Browsing “Vancouver Book Club”

I recently received a rather timely parcel from our friends at Douglas & McIntyre Publishing: a copy of Joe Wiebe’s book, Craft Beer Revolution, with a flier encouraging me to “JOIN THE REVOLUTION”. I say it was timely because only one day before I had made the decision to dip my toes back into the world of beer, after being away for a few years on a self-imposed dry spell. I quit drinking right before I turned 30, after some time… well… indulging in my 20′s, and I’ve reached a point in my life where I’d like to simply enjoy a beer responsibly here and there. I made that decision, then this book showed up as if the universe was saying “Okay, cool. Then you’ll need this.”.

So I read it cover to cover, throughly enjoying the tales of BC ales (and lagers and saisons, and other types of beer I’d never heard of), as well as the profiles of all of the craft breweries that matter in this great province of British Columbia. It was an incredible introduction to something that, in my time away, turned from a small industry into nothing less than a movement. It got me excited, and it educated me on everything craft beer in our province. I took my newfound eduction to Legacy Liquor in the Village on False Creek, and I made a few purchases…

One of those was the OFFICIAL BEER of Vancouver Craft Beer Week (pictured left above) which, as coincidence would also have it, starts tomorrow and runs until June 8th. Learn more about this annual celebration of local brewing at vancouvercraftbeerweek.com. And for a crash course in everything craft beer in BC, pick up the book (the Bible, as I’m sure it might soon be referred to by some) at craftbeerrevolution.ca.

	Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most. .
	Chris Gilpin is the Co-Director of Verses Festival of Words and Hullabaloo: BC’s Youth Spoken Word Festival. He’s also a spoken word poet himself, having won the 2011 Vancouver Individual Slam championship, as well as the 2012 Erotica and Nerd Slams. You can find out more about his work at ChrisGilpin.com

What are you currently reading? Your thoughts on it?

The Undisputed Greatest Writer of All Time by Beau Sia. Poems like “Seriously Wanna Get Naked With You Right Now,” “So You’re Not Into Asian Guys,” and “Did I Really Need to Write the Previous Poem?” let you know that this is a new kind of no-holds barred poetry. His poems are ambushes, but sincere ones. He’s not trying to shock or impress with irony or linguistic flourishes. He has something to say and he makes sure you hear it. I’m really looking forward to his first-ever Vancouver performance at Speak Bloody. He’s a huge figure in the spoken word movement but no one here has ever seen him perform.

How do you like your books served up best – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader…? 

I’m a conventional book guy. I have an entire bookshelf filled with poetry books, anthologies, chapbooks, and CDs. But a lot of the poetry I hear these days comes from YouTube or MotionPoems.com – or live performance. I’m at the Vancouver Poetry Slam at Café Deux Soleils nearly every Monday.

Who is your favourite Vancouver/Lower Mainland writer? 

Geoff Berner is the best poet in Vancouver. People think I’m joking when I say that, but I’m deadly serious. Just because he happens to sing his poetry instead of speaking it doesn’t make any difference to me. The words are what matter and his lyrics are as good as any published poetry.

What books have changed your life?

Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong completely changed how I view the literary and oral traditions. After reading it, I realized that, while we use the word ‘illiterate’ to describe a lack of literacy, there’s no equivalent word to describe a lack of orality. So I came up with ‘snoral’ as a new adjective for text-based performance that fails at public speaking and puts you to sleep.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

ReVIEWS, preVIEWS, interVIEWS, and overVIEWS: here’s where you’ll find out what the Vancouver Book Club team thinks about the literary scene in Vancouver. What you should read, where you should go, who you should sit up and notice.

Aside from April 1 being a day of jokesters and chocolate hangovers, it’s also the start of Poetry Month, and there is an insane amount of events happening, especially in the first half of the month.

Hullabaloo – April 3-6

HULLABALOO is the BC Youth Poetry Slam Championships featuring youth poets from 16 different schools from Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Now in its 3rd year, it is the only provincial youth poetry slam championship in all of Canada, offering youth poets the chance to speak for themselves through spoken word.

Taking place at the Roundhouse Community Centre, there are evening poetry slam competitions with the 16 teams plus there are daytime showcase/all star slams for school groups and the general public to attend. There are also two heavy hitters as feature performers this year—2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion Amy Everhart and Truth Is…. Full schedule can be found HERE.

Ivan E. Coyote, Veda Hille, and Truth Is…

Verses Festival of Words – April 8-13

This festival is all about the transformative power of words, whether written, spoke, or sung. From the Van Slam finals to readings to a Haiku Deathmatch to an evening of musical and storytelling collaboration between Ivan E. Coyote and Veda Hille there’ll been so many words flying you’ll get dizzy. The festival also includes an intimate show with dub poet Lillian Allen at Cafe Deux Soleils and a highly anticipated Aretha Franklin’s Greatest Hits iteration of Mashed Poetics.

All the events take place in the Commercial Drive area. Check the Verses website for the full schedule and ticket info. A festival pass is only $50!

Talonbooks Spring Poetry Launch – April 10

Local indie publisher Talonbooks is releasing not one, not two, but 5 poetry collections this spring and they’re having a huge launch party to celebrate. There will be readings by the authors Dina Del Bucchia (Coping with Emotions and Otters), Wanda John-Kehewin (In the Doghouse), Mariner Janes (Monument Cycles), Stephen Collis (To the Barricades) and Daphne Marlatt (Liquidities: Vancouver Poems Then and Now).

