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Holiday Gift Guide: Picky Readers

Featured Top Picks • November 23, 2021 • Nicole Magas

Let’s face it, every family has one. That one person who stumps the gift buying process every year. The one who insists they want nothing. The one who seems to have it all. The one with the incredibly niche tastes that can’t seem to ever be found in a store. The impossible-to-buy-for friend or relative presents an annual gift-buying challenge. Fortunately, one of the wonderful things about books is that there’s one for every interest, no matter how specialized or how well-read a person is. Let these books from our jolly BC publishers help cross off that hard-to-shop-for person on your list.


Cover of Fool's Gold and Becoming Vancouver

Vancouver History

The City of Vancouver has had a long and colourful history that, for many of its current residents, remains a complete mystery. But its iconic, contemporary glass condos and easy-going cosmopolitan atmosphere are a far cry from its early days as a gritty logging town. And while those dirt road days and its many colourful residents may have faded from recent memory, books capture that history for a new generation are abundant. 

Fool’s Gold: The Life and Legacy of Vancouver’s Official Town Fool by Jesse Donaldson (Anvil Press)

Becoming Vancouver by Daniel Francis (Harbour Publishing)

Cover of Murders on the Skeena and Vancouver Vice

True Crime

But maybe general history isn’t specific enough. Maybe what’s needed is history with an edge: and what could be better than true crime, which has experienced an explosion in popularity in recent years. As unassuming as British Columbia may sometimes seem, it’s been no stranger to salacious crime stories and hidden underworlds during its sordid history. Help that picky reader discover a new crime story with one of these books.

Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City’s West End by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 by Geoff Mynett (Caitlin Press)

Cover of Vegetables: A Love Story and Arab Fairy Tale Feasts

Cooking & Cookbooks

These days it seems that everyone is returning to the stove to try their hand at good home cooking. Whether with tried and true family recipes or bespoke recipe delivery services, there has been a resurgence in cooking from home. If there’s a cook on your list this year who is seeking their next great culinary find, try one of these new releases, good for cooks of any age.

Vegetables: A Love Story by Renée Kohlman (TouchWood Editions)

Arab Fairy Tale Feasts by Karim Alrawi (Tradewind Books)

Cover of Otter Lagoon and Waterfall Hikes in Southern British Columbia

Outdoor Adventures

What if your future giftee prefers the great outdoors to the coziness of a book, a blanket and a black coffee? What’s that, you say? They already own all the latest high tech camping gear and have a favourite, obscure brand to boot? Well, to that we say, no one can live every moment of life outdoors! Occasionally one has to come back inside, if even into their tent for the evening, and that’s the perfect time to pull out one of these fantastic outdoor adventure books.

Otter Lagoon: Sueño Bay Adventures book 2 by Mike Deas and Nancy Deas (Orca Book Publishers)

Waterfall Hikes in Southern British Columbia by Steve Tersmette (RMB | Rocky Mountain Books)

Cover of Okanagan Women's Voices and The Life and Art of Arthur Pitts

Indigenous History

Indigenous history has long, deep roots in what is now known as British Columbia, and it is gratifying that more and more histories, life stories, and oral traditions are in such abundance on bookshelves. Here we highlight some of the overlapping stories between Indigenous and settler communities for those who enjoy a deeper dive into cultural history.

Life and Art of Arthur Pitts by Kerry Mason (Mother Tongue Publishing Limited)

Okanagan Women’s Voices: Indigenous Settler Writing and Relations edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Lally Grauer, and Janet MacArthur (Theytus Books Ltd.)