BOOK GIFTS

GIFT GUIDE B.C. publishers set the table for book lovers on your list

by Charlie Smith

We’ve all heard the term “shop local”, but it’s also possible to read local over the holiday season, thanks to the bounty of books produced by publishers in B.C. Photo by Mel Poole/Unsplash.

Maybe we can attribute it to the pandemic, which has kept writers at home for longer periods. But for whatever With all of that in mind, here are some worthwhile B.C. books listed in no particular order. reason, there’s been an onslaught of intriguing books from B.C. publishers in advance of the holiday season. at makes things a little easier for those looking for gi s for people who would rather keep their noses in a novel than guzzle booze, make use of new cookware, or listen to the latest box sets from the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. People interested in gi -buying in those areas will have to look elsewhere in this newspaper.

In this article, the focus is on the printed word and, in the case of Anvil Press’s Heroines Revisited, some controversial photographs. And for climate keeners, there’s a feature article on page 13 about how rising greenhouse-gas emissions are disrupting hydrological cycles, leading to massive oods. is topic came to our attention via Victoriabased Rocky Mountain Books, which has been publishing the works of water expert Robert William Sandford for many years. It’s not the rst Georgia Straight cover story that has been inspired by a book, and it most certainly won’t be the last.

VANCOUVER VICE: CRIME AND SPECTACLE IN THE CITY’S WEST END by Aaron Chapman, Arsenal Pulp Press Vancouver’s West End was once one of Canada’s sex-trade capitals until local residents, including a future councillor named Gordon Price, decided that wasn’t how they wanted their neighbourhood to evolve. In Vancouver Vice, Aaron Chapman delves into a colourful history of the thriving prostitution scene, uncovering secrets along the way about a controversial “chicken book” allegedly kept by a high-pro le local resident named John Michael Lewis. It’s a rollicking read populated by well-known Vancouverites, just like Chapman’s other books.

HEROINES REVISITED: PHOTOGRAPHS BY LINCOLN CLARKES by Lincoln Clarkes, Anvil Press Vancouver photographer Lincoln Clarkes caused a huge stir with his original photographic series Heroines, which was released in book form by Anvil Press in 2002. ese portraits of marginalized women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside were criticized by

December 2-9 / 2021

13 COVER

Mother Nature has sent a signal that old engineering standards aren’t sufficient when the climate is going haywire. By Charlie Smith Cover photo by Dale Klippenstein

16 REAL ESTATE

Property owners usually appeal assessments because they’re too high, but one homeowner sought a review because he wanted a higher figure. By Carlito Pablo

17 ARTS

Artistic director Aaron Craven founded Mitch and Murray Productions so he could present plays that are relevant and timely, like Snowflake. By Steve Newton

e Start Here 14 AQUACULTURE 4 BOOK GIFTS 22 CLASSIFIED ADS 18 DANCE 15 HEALTH 8 KITCHEN GIFTS 10 LIQUOR GIFTS 12 MUSIC GIFTS 22 SAVAGE LOVE 20 THEATRE

Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 55 | Number 2807

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EDITOR Charlie Smith

GENERAL MANAGER (ACTING)

Sandra Oswald

SECTION EDITORS

Mike Usinger (ESports/Liquor/Music) Steve Newton SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy

STAFF WRITERS

Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Je Li ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER Janet McDonald e Online TOP 5

Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.

1 2 3 4 5

Designer explains how hot housing market killed middle-class flipping.

Site near Broadway subway station up for sale at double assessed value.

NDP government imposes $10 fee on freedomof=information requests.

Florence Ashley: Don’t TERFs have better things to do?

Canucks’ slump isn’t as bad as when Bill LaForge coached the team.

@GeorgiaStraight

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Miguel Hernandez PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

Glenn Cohen, Luci Richards, Catherine Tickle, Robyn Marsh (On-Leave), David Pearlman (On-Leave)

MANAGER, BRANDED CONTENT AND MARKETING LEAD

Rachel Moore

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Alina Blackett CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR Tamara Robinson

Find these and other BC books at your local indie bookstore. .CA

Royal BC Museum $24.95

WHAT WAS SAID TO ME by Ruby Peter, in collaboration with Helene Demers A narrative of resistance and resilience spanning seven decades in the life of a tireless advocate for Indigenous language preservation.

VANCOUVER VICE by Aaron Chapman Aaron Chapman's latest book explores the gritty history of the West End in the 1970s and ’80s.

Arsenal Pulp Press $27.95 Nightwood Editions $21.95

STANDOFF

by Bruce McIvor In clear, plain language, McIvor explains the historical and social forces that underpin the development of Aboriginal law, criticizes the current legal shortcomings and charts a practical, principled way forward.

