105 Hikes in and around Southwestern British Columbia by Stephen Hui, foreword by Cease Wyss (T’uy’t’tanat) Vancouver: Greystone, 2018 $24.95 / 9781771642866 * The Glorious Mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore: A Peakbagger’s Guide by David Crerar, Harry Crerar, and Bill Maurer Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2018 $40.00 / 9781771602419 Both books reviewed by Ron Dart…
Read more #558 Go climb a mountain
Sea Otters: A History by Richard Ravalli Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press $45.00 (U.S.) / 9780803284401 Reviewed by Robin Inglis * This slim volume — about 140 pages of narrative excluding an appendix of data tables involving the California fur trade, endnotes and a full bibliography — provides readers with a fascinating overview of…
Read more #557 Sea otter slaughter and survival
Stowaway by Pam Withers Toronto: Dundurn, 2018 $12.99 / 9781459741911 Reviewed by Irene Watts * Pam Withers has a staunch following for her many adventure novels. Fans will not be disappointed in Stowaway from Dundurn Press. Two sixteen-year-old boys of diverse backgrounds, both mourn a lack of friends, and are burdened with secrets they have…
Read more #556 Gangs, pirates, smugglers
Eppich House II: The Story of an Arthur Erickson Masterwork by Greg Bellerby, with an introduction by Michelangelo Sabatino Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2019 $45.00 / 9781773270470 Reviewed by Martin Segger * This is the second volume in a series edited by Geoffrey Erickson and authorized by the Erickson family. (The first was Francisco Kirpacz:…
Read more #555 Arthur Erickson’s steel house
Amateurs at Love by Patricia Young Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2019 $19.95 / 9780864929914 Reviewed by Heidi Greco * The word “amateur” comes from the French, the source language for our most beautiful words. Originally it meant “one who loves” or “lover” — so, to be an “amateur at love” must mean someone who loves…
Read more #554 Patricia’s preternatural power
Flow: Poems Collected and New by Roy Miki, edited by Michael Barnholden Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $49.95 / 9781772012101 Reviewed by Grahame Ware * Condemned in utero as an Enemy Alien by the Dominion of Canada in 1942, the scholar and poet Roy Miki (born 1942) emerged as a pioneer of the Japanese-Canadian redress movement of the 1980s. Reviewer…
Read more #553 From alienation to adulation
Cougar Companions: Bute Inlet Country and the Legendary Schnarrs Raincoast Chronicles no. 24 by Judith Williams Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 $26.95 / 9781550178623 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In her introduction to Cougar Companions, Judith Williams states that, “Of the settlers, prospectors, trappers, mountaineers and loggers who came to British Columbia’s remote Bute Inlet between…
Read more #552 The three sisters of Bute Inlet
Keith Harrison (1945-2019) An obituary by Alan Twigg * Born in Vancouver on June 18, 1945, John Keith Harrison, author of nine books, died at his home on Hornby Island on April 10, 2019. As a well-liked and respected professor of English and Creative Writing and Journalism at Vancouver Island University for 22 years, Keith Harrison…
Read more #551 Keith Harrison (1945-2019)
Vancouverism by Larry Beasley, with a prologue by Frances Bula Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019 $39.95 / 9780774890311 Reviewed by Michael Kluckner * Anyone looking for evidence of Vancouver’s essential weirdness could consider these two events: in 2005, a mayor named Sam Sullivan personally trademarked the term “EcoDensity” for a style of highrise development; and, five years later,…
Read more #550 From sawmills to EcoDensity
The Glorious Mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore: A Peakbagger’s Guide by David Crerar, Harry Crerar, and Bill Maurer Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2018 $40.00 / 9781771602419 Reviewed by Glenn Woodsworth * From various points in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, it is possible to look north to mountains that have had just a handful of…
Read more #549 Peak satisfaction
The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land by Pamela Klassen London and Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018 $27.50 (U.S.) / 9780226552736 Reviewed by Susan Neylan * Colonialism has spiritual dimensions; the process of creating a country like Canada transcends physical space and expands into metaphysical realms to permeate the…
Read more #548 On a wing & a telepathic prayer
SENĆOŦEN; A Dictionary of the Saanich Language by Timothy Montler Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018 $150.00 (U.S.) / 9780295743851 Reviewed by Andrew Cienski * SENĆOŦEN; A Dictionary of the Saanich Language, by Timothy Montler, is the latest in a succession of Coast Salish language reference materials. It is the culmination of Montler’s and others’…
Read more #547 Big book, big language
Hider/Seeker: Stories by Jen Currin Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2018 $20.00 / 9781772141177 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * The twenty stories in Vancouver poet Jen Currin’s debut collection of fiction explore the lives of LGBTQ+ characters, in particular their relationships as they fall apart. Loneliness is occasionally assuaged by sex, which is mistaken for love, but…
Read more #546 Flashes of fascinating humanity
The Whole-Body Microbiome: How to Harness Microbes — Inside and Out — for Lifelong Health by B. Brett Finlay and Jessica M. Finlay Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre 2019 $26.95 / 9781771622202 Reviewed by Sandi Ratch * Most of us go through our daily lives not realizing that we have an army of microbe helpers…
Read more #545 Microbes good and bad
First published May 5, 2019 Greg Younging (1961-2019) An obituary by Alan Twigg * Formerly an Assistant Director of Research for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Dr. Gregory George Younging, a publisher of Theytus Books and a professor of Indigenous Studies at the UBC Okanagan campus, died at the Penticton Hospital on May…
Read more #544 Greg Younging (1961-2019)
Lost Boy by Shelley Hrdlitschka Victora: Orca Book Publishers, 2018 $14.95 / 9781459816374 Reviewed by Carol Anne Shaw * Having enjoyed Shelley Hrdlitschka’s Sister Wife (Orca Books, 2008) — a young adult novel about a fictitious polygynous community in Canada — I was excited to read Lost Boy, the story of a young boy’s escape…
Read more #543 In unity is not strength
Passageways by Philip Resnick Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2018 $18.95 / 9781553805236 Reviewed by Andrew Parkin * This book is a selection of poems reaching back more than four decades. Unsurprisingly, we experience an array of subjects and themes expressed mainly in free verse but with very occasional rhymes. The subjects derive from Resnick’s reading and…
Read more #542 Classical, biblical, theoretical
First published April 30, 2019. The Co-op Revolution: Vancouver’s Search For Food Alternatives by Jan DeGrass, with a foreword by Rick Scott Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781987915952 Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants by Jon Steinman Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2019 $19.99 / 9780865719071…
Read more #541 Co-opting the food chain
First published April 29, 2019 Wayson Choy (1939-2019) An obituary by Alan Twigg * At age 80, Wayson Choy died at home on April 28, 2019. Wayson Choy was born on April 20, 1939 in Vancouver as the only son of two working parents. His mother was a meat-cutter and sausage stuffer; he was told…
Read more #540 Wayson Choy (1939-2019)
Ryga Award acceptance speech by Rod Mickleburgh * The notion that workers should collectivize to support one another and prevent exploitation is increasingly viewed as arcane in the Age of Tweets. The Winnipeg General Strike happened 100 years—and few Canadians can tell you what it was, and what happened. Society barely bats an eye as…
Read more #539 Ryga Award acceptance