A Brief View from the Coastal Suite by Karen Hofmann Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2021 $21.95 / 9781774390177 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * If, come the apocalypse, some powers wanted to recreate the style and design of white, urban life in Canada in general and Vancouver in particular, they would find material aplenty in Karen Hofmann’s…
Read more 1181 Getting & spending in Lotusland
Ormsby’s annual fundraiser by Richard Mackie * Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Readers of The Ormsby Review, On behalf of The Ormsby Literary Society, its Board of Directors, and our Advisory Board (listed below), we must appeal to our readership for financial assistance. We are most grateful to the 96 donors who contributed to our 2020…
Read more 1180 Ormsby’s annual Fundraiser, 2021
The Object’s the Thing: The Writings of Yorke Edwards, A Pioneer of Heritage Interpretation in Canada by Richard Kool and Robert A. Cannings (editors) Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9780772678515 * Craigdarroch Castle in 21 Treasures by Moira Dann, with an afterword by Bruce Davies Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2021 $20.00 /…
Read more 1179 History galleries & robber barons
Waymaking by Moonlight: New and Selected Poems by Bill Yake Anacortes, WA: Empty Bowl Press, 2020 $20.00 (U.S.) / 9781734187342 Reviewed by Ron Smith * I’ve just finished reading Bill Yake’s Waymaking by Moonlight: New and Selected Poems. As I reflect on the complexity and insight of his vision, I’m left wondering why I’ve never…
Read more 1178 The intelligence of deer trails
obittersweet: Life Lessons from Obituaries by Tamara Macpherson Vukusic Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 2020 $24.95 / 9781771615280 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * As a long-time reader of obituaries, I was delighted to receive a copy of Tamara Macpherson Vukusic’s collection of essays which is aptly titled obittersweet. Describing her Sunday morning ritual “with coffee in…
Read more 1177 Paint those final portraits
The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $22.95 / 9781773860596 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers is a wild adventure across the endless and fascinating country of Canada. Our two protagonists—Ruthie and Kay—are hilarious in their encounters and differing experiences. While Ruthie…
Read more 1176 Road trip of change and chance
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard Toronto: Penguin Random House (Allen Lane), 2021 $34.95 / 9780735237759 Reviewed by Luanne Armstrong * What a truly brilliant book. What a gift to the world both the book and its writer are. I came out of this book so happy it…
Read more 1175 Communication not competition
Lands of Lost Content: A Memoir by John Wilson Lantzville: John Wilson, 2020 $12.95 / 9780987706539 (eBook version available for $6.50) Reviewed by Julian Wake * John Wilson would enjoy a story of the couple that had been married for sixty years. “I have news,” the old man said at breakfast. “Oh, what’s that, dear?”…
Read more 1174 Truth, memoir, & beautiful lies
Diary of a Pandemic Year by Art (Sean Arthur) Joyce New Denver: Chameleon Fire Editions, 2021 $20.00 / 9780995240162 Reviewed by Roger C. Lewis * The day after Covid, surgical masks lay dead in the gutters, so many leaves riffled into history by the collective sighs of billions – breathe O breathe free at last!…
Read more 1173 Dandelions through asphalt
Pinkerton’s and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot: Double Murder, Secret Agents and an Elusive Outlaw by Geoff Mynett Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860503 Reviewed by Tyler McCreary * There has been a recent resurgence of interest in the story of the Gitxsan outlaw Simon Gunanoot. Accused of killing two mixed-race men, Alex…
Read more 1172 Gunanoot at large, 1906-1919
The Essential Elizabeth Brewster by Ingrid Ruthig (editor) Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 2021 $14.95 / 9780889848788 Reviewed by Susan McCaslin * Ingrid Ruthig’s The Essential Elizabeth Brewster, a new volume in Porcupine Quill’s Essential Poets Series, is a gathering of some of the best and most representative selections from Canadian modernist poet Elizabeth Brewster…
Read more 1171 Elizabeth Brewster: A vital ghost
Murder 101 by Richard Boyer Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $16.99 / 9781525584527 Reviewed by Robin Fisher * I have great admiration for those of my academic colleagues who, after a career of doing empirical work, then change gears and write successful fiction. The President to whom I reported at Mount Royal University, David Marshall, has in…
Read more 1170 A master class in murder
Radical Acts of Love: How we find hope at the end of life by Janie Brown Toronto: Penguin Random House (Anchor Canada), 2021 $22.00 / 9780385694759 Reviewed by Lee Reid * The Cree woman invites her friend to share a covenant: “There comes a time, she said, when the elders must release those stories into…
Read more 1169 Dying with love and compassion
Fishing for Birds by Linda Quennec Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2019 $22.95 / 9781771336130 Reviewed by Paul Headrick * Fishing for Birds tells the stories of three women who live on islands: Kate, a widow in her thirties, has settled in a small cabin on the fictional BC Gulf Island of Britannia; Kate’s mother, Nora, is…
Read more 1168 Islands are for overcoming
The Ku Klux Klan in Canada by Allan Bartley Halifax, NS: Formac Publishing, 2020 $24.95 / 9781459506138 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * In the mid-1920s Canada was a hotbed for KKK recruiters . . . and they’re still here. For almost a century, the racist and often violent Ku Klux Klan has found a home…
Read more 1167 Hate mongering in Canada
Little Resilience: The Ryerson Poetry Chap-Books by Eli MacLaren Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020 $37.95 / 9780228003496 Reviewed by Carole Gerson * We have long needed this book! For 35 years, from 1925 to 1960, Canadian poets writing in English were sustained by the Ryerson Poetry Chap-Book series, which issued some 200 booklets…
Read more 1166 Canadian poetry: the untold story
Always Pack a Candle: A Nurse in the Cariboo-Chilcotin by Marion McKinnon Crook Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $22.95 / 9781772033625 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * Delivering healthcare throughout the geographical vastness of B.C. would seem impossible — and yet health professionals and, yes, governments, have been doing just that for generations, since 1869 with the…
Read more 1165 Cariboo truth and invention
Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually by Meichi Ng Toronto, HarperCollins Canada (Harper Perennial), 2020 $21.99 / 9780062945594 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * Barely Functional Adult by Meichi Ng is a humorous, insightful salve most millennials will gleefully devour. Rest assured, its entertainment value is by no means restricted by age demographic. As…
Read more 1164 Waiting for life to begin
Ten steps back to the garden: a poetic guide to recovery by Linda Rogers * A blooming branch has emerged from the dark age of lockdown for review, and as we cut the weeds growing around the stone steps into the garden, we are left to consider the moon phases we have endured, the brutal…
Read more 1163 Eleven poets from a plague year
Six Weeks to Live by Catherine McKenzie Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada (Atria Books), 2021 $27.00 / 9781982159214 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Although Six Weeks to Live begins on a very sombre note and appears to be a book about dealing with imminent death, author Catherine McKenzie soon turns her story into a psychological…
Read more 1162 Six of one, three of another