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At Galiano Island Books, we love to talk about the books we’ve read. Join us here for updated book reviews of new book releases. Our reviews are written by our own staff members, our friends in the book industry, and our customers. We are passionate about books and our reviews are honest, fair, and educated.
This book is really a masterpiece. If you wanted to show someone the essence of the terminal city who had never even seen a photo of Vancouver, or didn’t know where to find it on a map, this book will do it. Each lovely colour page is laced with gorgeous photographs of real true Vancouver landmarks or areas and paired with a poem by a local writer. This one is really a must for residents (or previous residents!), visitors, and anyone who loves a beautiful book.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by George McWhirter
Set in New Orleans around the time of the hurricane, this story shows how people of different colours and stations in life come together in tragedy. It is also a poignant love story about a city whose people choose to stay even after a disaster.
~ Reviewed by Dot Middlemass (Dot Middlemass is a Book Rep with Kate Walker & Co. and a good friend of Galiano Island Books)
Click here to shop for books by Amanda Boyden
Lots of fresh water might be good for you, but what about the world around us? Royte’s book takes a hard look at the bottled water industry, and what she finds is frightening. From small towns like Freyburg Maine being turned from rural paradises into ecological disasters by having Nestle Foods suck off virtually every drop of water on and under the ground into their bottled water plant to the mountains of empty bottles taking up more and more space in already overstretched landfills, Royte makes it clear that our obsession with bottled water…and big businesses’ willingness to feed it is creating what is one of the worst—and most avoidable—ecological disasters of our age. This fascinating and well written book will make you think twice next time you buy that little plastic bottle of water that Coca Cola, Nestles, Pepsi and their subsidiaries are so happy to sell.
~ Reviewed by Jim Schmidt (Staff Pick)
Click here to shop for books by Elizabeth Royte
Alright, all of you folks who were just waiting for the paperback version of Lamb’s latest masterpiece: the waiting is over. It’s here, it’s gigantic, and you’re about to embark on a journey through the halls of Columbine, the farms of ancestors, and the walls of a prison. Outstanding.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Wally Lamb
(Youth/Young Adult)
I love a good book cover. Who doesn’t? I happened across this beautiful novel as an Advanced Reader’s Copy from last summer’s bookfair. I devoured it in a night. The newly-developed genre of “crossover” books, which are pieces that blur the lines between Adult and Young Adult or Youth fiction, and are enjoyed by ages 9-99 (Harry Potter, Twilight, Bone, etc.) The storyline is unique and lovely: a young woman becomes aware of a “curse” on her family that she is afflicted with. The poem The Elfin Knight (which of course was made into Scarborough Fair, the spine tingling song) plays the central role in the curse, and provides a dark refrain through the book. It is soft, romantic, and mysterious. I can’t recommend this book enough. The title comes from the nature of the tasks requested of the cursed beloved: Impossible. Oh! You have to read this! My heart soars just thinking about this gem.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Nancy Werlin
A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khruschev, America’s Most Unlikely Tourist
For those of us who remember the constant cloud of fear during the cold war (c’mon, Boomers, you can still sing along with the turtle ..."Duck and Cover"...) this book is a real delight. When Russian Premier Nikita Khruschev accepted American President Dwight Eisenhower’s basically insincere invitation to visit the States a whole set of unique problems arose. Where to take him, to whom should he be allowed to talk, how to keep him safe and, perhaps most important, how to keep his famously volatile temper in check. This book deals with all of this and so much more. It starts with the well-known argument between Khruschev and Vice-President Richard Nixon (called the ‘Kitchen Debates’) and ends with the U2 spy flights over Russia and Khruschev's display of that volatile temper at the UN. Highlights to watch for: why the Disneyland Trip was off, the joy of self-serve dining and the Dry-Cleaning Institute visit. It is truly scary how much mankind’s continued existence depended on the egos of a few very human men (and it was all men). This book gives a well-researched, well-written and totally engrossing view of those men and an all-but-forgotten interlude in the history of the Cold War. Oh, the title? A newspaper headline, of course.
