BC Bestsellers

Week of October 26, 2014

1. Whitewater Cooks With Passion  Shelley Adams  9780981142425  Alicon Holdings

Another fabulous book in the Whitewater Cooks series! Full of all new recipes, this one focuses on fresh, healthy recipes and includes many innovative dishes that will inspire a passion for food and these amazing cookbooks!

2. Dipnetting with Dad  Willie Sellars and Kevin Easthope  9781927575536  Caitlin Press

Set in the beautiful landscape of the Cariboo Chilcotin region, Dipnetting with Dad is a delightful and colourful story of a father teaching his son the Secwepemc method of fishing known as dipnetting. Together they visit the sweat lodge, mend the nets, select the best fishing spot and catch and pack their fish through rugged bush back to the family home for traditional preparation. In his first book, Williams Lake Indian Band member Willie Sellars captures family values, the importance of storytelling, community living and coming of age in one of BC’s oldest cultures. Debut artist Kevin Easthope’s contemporary and dynamic illustrations bring the characters to life as they jump off the page and pull you into their world.

3. From the West Coast to the Western Front   Mark Forsythe and Greg Dickson  9781550176667  Harbour Publishing

It has often been observed that the First World War jolted Canada into nationhood, and as Mark Forsythe and Greg Dickson show in this compelling book, no province participated more eagerly in that transformation or felt the aftershock more harshly than British Columbia. In From the West Coast to the Western Front, Forsythe, host of CBC Radio’s mid-day show BC Almanac, marks the 100th anniversary of World War I by teaming with historian Greg Dickson and the ever resourceful BC Almanac audience to compile a sweeping portrayal of that crucial chapter of BC history. This volume tells of submarine smuggling, bagpipes lost on the battlefield and of the ongoing struggles by soldiers who made it home. It tells of battles that set records for mass death amid conditions of unequalled squalor, but also of the heroism of front-line nurses and soldiers like George Maclean, a First Nations man from the Okanagan, who won the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

4. Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest  Ian McAllister  9781771640459  Greystone Books

5. Tin Fish Gourmet: Great Seafood from Cupboard to Table  Barbara-jo McIntosh  9781551525464  Arsenal Pulp Press

As an ingredient, canned seafood often gets short shrift; it’s often considered a mundane filler for salads, casseroles, and sandwiches by those in a hurry or on a budget. But while fresh is always best, there’s no reason why canned seafood has to be boring. Discover how to transform everyday canned seafood into stylish, delicious dishes in this cookbook that features innovative recipes for not only tinned salmon and tuna but clams, oysters, shrimp, crabmeat, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and more. Make sophisticated versions of traditional seafood dishes such as Creamy Garlic & Clam Chowder, Kentucky Crab Crepes, New England Salmon Cakes, and Apple, Cheddar & Tuna Melt. This cookbook is perfect for students, those on a budget, or those with time constraints, but it’s also a sea-worthy companion for any home cook with a pantry.

6. Vancouver Confidential  John Belshaw  9781927380994  Anvil Press

Vancouver Confidential is a collaboration of artists and writers who plumb the shadows of civic memory looking for the stories that don’t fit into mainstream narratives. We honour the chorus line behind the star performer, the mug in the mugshot, the victim in the murder, the teens in the gang, and the “slum” in the path of the bulldozer. By focusing on the stories of the common people rather than community leaders and headliners, Vancouver Confidential shines a light on the lives of Vancouverites that have for so long been ignored.

7. Dirty Apron Cookbook  David Robertson  9781927958179  Figure 1 Publishing

Unleash your inner chef with this collection of the best tried-and-true recipes from Vancouver’s acclaimed Dirty Apron Cooking School. Featuring more than 80 of the school’s time-tested signature dishes – —from quick-and-easy starters to seasonal soups, sandwiches and entrées to sinfully more-ish desserts – this cookbook will become your go-to volume for delicious everyday meals and foolproof dinner party dishes. Lavishly illustrated with full-page food photos and instructional sequences, loaded with chefs’ notes and tricks of the trade and written with the home cook in mind, The Dirty Apron Cookbook is like your own private cooking class – a reference you can return to again and again.

8. Dolphin SOS  Roy Miki, Slavia Miki and Julie Flett   9781896580760  Tradewind Books

Based on true events, Dolphin SOS recounts the story of three dolphins trapped in an ice-covered cove on the coast of Newfoundland. After the government fails to provide assistance, some young boys take matters into their own hands in order to save the distressed dolphins.

9. A Rock Fell on the Moon  Alicia Priest  9781550176728  Harbour Publishing

In A Rock Fell on the Moon, Alicia Priest consults letters, news stories, archived RCMP files and court documents, and interviews with former mine employees, litigators and police investigators, to piece together the full story of her father’s infamous heist. The result is a lively, heartrending account of a mysterious crime that came extraordinarily close to succeeding; a fascinating look into the small mining communities that once thrived in the Yukon; and the personal story of the Priest family, who could only watch aghast as the life they knew crumbled around them. As she uncovers more of the story, Alicia must reconcile two different versions of her father: the fun-loving, bush-savvy adventurer who raised her, and the man accused and convicted of the Great Yukon Silver Ore Heist.

10. The Cougar Lady: Legendary Trapper of Sechelt Inlet  Rosella Leslie  9781927575635  Caitlin Press

Every town has its celebrities, but Sechelt’s own unique and larger-than-life personality is wholesome enough to satisfy all of North America’s appetite for eccentrics. Asta Bergliot Solberg, or “Bergie,” as her friends knew her, lived life on her own terms. She climbed wild mountain trails to hunt for goats, demanded car rides from unsuspecting locals, spent a night in the woods wrapped in the skin of a bear she’d shot and thought nothing of rowing twenty-five miles down a dark, windy inlet. With equal ferocity she wrangled cougars, conservation officers and the police, who arrested her for packing a rifle in town. In this long-awaited memoir, Rosella Leslie pieces together Bergie’s life story through a collection of interviews, local stories and personal anecdotes.

11. Ice Storm: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Vancouver Canucks Team Ever  Bruce Dowbiggin  9781771641319  Greystone Books

An incendiary inside look at the Canucks’ meteoric rise to the top of the NHL and their dramatic post-riot fall to mediocrity—all at a time when new efforts are being launched to save the once-great team. In 2008, the Vancouver Canucks were Team Modern, revolutionizing the NHL under their new GM, former player agent Mike Gillis. He built the Canucks from a non-playoff team in 2008 to the best in hockey from 2010-2012. He modernized the players’ diets and psychological approach, he rebuilt the dressing room, and he sought sleep consultants to help with the Canucks’ punishing travel schedule. More than that, his winning team lifted Vancouver from eighth overall in NHL revenues to second by 2013. The hockey world was at their feet. But things changed in Game 7. Ice Storm follows the journey that led the Canucks from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the abyss in six short years.

12. Cloudwalker  Robert Budd and Roy Henry Vickers  9781550176193  Harbour Publishing

Cloudwalker, describing the creation of the rivers, is the second in a series of Northwest Coast legends by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd. Their previous collaboration, Raven Brings the Light (2013), is a national bestseller. On British Columbia’s northwest coast lies the Sacred Headwaters—the source of three of British Columbia’s largest salmon-bearing rivers. These rivers are the source of life for all creatures in the area. But what gave life to the rivers themselves? Roy Henry Vickers’ vibrant artwork, including 18 new prints, accompany this new retelling of an ancient story—readers of all ages will be captivated.

* The BC Bestseller List is compiled using sales data from over 80 independent bookstores in BC, which is provided to the ABPBC by TBM BookManager. The list represents sales of BC published books released within the calendar year.