Festivities take place at the Anza Club, 3 W. 8th Ave. Doors are at 7:30 pm with readings starting at 8 pm.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

	Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
	. Willow Martin Seedhouse is an Assistant Pipe Organ tuner, Gospel singer, and History buff. She will read just about anything she can get her hands on but especially historical fiction and fantasy. She considers herself a student of life, the Universe, and everything.

What are you currently reading? Your thoughts on it?

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m enjoying it quite a lot. Rothfuss paints a very vivid picture with his words, and you can’t help but be drawn in to the story and the world. The characters are entertaining, even the bit parts, and that just pulls you in more. I’m looking forward to reading the next one!

The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa, and At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. I am enjoying both quite a lot. Rampage is a translated Japanese light novel, the fifth in a series and a great book to read when you’re tired and need something light to make you laugh, and At Home is a fascinating book that takes you through the history of everything from architecture and electricity to British and American politics and society. Bill Bryson also has an entertaining way of writing and his footnotes and asides are almost worth it in and of themselves.

How do you like your books served up best – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader…?

Ooooooh, this gets complicated… It depends on whether I’ve read the book before. If I’ve decided it’s good enough to buy, than paperback or occasionally e-book. If I’ve never read it before, than library loaner or I see if my cousins have it, and ask to steal it for a bit. I read a lot of graphic novels as well, but I consider them a different medium. I read them in collected paperback editions and occasionally hardcover. …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.

Catherine Owen is a poet, writer, bassist, and editor. She has published nine volumes of poetry, one of epistles, and a volume of prose essays and memoirs. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, been translated into three languages, and has won a number of prizes including the Stephan G. Stephansson Prize. She has played bass in the metal bands Inhuman and Helgrind and her current metal project is Medea. Her most recent collection of poetry, Trobairitz, was released Fall 2012 by Anvil Press. Catherine will be one of the writers at tonight’s Incite at the Vancouver Public Library.

What are you currently reading? Your thoughts on it?

I am literally a voracious reader. I read multiple, yes REAL, books at once, can speed-read and need if at all possible to read while eating & on the loo!

Let’s see, if I could pick one to tell you about – ok, Theresa Kishkan’s memoir Mnemonic: A Book of Trees – lyrical, full of memories of the West Coast, Ireland, Greece, revealing with supreme delicacy how human life is shaped by the environment, the diversity of trees Kishkan has encountered over her 55 years sustaining her, providing narrative and emotional structure. Gorgeously detailed and always tender.

What books have changed your life?

Robinson Jeffers’ books. All of them. But perhaps especially The Double Axe, Roan Stallion, Give your Heart to the Hawks. Turbulent beauty framed in a Californian/Greek tragic-epic landscape in lines of quantitative surf.

The one book you always recommend is:

Marie Claire Blais’ Three Travelers, a novella about a triadic, poetic love between artists. Relentlessly moving.

Favourite Vancouver/Lower Mainland writer?

I don’t like the word ‘favourite’ really as I prefer multiplicity in everything but I loved Vancouverite Mike Schertzer’s work years ago before he moved to Paris, especially his surreal tales in Short Films from the 14th Century, and his incessant multi-disciplinarity, so ahead of its time in this town.

What’s next on your reading list?

A biography of Leonard Cohen called I’m Your Man. Poetry by Peter Van Toorn, a. rawlings, Louise Cotnoir. Essays on eco-poetics by Scott Knickerbocker. …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

	Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
	…
	Carleigh Baker is a recent graduate of the Writer’s Studio program at SFU, and winner of subTerrain magazine‘s 2012 Lush Triumphant award for short fiction. She’s working on a novel about honeybees and crystal meth (NOT honeybees on crystal meth) and a collage history of her badass, hard-drinking, war veteran Métis grandmother.

What are you currently reading? Your thoughts on it?

I just finished The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. I love Gonzo journalism and Hunter Thompson. I love it when crazed drug addicts try to take on everything that’s wrong in the world — the white knights of the apocalypse — because they seem as qualified for the job as the next guy. And when you read Thompson, you get to ride side-saddle into the fire. But I really liked Wolfe’s significantly more sober approach to the swinging sixties. He managed to buy in to the movement enough to get inside it, but you could tell he was winking at you the entire time, nudge nudge, woah, like isn’t this trippy? This measure of perspective would have pissed me off at the age that I was probably supposed to read this book, but I’m 35 now. I’m aware that psychedelics didn’t exactly live up to expectation. So when a story like Ken Kesey’s is being related by a relatively sane person, I get the opportunity to look into all the dark corners.

How do you like your books served up best – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader?

I don’t think I’ll ever own an e-reader, and I will never read books on a cell phone. It’s not that I’m a snob or a Luddite, I just don’t want to look at a screen any longer than necessary. Used bookstore finds are great, but my fave books come from the lending library in my old Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood. Some lovely people just set it up one day in their front yard. And there’s always something great there.

What books have changed your life? 

The Acid House, by Irvine Welsh. It introduced me to the challenges of writing about gritty, down-and-out, unlikeable characters, who readers can still relate to. War all the Time, by Bukowski, for the same reason. Loose End, by Ivan Coyote, and Three Songs by Hank Williams by Calvin Wharton, because they use the beautiful simplicity of language to communicate the beautiful complexity of life. Zero pretension. All story. I have to mention The Collected Works of Billy the Kid too. This whole literary collage thing, I think it’s going to be big. Somebody get that guy — Ondaatje — somebody get him a book deal. …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>