~ Reviewed by Judith Wyles (Galiano Reader)
Click here to shop for books by Peter Carlson
If you are a Harry Potter fan,this is the perfect series for you. The characters are Silas Heap, Jenna, the daughter of the Queen Nicko Heap and Septimus Heap. The story is about the Heap family and their adopted daughter Jenna. Jenna is running away when their home is being taken over by the bad wizards. This story is an excellent adventure for readers who want something a little more complex than Harry Potter. It is very interesting and everyone should read it. There are five books in the series. Read it now!
~ Reviewed by Olivia Dong, Age 10
Click here to shop for books by Angie Sage
Oh, Michael Cunningham, where have you been all my life? Why didn’t I read your other novels (The Hours, for one…)? I didn’t know your brilliance, and for that I now repent.
So there’s a start to my opinion on this novel. It isn’t just a story about a husband and wife, it’s really a satisfying and eloquent piece about men and women, and the grey areas that are so real and widely experienced and yet hidden away as taboo. I also found the many art references, and glimpse into the world of a Manhattan art dealer so fresh and interesting. Free tour of NYC Modern Art included! Also, some really intense moments. A phone call you hold your breath as the character answers. The cup of coffee you wish he wouldn't drink. That midnight scene in the kitchen. Oh, happy reader, I won't tell you any more. Please read this. I couldn’t put it down.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Dear Reader,
There are four things that you should know about this book before you decide to buy it:
1) It is published by McSweeney’s. This company is run by Dave Eggers, who wrote such wonderful books as A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and the award winning What is the What.
2) The cover is funky, fun, and unique. It sets the tone and mood for the story.
3) I loved this book. It kept me guessing, and the strength of the character of Mr. Hibma is worth the price of admission.
4) Once you have ready one of “McSweeney’s Rectangulars” as they are called, you will be very pleased to find many, many more books just like this, along with endless other entertaining, dark, quirky stories on their website, www.mcsweeneys.net
This book is an adventure. When you read it, you’re going to smell the dark earth of the ‘bunker’, you’ll feel the chill of cement floors in Mr. Hibma’s storage locker, and the torn and perfectly annoying nature of Shelby’s angst-filled teenage mind.
Now…get reading.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
A new book by Billie Livingston comes out of a box as I'm receiving at the store. It has a funky cover (woman in pool with inflated alligator...remember those?) and great title, so I am excited. Less so, however, when I read the flap and realize that it is a collection of short stories. I don't know about you, happy reader, but I get emotionally involved in every book that I read, and short stories feel like one night stands, if you'll pardon the comparison.
When it comes to this new collection by Vancouver writer Billie Livingston, you're in for something completely different. These are ten meaningful and fulfilling relationships. Ten reasons to love Livingston, and ten ways to treat yourself to a story that will capture your attention and affection. I loved every single one, and found myself feeling like I'd received a great gift (or ten) from this writer. I have written about novels in which "not a word was wasted", but in this case it's particularly true considering the length of each tale. These stories have depth and substance, they are large alligators in a small pool. Pick this book up, and you will only put it down to sleep and eat your french toast. Brilliant.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Canadian author Richard B. Wright may be most well known for his novel Clara Callan several years ago, but I love him best for one of his most recent novels, Adultery. When I saw this new arrival from Wright, I was thrilled and interested. Although he has written historical fiction before, that history has not usually extended further back than the 20th century. This yarn, however, unravels in the 1600s English countryside, and into the London of the day. Wright is a storyteller, and is relentless in terms of his masterful weaving of misery through the book. Love happy endings? Wright may not be for you. Interested in exploring the dirty streets of London and muddy country towns in Warwickshire? Ever wondered what it would be like to bump into Will Shakespeare in the street? This is the book for you. Beautiful winter read, intelligent and sanguine. Loved it!
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
*2010 Man Booker Prize Shortlist*
Well, that was intense. If you’re familiar with the terrifying and true story of Jaycee Dugard, you might understand a bit of what I mean. This is the kind of novel that really doesn’t need a cover/flap description, let alone a summary. It stands all by itself in its darkness, unique nature and readability. There are times when you’re scared to continue, and yet can’t wait to find out what happens next. Finding oneself at the last page, the reader may be sad that it’s over. This is what I would call a "situation read" as opposed to a languid winter read. It's more a book that I would recommend sitting down with when you're sort of in the mood for watching a really great movie. Or say you've got a few hours to kill. Or the power is out. It's really going to wrap you up in its pages, and you won't be able to go far without this story being completely on your mind. In my humble and unsolicited opinion, Donoghue’s insane creativity and imaginative horror should have won her this year's Man Booker Prize, but alas I am not on the judging committee. Tread lightly, happy reader!
