced adventurers to carry it along on their backcountry trips.” Paul Geddes reviews The Well-Fed Backcountry Adventurer: Easy Trail-tested Campfire Recipes Inspired by 1920s Mountaineers by Bryan Thompson (Toronto: Canadian Expedition Heritage Society, 2024) $7.99 / 9781068946202

Coal and trouble

“Langford is a retired scholar who knows the communities and has a special knowledge of towns like Fernie, Sparwood, and others in the East Kootenay district…He also knows his mining labour history and he helpfully supplies short sidebars of specific mine leaders.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Lights on the Tipple Are Going Out: Fighting Economic Ruin in a Canadian Coalfield Community by Tom Langford (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774869294

Resilience, transformation, memory

A poignant and intricate collection of evocative poems “demonstrates a virtuoso poetic sensibility.” —gillian harding-russell reviews Nucleus: A Poet’s Lyrical Journey from Ukraine to Canada, by Svetlana Ischenko (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2024) $18.95 / 9781553807070

A woman of her times?

“Ann-Lee Switzer discovered the stories in the BC Archives of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. Five previously unpublished stories have been added to the collection first published in 2007. Nearly thirty of Carr’s original illustrations are also included.” Mary Ann Moore reviews This And That: The Lost Stories of Emily Carr (Revised and Updated) by Emily Carr, Ann-Lee Switzer (ed.) (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2024) $26 / 9781771514484

News on the ‘four Ds of diversity’

Probing account of representational ethics “is elucidating without ever being didactic and genuinely enjoyable to read,” yet prompts “more hope than outrage.”—Jessica Poon reviews Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism, by Christopher Cheung (Vancouver: UBC Press/Purich Books, 2024) $24.95 / 9780774881111

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