Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 by Geoff Mynett Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860671 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Not a Hollywood murder: move aside Deadwood and make room for BC’s wild north When people exist on the extreme edges of a place, unexpected yet sometimes…
Read more 1316 Colonial law vs Gitxsan tradition
Lost Family: A Memoir by John Barton Montréal: Véhicule Press (Signal Editions), 2020 $17.95 / 9781550655551 Reviewed by Christopher Levenson * Whatever one’s final judgment on John Barton’s latest book — and mine is overwhelmingly positive — one thing is clear: it raises a number of important critical issues. Is the medium of poetry suitable for something that…
Read more 1315 Sonnets & tantalizing snapshots
On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Earthquake by Gregor Craigie Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2021 $22.95 / 9781773102061 Reviewed by Brian Harvey * What does it mean to be unsettled? Roget’s Thesaurus offers some synonyms — unstable, displaced, even deranged — and to me the word sits somewhere between “uneasy” and “totally freaked out.”…
Read more 1314 Shear, rattle, and roll
Distilleries of Vancouver Island: A Guided Tour of West Coast Craft and Artisan Spirits by Marianne Scott Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2021 $25.00 / 9781771513326 Reviewed by Joe Wiebe * Published earlier this year, Marianne Scott’s Distilleries of Vancouver Island is essential reading for anyone who might enjoy a wee dram of Island whiskey, a sip…
Read more 1313 Island spirits and cocktails
A writers’ tribute to Ron Hatch by Richard Mackie and Ronsdale authors * Editor’s note: a courteous elderly gentleman used to stop by my office at UBC when I was book reviews editor at BC Studies between 2011 and 2016. This was Ron Hatch, a retired professor of English at UBC and publisher of Ronsdale…
Read more 1312 A writers’ tribute to Ron Hatch
emerge 21: The Writer’s Studio Anthology by Emma Cleary, Raoul Fernandes, Dayna Mahannah, Christina Myers, and KT Wagner (editors), with a foreword by Renée Sarojini Saklikar Burnaby: Simon Fraser University, 2021 [price unknown] / 9781772870831 Reviewed by Michael Turner * For travellers who find reading and writing an essential service, I’m sure there is at…
Read more 1311 The land of reading and writing
Making a Living on Saturna: Jon and Priscilla, an oral history by Bill Schermbrucker Saturna Island: Cliffside Publishing, 2021 $17.00 / 9781777544201 Reviewed by Margot Fedoruk * “How does one make a living on a beautiful, isolated island which consists mainly of rock and gravel?” This is the driving question behind author Bill Schermbrucker’s book…
Read more 1310 Eking a living on Saturna
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good Toronto: HarperCollins Canada (Harper Perennial), 2020 $22.99 / 9781443459181 Reviewed by Harper Campbell * Teaching and healing have always been important aspects to Indigenous writing in Canada. Look at any famous Indigenous author, whether that be Pauline Johnson or Richard Wagamese, and you’ll find that teaching and healing are central…
Read more 1309 The object of Indigenous writing
Muggins: The Life and Afterlife of a Canadian Canine War Hero by Grant Hayter-Menzies, with a foreword by Mark Zuehlke Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $22.95 / 9781772033717 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Writing a book totally devoted to a dog is a difficult task but Grant Hayter-Menzies has it down to a fine art. In Muggins:…
Read more 1308 The late life of Muggins
Ginny Ratsoy reviews two books: Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro Toronto: Penguin Modern Classics, 2021 (first published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1971) $19.95 / 9780735234659 * Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro Toronto: Penguin Modern Classics, 2021 (first published by Macmillan of Canada, 1978) $13.99 / 9780143181170 * …
Read more 1307 Alice Munro & the short story
First by Arleen Paré London, ON: Brick Books, 2021 $20.00 / 9781771315425 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * The latest book of poems by Governor-General’s Award winner Arleen Paré, First, delves into her first friendship and moves out into broader considerations of the role of memory and creation of personal worlds. Paré dedicated the book to…
Read more 1306 The value & force of friendship
Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition (fourth edition) by Brett McGillivray Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020 $55.00 / 9780774864329 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * Brett McGillivray’s Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition has withstood the test of time since its first edition in 2000, which I reviewed for BC Studies…
Read more 1305 McGillivray’s essential geography
All the Rage: A Partial Memoir in Two Acts and a Prologue by Brad Fraser Toronto: Penguin Random House (Doubleday Canada), 2021 $34.00 / 9780385696371 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * One of the recurring delights of All the Rage is a multi-faceted storytelling technique that reserves a little something for everybody. Whether Brad Fraser…
Read more 1304 Blunt portraits & candid memoir
Ron Verzuh reviews two books: Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic by Bonnie Henry and Lynn Henry Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Allen Lane), 2021 $26.95 / 9780735241855 * Soap and Water and Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease by Bonnie Henry Toronto: House…
Read more 1303 Bonnie Henry: writer
Linda Rogers reviews two books: Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power by Jody Wilson-Raybould Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2021 $34.99 / 9781443465366 * From Where I Stand: Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada by Jody Wilson-Raybould Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9780774880534 * CHARACTER, a drama with some bad actors and some…
Read more 1302 Lessons from the Big House
Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time by Michael Palin Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Vintage Canada), 2019 $23.00 / 9780735274297 Reviewed by Walter Volovsek * Editor’s note. A vigilant reader of The Ormsby Review might be startled to see Michael Palin’s Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages,…
Read more 1301 Goosebumps & unbroken ice
Thank you, everyone, for your generous support of The Ormsby Review. We launched our 2021 fundraiser on July 15th. Between then and October we sent out batches of emails to supporters and friends of The Ormsby Review. I am delighted to report that exactly 100 donors contributed a grand total of $18,700. In our 2020…
Read more 1300 Thanks for your support
The Endless Garment by Marguerite Pigeon Hamilton, ON: Wolsak & Wynn, 2021 $18.00 / 9781989496374 Reviewed by Heidi Greco * Admiration. That’s the feeling I get when I think of authors who are able to envision a big picture for their manuscript, who can write to a unified subject or theme. Poet Marguerite Pigeon is…
Read more 1299 Cut from a cloth of desire
Richard Wagamese Selected: What Comes from Spirit by Richard Wagamese, with an introduction by Drew Hayden Taylor Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2021 $24.95 / 9781771622752 Reviewed by Paul Falardeau * When he died at 61, Richard Wagamese still had a lot to say, though he had already said so much. The Ojibwe author was…
Read more 1298 A tribute to Richard Wagamese
A Sure Connection by W.M Herring Surrey: Now or Never Publishing, 2021 $19.95 / 9781989689288 Reviewed by Danny Peart * In A Sure Connection, a first collection of 69 poems on a number of themes, W.M. (Wendy) Herring shows that she is fully prepared to do the work of a poet. Born in Quebec, Herring…
Read more 1297 Here to celebrate the moon