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
If you have read Shriver’s masterpiece We Need To Talk About Kevin, you may have some idea what to expect here. If you have not, I can give you some important pointers. Firstly, Shriver has no qualms about touching any subject, and there isn’t any ten-foot-pole in sight. She digs right in and takes no prisoners. The story is about many things, but its core message reminds me of what a very wise man once sang: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Reading through the complete disintegration of one man’s life, you are completely enraptured. Don’t be afraid of the first 40 pages! You may feel what seems to be almost a hesitation on the author’s part before she gets into the down and dirty. You will soon be completely wrapped up in the lives of Shep, Glynis, Jackson and their families, and it’s absorbing. Be warned that you are going into dark places, and I’m not going to tell you where you’ll come out on the other side, but if you loved WNTTAK, you will adore this chunky, modern, and very sassy read.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
I opened this book with no idea what to expect. And now, having finished it 12 short hours ago, I am nearly at a loss to explain how this book really touched me, and why you should read it.
Luckily, I love to review books almost as much as I love reading them, and I can dig deep to come up with the words that may persuade you to put down whatever it is you're reading, and pick up this truly creative work. Rachman surprised me with how complex he was able to make each character, even though they were each only given one small section. Multiple perspective novels are tricky, and he somehow avoided the cliched final chapter where he 'brings it all together'. Instead, he builds each character on top of the other, and the relationships among them don't become clear until he's really ready to pull back the curtain. The pacing, intensity and believability were so strong throughout. It is the story of a newspaper that is failing, and the final days, but it is also a story about writers and readers. Tom Rachman is a gifted writer, and I'm really looking forward to whatever comes next.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Apparently, “Pregnant Widow” is a term used to describe a point in time between major social periods. In Amis’ new book, the Widow is 1970, and the dawn of the sexual revolution. Wait! Don’t stop reading! It’s not like that, I swear. What if I told you that most of the book takes place in a castle in Italy with a ragtag bunch of rich young people, who do nothing but have sex, slather themselves in olive oil and sunbathe topless? Better, right? This novel is really about Keith, a twenty year old British lad who is fresh out of a
boring semester in University and is spending the summer with his on-again-off-again girlfriend Lily, their friend Scheherezade (yeah, I know...you get used to it though) a couple of gorgeous gay men, and some really randy other chicks. But you don’t just get Keith in his summer glory, you get many short chapters that are Keith twenty years later, or much earlier, and action never stops, even though nothing really “happens” in this novel. Amis is a gifted, subtle, and very funny writer and I’m so elated to have discovered him, albeit many books into his career. This is the magic of Galiano Island Books; you always find something new to fall in love with!
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Caroline Adderson already had several things going for her before I read the first few pages of this novel and got completely hooked. For starters, she's a Vancouverite. Next, she's already won an award (the Marian Engel award in 2006 for outstanding body of work of a mid-career writer!) and thirdly, the cover is fantastic (Nope, not going to tell you a thing. Come on into the store and molest it yourself). I loved the focal character, who seemed in some ways wise beyond her years, and in others simply as the second year university student that she was. Creating that level of parallel universe point of view can't be an easy feat, and I really admired her ability to instill this into her character.
For Vancouver folks, this novel is a lovely little adventure back into the city. Through Adderson, I hung out in some old haunts, took a walk downtown, and a magical little jaunt through the UBC campus I so desperately love and miss. The novel is about activists. It's about growing up, and it's about how much you need to know about the world and about your cause(s) before you can throw yourself on the line. Remember being 19 and being so sure that you knew all you needed to know about yourself and what was "worth it"? This will bring you right back, and get you thinking.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
If, like me, you have voyeuristic and somewhat dark tendencies when it comes to reading, you will truly be able to relate to my excitement about this book.
