Adult Titles

1. Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent  Andrew Nikiforuk  9781553654070  Greystone Books/David Suzuki Foundation

Combining extensive scientific research and compelling writing, Andrew Nikiforuk takes the reader to Fort McMurray, home to some of the world’s largest open-pit mines, and explores this twenty-first-century pioneer town from the exorbitant cost of housing to its more serious social ills. He uncovers a global Deadwood, complete with rapturous engineers, cut-throat cocaine dealers, aimless bush workers, American evangelicals, and the largest population of homeless people in northern Canada. He also explains that this micro-economy supplies gasoline for 50 percent of Canadian vehicles and 16 percent of U.S. demand.

2. Getting to the Bubble: More Stories that Shimmer and Pop  Mike McCardell  9781550174434  Harbour Publishing

Mike McCardell, the legendary Vancouver reporter who tries to restore people’s faith in living after they’ve finished watching the appalling mayhem on the evening news, is back with another collection of simple but irresistible stories: there are the ownerless shoes, sitting day after day in a washroom used mainly by big-time celebrities. There are the big cajones one daren’t mention and the magic dachshund whose poop can clear the snow off driveways.But most of all there’s the tireless reporter combing the streets of his modern big city, looking for inspiring acts of humanity amid the urban roar. And always, always finding them.

3. Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2009 under $20  James Nevison & Kenji Hodgson  9781552859377 Whitecap Books

Alongside the under $20 reviews (and a special splurge section for when you’re feeling flush), Had a Glass delivers pretty much every other morsel of information the casual, yet dedicated, wine drinker needs to know. Along with easy charts that decode varietals and offer suggestions, a glassware glossary and a section of food and wine pairings, Hodgson and Nevison even suggest wines to match your frame of mind. Where can you find a good Wednesday wine for your middle of the week blues? Only in Had a Glass.

4. House Calls by Dogsled: Six Years in an Arctic Medical Outpost  Keith Billington  9781550174236  Harbour Publishing

“People go north for a variety of reasons, some stay for a lifetime, while others can’t wait to leave at the end of whatever term they have signed on for. The north tends to be either loved or hated with equal passion.” These are the words of Keith Billington, who with his wife Muriel, arrived in the Northwest Territories outpost of Fort McPherson, 1,700 miles north of Edmonton, in mid-September 1964. Keith, a nurse, and Muriel, a midwife, were barely into their twenties and fresh from England when they arrived, eager to put their brand new skills to work. Their clients were the Gwich’in people, who taught them how to snowshoe, choose a dog team and live off the land.

5. Tragedy at Second Narrows: The Story of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge  Eric Jamieson  9781550174519  Harbour Publishing

Tragedy at Second Narrows unravels one of Vancouver’s great mysteries with all the appeal of a gripping detective novel. Eric Jamieson has returned to the scene of the tragedy and reconstructed the tragic event with scrupulous care, introducing the entire cast of politicians, construction bosses, engineers and ironworkers; he relives those terrifying moments when the structure began to crack and drop like the bottom was falling out of the world. In the end, readers will have learned about the fascinating world of big-time bridge building and will be left with a searingly clear picture of precisely how a great disaster took shape and plunged to its inevitable conclusion.

6. Beyond the Chilcotin: On the Home Ranch with Pan Phillips  Diana Phillips  9781550174472  Harbour Publishing

Pioneers Pan Phillips and his partner Rich Hobson carved their places in ranching history when they discovered “grass beyond the mountains” in the far reaches of the Chilcotin and founded some of the most isolated ranches in North America. This is the story of Pan Phillips’ youngest daughter Diana, who learned to trap muskrat when she was little more than a toddler, worked with haying crews before she was into her teens and was renowned far and wide as the only person feisty enough to best her legendary father in a slanging match. Beyond the Chilcotin is both an unparalleled chronicle of the old time rancher’s annual round and the testament of a remarkable woman.

7. Legacy in Wood: The Wahl Family Boat Builders  Ryan Wahl  9781550174335  Harbour Publishing

Centuries before steel, fibreglass, aluminum and automation were applied to shipbuilding, early twentieth century British Columbian shipwrights hand built fish boats entirely out of wood. Legacy in Wood is an illustrated story of one of those shipwrights, Ed Wahl. With the help of his six sons, Wahl created the most successful commercial fish-boat building enterprise on British Columbia’s north coast, and one of the most well known boat shops on the entire British Columbia coast. Threaded with memories of Ed’s sons and the crew of the Wahl boatyards, Legacy in Wood provides a unique look into a family business that enabled the fishing industry to be a mainstay of British Columbia’s economy.

