Season’s Readings!
Yesterday we shared the final instalment of our nine-part gift guide series, inspired by a 2019 BookNet Canada survey of Canadians’ reading habits.
Over the last few weeks, we curated lists of BC books to help you give the gifts of relaxation, pleasure, creativity, inspiration, entertainment, connection, knowledge, discovery, and escape.
Our gift guides + your local independent bookstore = holiday shopping, done!
Scroll down for an overview of our gift lists, or click their titles to read the full post. Happy holidays!
Part 1: Books to Relax With
Part 2: Reading for Pleasure
Part 3: Get Creative
Part 4: Books to Inspire
Part 5: Entertainment, Unplugged
Part 6: Stories for Sharing
Part 7: Knowledge is Power
Part 8: Make a Discovery
Part 9: Escape into Books
Books to Relax With
clockwise from top left:
109 Walks in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland by John Halliday and Alice Purdey (Greystone Books).
E.J. Hughes Paints British Columbia by Robert Amos (TouchWood Editions).
Quebec City in the Mid-Sixties by Pierre Anctil, photographs by Jean-Louis Anctil (Midtown Press).
Winterlust: Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season by Bernd Brunner (Greystone Books).
Yoga Baby by Amy Hovey (Orca Book Publishers).
Reading for Pleasure
clockwise from top left:
Boonoonoonous Hair by Olive Senior, illustrations by Laura James (Tradewind Books).
Cedar and Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field and Sea by DL Acken and Emily Lycopolus (TouchWood Editions).
I Saw Three Ships: West End Stories by Bill Richardson (Talonbooks).
So You’re a Little Sad, So What?: Nice Things to Say to Yourself on Bad Days and Other Essays by Alicia Tobin (Arsenal Pulp Press).
The Long Table Cookbook: Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health by Amy Symington (Douglas & McIntyre).
Get Creative
clockwise from top left:
Bounce House by Jennica Harper (Anvil Press).
Inconvenient Skin / nayêhtâwan wasakay by Shane L. Koyczan (Theytus Books).
Kiskajeyi – I AM READY by Michelle Sylliboy (Rebel Mountain Press).
Quarrels by Eve Joseph (Anvil Press).
Winter’s Cold Girls by Lisa Baird (Caitlin Press).
Books that Inspire
clockwise from top left:
Against Death: 35 Essays On Living edited by Elee Kraljii Gardiner (Anvil Press).
Escape to the Wild: A Family’s Return to Simplicity by Andrea Hejlskov (Caitlin Press).
From Where I Stand: Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a Stronger Canada by Jody Wilson-Raybould (Purich Books, an imprint of UBC Press).
Let ‘Em Howl: Lessons from a Life in Backroom Politics by Pat Sorbara (Nightwood Editions).
My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful—One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life by Anne Bokma (Douglas & McIntyre).
Entertainment, Unplugged
clockwise from top left:
Christmas in Mariposa: Sketches of Canada’s Legendary Little Town by Jamie Lamb (Heritage House Publishing).
A Crow Called Canuck: A Children’s Activity Book by Arran & Haru Yarmie (Hancock House Publishers).
The Next Ones: How McDavid, Matthews and a Group of Young Guns Took Over the NHL by Michael Traikos (Douglas & McIntyre).
Please Stand By by Carolyn Bennett (Now or Never Publishing Co.).
Redpatch by Sean Harris Oliver & Raes Calvert (Talonbooks).
Stories for Sharing
clockwise from top left:
The Circle of Caring and Sharing by Theresa “Corky” Larsen-Jonasson, illustrated by Jessika Von Innerebner (Medicine Wheel Education).
The Journey Forward: Novellas on Reconciliation by Richard Van Camp and Monique Gray Smith (McKellar & Martin).
May We Have Enough to Share by Richard Van Camp (Orca Book Publishers).
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji (Arsenal Pulp Press).
Stories from the Magic Canoe of Wa’xaid by Cecil Paul (Rocky Mountain Books).
Knowledge is Power
clockwise from top left:
The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa by Charles Ulrich (New Star Books).
Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Kids).
How to Become an Accidental Genius by Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Jenn Playford (Orca Book Publishers).
Queering Representation: LGBTQ People and Electoral Politics in Canada edited by Manon Tremblay (UBC Press).
Scatterbrain: How the Mind’s Mistakes Make Humans Creative, Innovative, and Successful by Henning Beck (Greystone Books).
Make a Discovery
clockwise from top left:
The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J. Duane Sept (Harbour Publishing).
Riding the Continent by Hamilton Mack Laing (Ronsdale Press).
Service on the Skeena: Horace Wrinch, Frontier Physician by Geoff Mynett (Ronsdale Press).
By Snowshoe, Buckboard and Steamer: Women of the British Columbia Frontier by Kathryn Bridge (Royal BC Museum).
Vancouver After Dark: The Wild History of a City’s Nightlife by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press).
Escape into Books
clockwise from top left:
Henry & Self: An English Gentlewoman at the Edge of Empire by Kathryn Bridge (Royal BC Museum).
San Josef by Harold Macy (Tidewater Press).
Shot Rock by Michael Tregebov (New Star Books).
The Weight of Snow by Christian Guay-Poliuin (Talonbooks).
Tinsmith 1865 and Widow 1881 by Sara Dahmen (Promontory Press).