Everyone has one in their life—that person who is just a little too smart for their own good. This year, impress the intellectual on your list with a gift that educates and intrigues. These 12 provocative reads are sure to spark lively conversations. Buyer beware: you’re in for a loud—but fascinating—holiday dinner!
From acclaimed author Deni Ellis Béchard, White (Talonbooks) is a riveting novel that explores whiteness, modern humanitarianism, and the lies of American exceptionalism and white supremacy. A poignant re-entry into the haunting world of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, White will make for a timely and psychologically complex holiday read.
An important book for anyone engaged with questions about race, privilege, or oppression, Enforcing Exclusion: Precarious Migrants and the Law in Canada (UBC Press) exposes the dark reality behind Canada’s liberal dream. Author Sarah Grayce Marsden reveals how migrant workers, long welcomed in the country for their labour, are often excluded from both workplace protections and basic social benefits and how our legal system has contributed to this damaged condition.
For the politically-minded and locally-engaged reader, Rob Shaw and Richard Zussman offer a behind-the-scenes look at BC’s volatile political climate in A Matter of Confidence: The Inside Story of the Political Battle for BC (Heritage House). With insight and intellect, they shed light on the dramatic rise and fall of Christy Clark’s BC Liberals, the return to power of the NDP, and what it means for the future of our province.
In Listening to the Bees (Nightwood Editions), Mark Winston and Renée Sarojini Saklikar illuminate the most profound human questions: Who are we? Who do we want to be in the world? Through complementary lenses of science and poetry, they reflect on the tension of living in society and the devastation wrought by intensive management of agricultural and urban habitats. Thoughtful and eloquent, Listening to the Bees will delight wordsmiths and nature lovers alike. A must-have for any pollinator advocate.
Editors Philippe Tortell, Mark Turin and Margot Young join forces in Memory (UBC Press / Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies), an innovative collection of essays about how, why, and when we remember. With essays, poetry, lyrics, and personal stories, Memory offers an interdisciplinary look at how memory is transmitted, recorded, and distorted over time. An unforgettable gift for anyone who has ever asked, “where are my keys?”
Adventures in Memory: The Science and Secrets of Remembering and Forgetting (Greystone Books) is another must-read on memory, offering contemporary perspectives on how we remember, why we forget, what memory means to us, and more. Written by two sisters, novelist Hilde Østby and neuroscientist Ylva Østby, the book pairs cutting-edge research with nimble storytelling. For anyone interested in psychology or philosophy, Adventures in Memory is a charming—and memorable—holiday gift.
Take a delightful journey through BC’s extraordinary bounty and explore the secrets of locally grown fruits and vegetables. In Jane Reid’s beautiful new book, Freshly Picked: A Locavore’s Love Affair with BC’s Bounty (Caitlin Press), foodies, locavores, and gardeners will discover fascinating information about the plentiful harvests that BC farmers produce every year.
Hider/Seeker (Anvil Press) is the debut fiction collection from award-winning poet Jen Currin. These stories about addiction and meditation, relationships and almost-relationships invite the reader into the complicated lives of Currin’s characters and invite them to stay. At times funny, at others heartbreaking, this compelling collection will make a welcome addition to any short story lover’s bookshelf.
If sight gives us the world, then hearing—or our ability to listen—gives us our connections with other people. In Sound: A Memoir of Hearing Lost and Found (Greystone Books), award-winning writer Bella Bathurst shares the extraordinary true story of how she lost her hearing and eventually regained it. A mix of journalistic inquiry and personal story, Sound offers a compassionate look at what she learned from her 12 years of deafness. Sound is a captivating and intimate narrative that reads like a novel, which will entice nonfiction and fiction readers alike.
Whether for pleasure, companionship, or religious causes, people have kept birds in captivity since the dawn of humankind. In Ingvar Svanberg and Daniel Moller’s anthology Aviculture: A History (Hancock House), experts from across the globe shed light on our complex connection to the feathered world. Bringing together insights from cultural anthropology, history, and ornithology, Aviculture is the perfect gift for the bird lover or ornithologist on your list.
Kuei, My Friend (Talonbooks) is an absorbing book of letters—a refreshing gift that will encourage bold questions and novel perspectives. Choosing the epistolary form, Innu poet Natasha Kanapé Fontaine and Québécois-American novelist Deni Ellis Béchard offer a frank yet difficult conversation about racism and reconciliation.
For lovers of history or anthropology, Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found (Royal BC Museum) interweaves scientific analysis and cultural knowledge to describe a life that ended just as Europeans were about to arrive in the northwest. Editors Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, and Alexander P. Mackie share how the discovery of a mysterious body—preserved in glacial ice for centuries—has brought both questions and answers about the complex history of our region.
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