Peacekeeper’s Daughter: A Middle East Memoirby Tanya Bellehumeur-AllattPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781771872164  The coming-of-age memoir Peacekeeper’s Daughter is impossible to put down once it sucks you in. Told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old Canadian Army brat who is dropped into the Lebanese Civil War in 1982-1983, we are immersed into the heart of the Palestinian crisis. Alongside Bellehumeur-Allatt, we travel from Yellowknife to Jerusalem to Tiberias, Israel, eventually landing in Beirut, Lebanon. The book wraps up by going full circle with a return to Canada. Bellehumeur-Allatt does a phenomenal job of making the musings of her preteen self interesting.  Bellehumeur-Allatt was able to vividly recount the details of her life back in the 1980s thanks to a gift. Just before leaving Canada to head to the Middle East, the mother of her best friend gave her a blank journal wrapped in shiny paper. The mom told Bellehumeur-Allatt: “Write everything down, all the details. One day it’ll be a book.” In response, Bellehumeur-Allatt promised her she would. The mom likely had no idea that her serendipitous gift would lead to a potentially award-winning book forty years later. The details in this book make the reader…

Rebuilding a Brick Wallby Susanne Gauthier with Evan WallPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Toby A. Welch$17.95 ISBN 9781927570654 This book opens with a bang. We are immediately transported to the scene of the severe car accident that left Evan Wall with a traumatic brain injury at the age of nineteen. From there we delve into Evan’s life in Shellbrook, a tiny town forty-five kilometres west of Prince Albert. He was an avid football player – “football was my life” – and looked forward to hanging with his buddies on the weekends.  Once the backstory is done, we jump to the summer of 2016. After a night of partying in Canwood, Evan hitched a ride back to Shellbrook from a friend of a friend. Around four a.m. on July 30th, an animal on the road caused the driver to swerve. The truck hit a raised shoulder bank and flipped into the ditch. The seatbelt-wearing driver was uninjured. Evan was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected through the rear window, landing ten feet away. Paramedics intubated Evan at the scene and he survived despite the odds. He was suffering from DAI, diffuse axonal injury; the connecting fibres in his brain (axons)…

Landings: Poems from Icelandby Harold RhenischPublished by Burton House BooksReview by Toby A. Welch$20.00 ISBN 9780994866967 It is very clear from page one of Landings that a piece of the author, Harold Rhenisch, will always be in Iceland. He first travelled to the island in 2009. Four years later, he served a stint as a writer in residence there. Rhenisch has been to Iceland numerous times, including a trip in 2019 when he dealt with frigid 220 kph wind gusts and ate lamb shanks for Christmas dinner. This book is not the author’s first work about the island that he clearly has a passion for.  Landings contains 52 gorgeous poems that Rhenisch wrote as he toured around Iceland. The poems are divided into five sections: Loom, Warp, Weft, Cloth, and Shawl. As with any book of poetry, some pieces speak more to each reader than others. The Track touched me. While poets can intend a different meaning than readers interpret, I felt the poem explained how in a quest to find yourself, taking a well-travelled path may not be the ideal route. And in a similar vein, people shouldn’t follow your path to find out about themselves. Passage is another…

The Mechanic’s Wifeby Marion MutalaPublished by Millennium MarketingReview by Toby A. Welch$14.95 ISBN 9781777371302 The cover of The Mechanic’s Wife is what initially drew me in. Illustrated by Olha Tkachenko, it is a vibrant illustration of two women with an older model blue GTO between them. Things get even better once you crack the book open. We immediately delve into the life of DD, a Ukrainian detective based in Saskatoon. Her backstory is fully fleshed out in a way that makes it impossible to do anything but continue reading. The meat of this book is the story of Dwayne and Marianne. Married almost two decades, one of them isn’t thrilled with the life they have built together. Let’s just say some things happen, bringing DD, the leading criminal investigator in Canada at the time of the story, and Raunchy, her associate, into their lives. The two tackle the case of what really took place between Dwayne and Marianne.  On a side note, it’s hard not to like DD’s quirky sidekick, Raunchy. He is endlessly entertaining and provides another level to the story. Fun characters like Raunchy make any book a better read.  Author Marion Mutala is a resident of Saskatoon….

Paddling Northern Saskatchewan: A Guide to 80 Canoe Routesby Ric DriedigerPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Toby A. Welch$34.95 ISBN 9781988783581 Oh, how I wish I had this book when I bought my first canoe back in 1995! At that time, there was nowhere to find such a comprehensive all-in-one resource for paddling destinations. Canoeists who pick up a copy of Paddling Northern Saskatchewan will find it invaluable.  This book contains the ‘characters’ of 80 different rivers, canoe routes, and areas in Northern Saskatchewan. In this instance, ‘character’ means the experience of canoeing the route. This is a departure from most guidebooks that just share route details. The downside of the latter approach is that those details can be altered drastically with one swoop from Mother Nature. Before the book delves into the 80 canoe routes, Driediger covers the geological regions of Northern Saskatchewan, each of which offers a unique paddling experience. We also get a list of the canoe routes in the nine regions: Southern Boreal, Athabasca Basin, Cree Lake, Clearwater River, Precambrian Shield, Fond du Lac, Northern Shield, Athabasca Sand Dunes, and North of Lake Athabasca. As Driediger explains the characters of the routes, he lists the…