Michael Winter, an East Coast Canadian writer (and brother of phenomenal writer Kathleen Winter) is no stranger to our store’s shelves. This book, of course, is something really different that should almost have its own section. It’s not exactly True Crime, since he has changed all names, and combined some characters that would otherwise prove redundant for his concise purposes, and has paraphrased and placed statements into the third person. But the haunting aspect of this book that’s hard to shake is that it is 100% based on a real murder that happened in Winter’s town in 1993. The story is so compelling that I found myself awake at 1am online trying to Google all I could about the murder of Brenda Young, on whom the very visceral character of Donna Whalen is based. Now, writing this review I have decided to tell you nothing about what I found. I almost wish I hadn’t looked. I invite you to devour this book and wait until you have closed that back black cloth cover and sighed with a slight sad smile to do any research, should you be so inclined.
Winter has chosen statements and passages and wiretaps from thousands of pages of legal documents, and what is remarkable is how he’s put them together with such a flow and format as to sharpen the reader’s interest with every change of perspective. He has taken such care with his writing, and achieved a book of poise and grace that reads as a testament to injustice, mystery, and the small town life with which we are so familiar.
An important tidbit: at the back of the book, (careful, don’t peek at anything else!) there is a list of the characters and their connections and relations. I didn’t find this until I had finished, and it would have been extremely helpful, particularly in the first section of the book.
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
A heartbreakingly honest tale of how things said or not said in the span of house can affect the rest of your life. Absolutely enchanting, beautifully drawn characters – you will re-read passages just for the pure beauty of the language.
~ Reviewed by Seonaid Renwick (Staff Pick)
Click here to shop for books by Ian McEwan
In February of 2001, Robert Kull set out for a tiny island in Patagonia, right along the Andes Mountains. He brought with him enough food and supplies to last him one year. He also brought materials to build a small cabin, and a long-haired kitten. Bob Kull was no stranger to spending time in solitude. At 54 years old he had had many other adventures all over the world during which he was almost completely alone. This project, however, was to be the most extreme and trying in his life. It was also a very expansive and unique subject for his Ph.D. thesis at the University of British Columbia.
“Reviewing” this book is nearly impossible. It is far too emotional and incredibly strange to place opinions on any chapters, sections, or words within this piece. What we will say, is that it is glorious.
~ Reviewed by Peter Barrett and Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Bob Kull
His first novel in 15 years is a delight with some tragedy. It is the story of life-long friends coming together after a long time apart and testing the ties that bind them. This book kept me up until 1:30 in the morning as I couldn't stop reading until it was done. It was very satisfying and less devastating than Prince of Tides.
~ Reviewed by Dot Middlemass (Dot Middlemass is a Book Rep with Kate Walker & Co. and a good friend of Galiano Island Books)
Click here to shop for books by Pat Conroy
Love, loss and car racing as told through the eyes of Enzo the dog, who is looking back over his life with his person Denny. It is a wonderful look at the human condition and love from a canine perspective. I couldn't put it down and it made me cry for sadness and joy.
~ Reviewed by Dot Middlemass (Dot Middlemass is a Book Rep with Kate Walker & Co. and a good friend of Galiano Island Books)
Click here to shop for books by Garth Stein
One of my favourite books ever is here in paperback. Combine a drug-addicted pornography star coming through a car crash with a strange and sensual woman claiming to be his centuries-old lover and you’ve got a tale that will leave you breathless. I don’t usually use such clichéd little sentences, but I must tell you how unique and wonderfully crazy this novel is, and ‘breathless’ describes exactly how I felt upon reading.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Andrew Davidson
Eric Weiner is a self-declared grump, who came up with an utterly unique way to find that happiness at the end of the rainbow we all seek. Starting out at the World Database of Happiness (yes, it really exists) in Amsterdam, Weiner visits the happiest and least happy places in the world to try to learn their secrets for being happy (or not). Part travelogue and part self exploration, this book takes us to such exotic and remote places as Bhutan (probably the only country in the world with a Ministry of Happiness), Qatar (does wealth make happiness?), and Moldovia (allegedly the world’s least happy place). He even takes us to Slough England, location of a British reality show that attempted to increase the happiness of this rather miserable place by jollying up the contestants (to find out if it worked, you’ll have to read the book). Weiner has a self deprecating sense of humor that makes this book as enjoyable as it is informative. Although this is not your run-of-the mill help-yourself-to-happiness book, it does contain some thought-provoking insights as well as plenty of laughs.
~ Reviewed by Jim Schmidt (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Eric Weiner
I loved this book! Beautifully written. Very sweet, fabulous characters and brave souls. The novel is about a terrible time on Guernsey in the Channel Islands during the German occupation and a group of extraordinary survivors of this time.