HEROINES REVISITED

by Lincoln Clarkes This new edition features over 200 portraits accompanied by three new critical essays that contextualize the five-year photo project and the controversial body of work, as well as an interview with the artist.

Anvil Press $48.00

Orca Book Publishers $24.95

CONSERVATION CANINES

by Isabelle Groc This nonfiction book for young readers celebrates the lives of dogs who work with humans to find new ways to solve environmental problems.

AVENUE OF CHAMPIONS

by Conor Kerr Based on Papaschase and Métis oral histories and the lived experience of Indigenous youth in the urban, colonial environment in which they eke out survival, Kerr’s debut novel will not soon be forgotten.

Nightwood Editions $21.95 Anvil Press $18.00

THE ACID ROOM by Jesse Donaldson & Erika Dyck An examination of the history of New Westminster's Hollywood Hospital and the "psychedelic psychiatry" that took place there in the 1950s and '60s.

The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia acknowledges the support of

from page 4 some as exploitive and celebrated by others for drawing attention to deep inequalities in the city. In this new edition, Anvil Press has included essays by two academics and one journalist that offer context while not resolving the controversy. The photos are memorable, in part because Clarkes insisted that his subjects, including some who later went missing, look directly into the camera. But it’s the essays that define why these images remain an important chapter in the history of the Downtown Eastside.

BRAMAH AND THE BEGGAR BOY by Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Nightwood Editions This is a book unlike anything else available in British Columbia: an epic fantasy in verse about a female locksmith and an orphan beggar boy who are helping survivors of the climate breakdown. Ten years in the making, Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s work is the first in her THOT J BAP series, which is inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey, the Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata, and One Thousand and One Nights, a.k.a. The Arabian Nights. Bramah and the Beggar Boy is not for those in a rush to read one book before moving on to the next. The text needs to be savoured and appreciated—and reread a second or third time to find deeper meanings.

STANDOFF: WHY RECONCILIATION FAILS INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND HOW TO FIX IT by Bruce McIvor, Harbour Publishing This collection of essays by noted lawyer Bruce McIvor is a must-read for anyone trying to figure why it’s imperative for B.C. to come to terms with its failure to respect Indigenous land rights. He helps readers understand the crucial differences between Indigenous traditional governance and the elected chiefs and councils that are a product of the Indian Act. Systemic racism and treaty rights are both covered along with his experience growing up Métis in Manitoba. Standoff has received rave reviews from Price Paid author Bev Sellars and UBC Peter A. Allard School of Law professor Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (Aki-Kwe), which should give anyone a great deal of confidence if they’re considering buying this book for a friend or loved one.

ALWAYS PACK A CANDLE: A NURSE IN THE CARIBOO-CHILCOTIN by Marion McKinnon Crook, Heritage House Publishing Health-care workers have become our modern-day saints, given the courage that so many of them demonstrated in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But they haven’t always been so admired. Marion McKinnon Crook’s memoir describes what it was like travelling around the B.C. Interior as a public-health nurse in the 1960s. She immunized scores of kids and also dealt with difficult patients and arrogant doctors. If you want to know what frontline healthcare looked like in this province more than 50 years ago, this is the book for you (or for the health worker on your holiday shopping list.) It’s been on the B.C. bestseller list for 26 consecutive weeks.

DEEP, DARK AND DANGEROUS: THE STORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA’S WORLDCLASS UNDERSEA TECH INDUSTRY by Vickie Jensen, Harbour Publishing This is a great book about a subject that’s rarely talked about in the media these days. Near the start of Deep, Dark and Dangerous, Vickie Jensen shares the incredible story of Newt Suit inventor Phil Nuytten. He dove into Burrard Inlet after the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge on June 17, 1958, hoping to save ironworkers who had fallen into the water. From there, the author serves up a cast of mavericks who set B.C. on a course to becoming a leader in undersea technology. Jensen, editor of Westcoast Mariner, is an old hand at writing sea stories—and it shows in Deep, Dark and Dangerous.

MUSHROOMS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA by Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther, Royal B.C. Museum This amazing reference book by two mushroom experts features gorgeous photographs and illuminating write-ups of many species of fungi in B.C. It’s ideal for amateur mushroom pickers because it just might prevent them from scooping up the poisonous ones. B.C. lawyer Michael Doherty summed it up this way in a message to the Straight: “If you’re the kind of person who goes to a guidebook when you see a bird, or an animal, or a tree that you don’t recognize, well, now you can do the same with mushrooms.” g

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