The Cartwright Men Marryby Monique DesrosiersPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Toby A. Welch$19.99 ISBN 9781989078242 I love when a book sucks you in immediately with a great action scene. This one does just that, pulling you into an avalanche in 1863 before launching into present day. The Cartwright Men Marry jumps often from the years in the 1860s to current day. At its heart, this book is two separate stories linked by history and family roots. Desrosiers seamlessly pulls off the constant shifting, never making it awkward for the reader.  As a child of the 70s, this book had a Bonanza vibe right from the get-go for me. (For you millennials and non-TV watchers, Bonanza is an American Western TV series that ran from 1959 to 1973, a record-breaking 14 seasons. The show featured a family of Cartwright men dealing with ongoing moral and situational dilemmas.) The names sounded familiar, as did some of the history, and I discovered why. When you get to the end of the story, Desrosiers includes a page titled Why I Wrote The Cartwright Men Marry. She explains how binge-watching Bonanza in December 2018 inspired this book. She couldn’t stop thinking of what kind…

Faces of the Force: From Depot to Detachment – True Stories of C-1966/67 Troopby Helen Metella and Pamela CowanPublished by Your Nickel’s Worth PublishingReview by Toby A. Welch$19.95 ISBN 9781988783529 Faces of the Force: From Depot to Detachment – True Stories of C-1966/67 Troop contains the stories of 32 men from across Canada who gathered in Regina on June 10, 1966. They were all there to undergo a rigorous training regime to become RCMP officers. Fast forward to the troop’s 50-year reunion in Regina. The get-together inspired the group to record their stories, sharing how their lives have played out since they first met five decades earlier.  Enter Helen Metella and Pamela Cowan. Both former journalists, they compiled each individual story. They did a phenomenal job of evoking strong imagery with their words and encapsulating the men’s lives.  The first story belongs to Constable Tony Antoniuk, the C66/67 Troop’s drill instructor. That is followed by the story of Corporal Doug Farenholtz, the PT instructor for the 32 men. After that, we delve into the lives of each individual troop member.  When Senator Bev Busson wrote in the book’s forward that the stories were “gritty, told in real life language with…

“Out of My Mind: A Psychologist’s Descent into Madness and Back”by Shalom CamenietzkiPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9780889776890 Don’t let the compactness of this pocket-sized book fool you – it packs a punch.  Out of My Mind is a chronological journey with Camenietzki from the time his bipolar disorder symptoms first appeared at the age of 32 to his life now in his early 80s. As the decades go by, Camenietzki also suffers with serious bouts of depression, manic episodes, and suicidal contemplation. It is fascinating to step into his shoes and experience his struggles alongside him.  Camenietzki tries a wide range of treatments in his quest to get mentally healthy. He runs the gamut from a constant string of medications to shock treatments to hospitalizations to a variety of counselling methods. Ultimately what helped him was the drug Seroquel, which was approved by Health Canada in 2010 as a possible treatment for bipolar disorder.  To anyone who hasn’t suffered from mental illness, this book will be extremely eye-opening. Ever since Catherine Zeta-Jones announced in 2011 that she suffers from bipolar disorder, I’ve wondered what it would be like to live with the lifelong…

Raw: PrEP, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Barebacking Edited by Ricky Varghese Published by University of Regina Press Review by Toby A. Welch $34.95 ISBN 9780889776838 I have never learned as much from a book as I did from Raw. Considering that I love expanding my knowledge about almost any topic, that is a great thing! ‘Raw’ I understood but I had no idea what the subtitle of this book meant – I learned fast. PrEP, the acronym for pre-exposure prophylaxis, is an antiretroviral medicine used to prevent HIV infection. Pedagogy in general terms means educating and sharing information, often with social, critical, and cultural responsibilities. Barebacking is having intercourse without using a condom, a reference most used these days to describe two men engaging in anal sex. Now that we have the title cleared up, let’s jump in! A massive amount of time and research went into the compilation of this book. Each of the 14 contributors, including the editor of the tome, has an impressive resume. As for what this book is about, the editor sums it up best in his introduction: “Each of the authors in this project provides a rigorous examination of the ideological, socio-political, ethical,…

Snow Shovelin’ Manby Bob KingPublished by Miles of Smiles PublishingReview by Toby A. Welch$20.00 ISBN 9780981121727 If you are looking for an escape from the suffering in the world and itching for some lighthearted fun, pick up a copy of Snow Shovelin’ Man. This book contains a wealth of Canadian-based humour.  Author Bob King has a fantastic sense of humour and it shines through from the first page to the back cover (where his author bio doubles as his future obituary – priceless!) His “Self-Evaluation Report” had me laughing so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath.  My favourite line: “Bob does still tend to worry too much sometimes. He pledges to correct this weakness now that he has become more familiar with reality.” And I love that King believes, “…maybe it is my purpose in life to cause women to shake their heads.” ROFL! Of the 23 songs and snippets in this book, “Awesome Dude” is my favourite. Who doesn’t love a song about growing up in the 1990s, regardless of whether it was us or our children who did so.  King is refreshing, finding pleasure in things that few of us ponder. Take breathing, for example. He spends…