~ Reviewed by Lee Trentadue (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Mary Ann Shaffer
Anyone else been waiting very patiently for nine years for Wally Lamb to put out a new novel? (It’s okay, you can raise your hand…nobody will know.) I certainly have. So when I held this 4 inch beautiful novel stretching over 700 pages, I nearly cried. “Look! Look!” I screeched to the next person who came through the door. The young child eyed me suspiciously and refused to agree that the release of this wonderful book was long overdue, and that it indeed was a Christmas Miracle.
So. What’s it all about?
It’s a mosaic. It’s a beautiful, sweeping, mysterious journey through the life of a man named Caelum Quirk. It is a unique and epic tale that rivals the complexity of his previous masterpiece, I Know This Much Is True, which chronicled the lifetime of a pair of twins, one of whom has schizophrenia. I held this book in my hands like a kitten while my mind ferociously devoured his words. If you love Lamb’s writing, you will not be disappointed, and if you don’t know if you love Wally Lamb’s writing, I suggest that you give him a swing. Highly recommended!
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Wally Lamb
Lee handed me this book and said “Please read this and tell me what you think” and I allocated it to the burgeoning pile of books and papers next to my bed. Something in the cover lured me in and then something in the first paragraph would not let me go. Rhea has written a novel so sensitively attuned to the tumultuous time and place it is set in and with such attention to the details of each character that it reads like a memoir. Take an overly sensitive young Jewish girl (she attaches ominous meaning to the sound of the knife sharpener’s bell), living in Winnipeg during the Great Depression who is then uprooted and moved with her family back to Stalinist Russia and then back again to Canada in the fifties, and imagine the stories she would have to tell about her life – it’s all here in this beautiful book of family, loss and the meaning of home. Rhea Tregebov is also a gifted poet and it shows – the Knife Sharpener’s Bell rings true.
~ Reviewed by Seonaid Renwick (Staff Pick)
Click here to shop for books by Rhea Tregebov
What a wonderful “can't-put-it-down” book! This book had me so mesmerized by its lyrical beauty, honesty and rawness that I started to forget it was a book and that I was not living it! Shades of “Lord of the Flies” set at the time of the Irish Potato famine. One of my favorites now – a must-read for sure.
~ Reviewed by Seonaid Renwick (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Peter Behrens
This one threw me for a loop. The cover declares “At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child that is not his own.” If that doesn’t get you interested, then I will tell you that this thick read is about so much more than the Slap. The depth of character found between these covers is outstanding. I couldn’t put it down, and it was pure joy to discover the interior of each character’s mind and heart. This is the kind of novel that aspiring novelists need to read: this is what it looks like when it’s done really, really right. Fantastic.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
Click here to shop for books by Christos Tsiolkas
The Tardy Boys is a really good series of books to read. It’s about three brothers, Leyton, Wade and T.J. They’re always late to school and that’s why they’re called the Tardy Boys. But if you have a mystery the Tardy Boys usually can solve it, although sometimes they get others to solve it for them and then take the credit themselves. And they’re saying or doing something funny. As Wade says, “If you moved into Leyton’s head all you would see is monkeys jumping around or butterflies fluttering around.”?
~ Reviewed by Jack Dong, Age 7
Click here to shop for books by Todd Strasser
I love Irish fiction. It’s dark, it’s depressing, someone (usually many “someones”) always dies, and love is almost always lost. Plus, folks are usually poor and hungry and dirty.
This is a bit more polished, but still has the darkness of the heart and spirit we love so much in this type of fiction. It is also one of the most wonderfully unpredictable reads I’ve had in a long time.
~ Reviewed by Lindsay Williams (Staff Picks)
What an adventure this book was. I read it in a day, and was really impressed by how the author kept her fantasy/reality in check. Sometimes, when the “unbelievable” enters into a “regular” novel, bad things can happen. This is not the case with White is for Witching. It is a beautiful, subtle combination of reality and fantasy with wonderful characters and a complex plot. It had some pretty intense scenes, ones where you hold on to the covers a bit tighter and find yourself re-reading over and over, just to make sure…”did I read that right???” Fantastic creepy summer read. Loved it!
~ Reviewed by Linsdsay Williams (Staff Picks)
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