October 18, 2024 The Wild North Land: A winter journey by dogsled across Canada to British Columbia, Oregon, and the Pacific by William Francis Butler Edmonton: M. G. Hurtig Ltd., 1968 (orig. published 1873) * I know what you’re thinking: another historical, ruminating, British colonialist travelogue, espousing the wonders…
September 27, 2024 Those Earlier Hills: Reminiscences 1928 to 1961 by R. M. Patterson When Richard Mackie recommended I read Patterson, I wasn’t sure what to expect from his writing. Once I tucked into this book by Raymond…
May 13, 2024 Bergerac’s Jersey by John Nettles Before he starred in the television series Midsomer Murders, actor John Nettles had a great run on a BBC-TV series called Bergerac. Set on…
March 6, 2024 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss “Sticklers Unite!” -backcover matter, Eats, Shoots & Leaves My recent experience as non-fiction editor for The British Columbia Review had me pick this book…
February 1, 2024 Jan Wong’s China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent by Jan Wong Jan Wong’s China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent by Jan Wong Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1999 * In the late 1990s there was a palpable…
January 21, 2024 Painting in Canada: a history (2nd edition) by J. Russell Harper “Since its first appearance in 1967, Russell Harper’s classic study of Canadian painting has been recognized as the outstanding authority on the subject. This…
November 8, 2023 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley “…if I were free – not enslaved by my conditioning.” -Bernard Marx This title is by far the best-known of British-born Aldous Huxley, first…
November 5, 2023 The Sea by John Banville The Sea by John Banville New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005 * Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman No, I’m not leaving my senses. This…
June 6, 2023 A Reporter’s Life by Walter Cronkite New York: Ballantine Books, 1997 For the amusement and inspiration of the two reporters in the family. This was what my aunt wrote at…
May 29, 2023 Recollections about writing Capturing the Summit during the pandemic: watching the hockey practice The snow fell lightly onto my car’s windshield. Before me was the vast, dark expanse of Connaught Park. It was early morning. My son…
November 17, 2022 Lambart’s diary Of course, as a writer is waiting for his manuscript to be looked over by an editor, he can’t not stop researching his project,…
July 28, 2022 Researching the book in Banff July 28, 2022 I have to apologize for not having written very much about the progress of Capturing The Summit. I’m about to write…
March 26, 2021 Iona Island It can often be said that the most remarkable of natural encounters happen in wild settings close to urban landscapes without us fully gathering…
March 25, 2021 Terra Nova Rural Park I could see Vancouver International Airport from the parking lot, but until a large winged object starts hurdling towards the sky in a fuel-combusted…
October 3, 2020 The North Arm of the Fraser November 30, 2021 Inflation is rising, stocks are falling and more and more figures in economics are suggesting a correction or financial crash is…