8. The Genius of James Barber: His Best Recipes  James Barber  9781550174496  Harbour Publishing

Distinguished fans pay tribute to a nationally beloved, culinary icon, with a mouth-watering collection of recipes.

We always knew James Barber played an important role in freeing us from our culinary hang-ups but it wasn’t until he passed away in 2007 that a truly astonishing outpouring of tributes from famous chefs and ordinary cooks alike made clear the full extent of his impact. In this book some of his most distinguished fans get together to collect James’ greatest recipes, from Ginger Tea to Indonesian Fish, and talk about what his art meant to them.

9. Rowboat in a Hurricane: My Amazing Journey Across a Changing Atlantic Ocean  Julie Angus  9781553653370  Greystone Books

In 2005–06, Julie Angus rowed 10,000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first woman in the world to travel from mainland to mainland in a rowboat. She was accompanied by her fiancé at the time,

Colin Angus, who was completing a round-the-world expedition using human power only. Rowboat in a Hurricane is a gripping adventure story of a woman’s difficult and courageous journey with her partner in a cramped vessel. More important, it is a unique record of an amazing ecosystem, its fascinating inhabitants, and the many threats they face.

10. Hello Sweetheart? Gimmie Rewrite! My Life in the Wonderful World of Sports  Jim Taylor  9781550174373  Harbour Publishing

At age seventeen, Jim Taylor began a career in writing as part-time high school sports reporter. Forty-eight years, some 7,500 five-a-week columns, three times as many radio shows and twelve books later, Jim Taylor is undeniably one of Canada’s most loved sports writers. In Hello, Sweetheart? Gimme Rewrite!, Taylor looks back at half a century of sitting in on the sidelines with “the kings and queens of second-guess, the heroes of hindsight.”

Children’s Titles

1. A Field Guide to the Identification of Pebbles  Eileen Van der Flier-Keller  9781550173956 Harbour Publishing

A full colour, laminated, accordion folded, easy to use guide with over 80 beautiful photographs of pebbles from beaches and rivers.

2. Miga, Quatchi and/et Sumi: The Story of the Vancouver 2010 Mascots  Michael Murphy & Vicki Wong  9781552859582  Whitecap Books

This is a very colourful and heartwarming story profiling the three chosen mascots and their sidekick for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics. The mascots were inspired by the legends of the Pacific Northwest First Nations. Miga, a sea bear, Quatchi, a sasquatch, Sumi, a guardian spirit, and Mukmuk, a marmot are all described in terms of habitat, diet, activities and how they were chosen for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics. The entire story is written in both English and French with full-page illustrations. Additional information regarding the Olympics and Paralympics is provided with pictures of all events. This book is co-published with VANOC.

3. The West is Calling  Sarah N. Harvey  9781551439365  Orca Book Publishers

Combining evocative haiku, informative text and luminous illustrations, The West Is Calling is a celebration, for our youngest readers, of one hundred and fifty years of British Columbia’s history. Each detail-rich illustration depicts a particular moment in the province’s dynamic saga, from pre-contact Haida culture, to the natural resources-fueled economic boom in the 1960s and beyond, to Expo 86, to the opening up of the North and the growing appreciation of First Nations’ traditions.

4. Ramp Rats – A Graphic Guide Adventure  Liam O’Donnell  9781551438801  Orca Book Publishers

Fresh from his adventures in Wild Ride, Marcus is back and helping his cousin, Bounce, learn to skate. Between learning how to ollie and do a 50-50 grind, Bounce and his friends also have to avoid the skate-park goons and take on the outlaw bikers who are terrorizing the small town. Excitement, action and some radical skating tips. Hang on for another wild ride!

5. Sister Wife  Shelley Hrdlitschka  9781551439273  Orca Book Publishers

Celeste was born and raised in Unity, yet she struggles to fit in. Perhaps it’s because of Taviana, the girl who has come to live with them and entertains Celeste with forbidden stories, or Jon, the young man she has clandestine meetings with, or maybe it’s the influence of Craig, the outsider she meets on the beach. Whatever it is, she struggles to accept her ordained life. At fifteen she is repulsed at the thought of being assigned to an older man and becoming a sister wife, and she knows for certain she is not cut out to raise children. She wants something more for herself, yet feels powerless to change her destiny because rebelling would bring shame upon her family. Sister Wife is a compelling portrait of a community where the laws of the outside world are ignored and where individuality is punished.

* This list is compiled using data provided by TBM BookManager Ltd.