The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada (Atria Books), 2021 $23.00 / 9781982157586 Reviewed by Misao Dean * I am a bit of a packrat. I can’t resist flea market tables and antique stores crowded with “stuff.” Often the things that appeal to me are not particularly valuable – vintage bar…
Read more 1133 A museum for feelings
Vancouver for Beginners by Alex Leslie Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2019 $18.00 / 9781771665346 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * It’s easier to think of Vancouver as paradise when you don’t live there. I spoke to a Californian today on the phone who positively rhapsodized about Vancouver being a world-class city. “I’ve visited nineteen times,” he said,…
Read more 1132 Vancouver for professionals
Desire Path by Taryn Hubbard Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2020 $16.95 / 9781772012637 Reviewed by Michael Turner * The relationship of poetry and place is an age-old fascination that figured prominently in the self-conscious development of a modern North American literature. Long before his poem “This Is Just to Say” (1934) became a social media cat toy,…
Read more 1131 Surrey Up!
The Last Exiles by Ann Shin Toronto: HarperCollins (Park Row Books), 2021 $16.99 / 9780778312017 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * Stepping into the first few pages of Ann Shin’s The Last Exiles, some readers may feel they’ve entered the recognizable world of dystopian fiction. After all, this is a world “where women in skirt suits…
Read more 1130 A docudrama of defection
Hurry Home by Roz Nay Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada, 2020 $24.99 / 9781501184826 Reviewed by Miranda Marini * Sisters are often described as having a transcendental and unbreakable bond based in their shared experiences, friendship, and love for each other. However, the same cannot be said for the Van Ness sisters in Roz Nay’s…
Read more 1129 A tale of two sisters
ESSAY: Stanley Park: The Mirror and the Mask by Jordan Johnston * Stanley Park is a mirror that reflects the desires of those who look in it. On a map, this bright green peninsula stands apart from the city centre, as if held at arm’s length. Vancouver, like any other city, has poverty, and crime,…
Read more 1128 Stanley Park reflections
One Good Thing: A Living Memoir by M.A.C. Farrant Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2021 $19.95 / 9781772012842 Reviewed by Mary Leah de Zwart * M.A.C. [Marion Alice Coburn] Farrant is an accomplished author, playwright, and humourist, living on the Saanich Peninsula near Sidney, BC. She has seventeen publications to her name, ranging from a novel and short…
Read more 1127 The Chesnut-Farrant exchange
The Good Father by Wayne Grady Toronto: Penguin Random House (Doubleday Canada), 2021 $24.95 / 9780385694667 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Readers with a predilection for touching, even heartbreaking, plots served up with a good measure of satire and acerbic one-liners will be satiated by the latest from UBC professor Wayne Grady. Set in 2009-2010,…
Read more 1126 Retreat, rescue, repair
Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook, From Aphrodite to Zeus, a Profile of Who’s Who in Greek Mythology by Liv Albert, illustrated by Sara Richard Toronto: Simon & Schuster (Adams Media), 2021 $22.99 / 9781507215494 Reviewed Linda Rogers * “He said, she said.” Oral storytelling is like court evidence without benefit of cell…
Read more 1125 Greek myths for the age of anime
ESSAY: “The Noise of Time”[1] and the Removal of History? by Robin Fisher * In 1957 a group of anthropologists went ashore at SG̱ang Gwaay, which they knew as Ninstints, the site of a long deserted Haida village on Anthony Island. With ropes, pulleys and crosscut saws they lowered a few of the surviving totem…
Read more 1124 “The Noise of Time” and the Removal of History?
Burning the Night by Glen Huser Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2021 $19.95 / 9781774390115 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * A novel with history on its mind, Burning the Night opens confidently as an attractive series of images and striking narrative portions: fictional Yarrow, Alberta in post-war Canada; an inquisitive, artistic youth residing in a house…
Read more 1123 Roots & effects of obsession
Soft Zipper: Objects, Food, Rooms by George Bowering, with an introduction by Lisa Robertson Vancouver: New Star Books, 2021 $19.00 / 9781554201723 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * The reviewer realizes he has never read George Bowering. Played baseball with him once, or softball. UBC English Department versus SFU. There he was, all in black, playing…
Read more 1122 Bowering’s magic and mirrors
Four Umbrellas: A Couple’s Journey Into Young-Onset Alzheimer’s by June Hutton and Tony Wanless Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2020 $21.99 / 9781459747791 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “Ah yes, I remember it well,” is the comical reminiscing of mismatched memories from the iconic film Gigi (1958). In the nostalgic film, two aging lovers sing about their…
Read more 1121 A testament to resilience
Mountain Man: The Life of a Guide Outfitter by Hiram Cody Tegart with Andrew Bruce Richards Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781773860060 Reviewed by Sage Birchwater * Mountain Man: The Life of a Guide Outfitter by Hiram Cody Tegart with Andrew Bruce Richards takes us to another place and time. The East Kootenays…
Read more 1120 East Kootenay guide outfitter
Home on the Strange: Chronicles of Motherhood, Mayhem, and Matters of the Heart by Susan Lundy Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $22.95 / 9781772033649 Reviewed by Margot Fedoruk * “Sometimes moms just need a little escape, even if it’s just a fantasy,” says Susan Lundy in one of the many entertaining stories in her book, Home…
Read more 1119 Mother’s Day on Salt Spring
House of Crows by Edeana Malcolm Vancouver: Three Ocean Press, 2020 $24.95 / 9781988915265 Reviewed by Valerie Green * If you are a fan of British Columbia’s early history, especially pertaining to the capital city of Victoria, or if you simply love all history as a history buff, you will definitely enjoy House of Crows…
Read more 1118 The housemaid of Point Ellice
The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature by Peter Wohlleben, translated by Jane Billinghurst Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2021 available June 15, 2021 $32.95 / 9781771646895 Reviewed by Luanne Armstrong * The Heartbeat Of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature is both a wonderful and an irritating book….
Read more 1117 The pulse of Białowieża & Kwiakah
Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation by Hannah Turner Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020 $32.95 / 9780774863933 Reviewed by Forrest Pass * On the desk of my home office, I keep a relic of museum cataloguing in days gone by: a McBee Keysort manual punch, model 5201-630. Resembling a standard hole punch, this tool…
Read more 1116 Politics on a punch card
I Can Only Paint: The Story of Battlefield Artist Mary Riter Hamilton by Irene Gammel Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2020 $49.95 / 9780228003915 Reviewed by Robert Amos * Mary Riter Hamilton was a Canadian artist born in Culross, Ontario in 1867. Following a difficult childhood she was married at 21 and widowed at…
Read more 1115 An artist in the wreckage of war
Chiru Sakura — Falling Cherry Blossoms: A Mother & Daughter’s Journey through Racism, Internment and Oppression by Grace Eiko Thomson Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860411Reviewed by Patricia E. Roy * In 1997, for the benefit of her children and grandchildren, 84-year-old Sawae Nishikihama began writing memoirs of her experience as a Japanese…
Read more 1114 Steveston, Powell Street, Minto