non-fiction The Miramichi Reader

Canada Wild: Animals Found Nowhere Else on Earth, words by Maria Birmingham, art by Alex MacAskill

November 27, 2022 by Carrie Stanton

A full-colour illustrated guide to Canada's endemic species for young readers, from the award-winning author of Snooze-O-Rama: The Strange Ways that Animals Sleep.

Bill Arnott’s Beat: Disguised as Prose

November 13, 2022November 13, 2022 by Bill Arnott

Bill Arnott shares a passage from his instant bestseller, A Season on Vancouver Island.

Dulse to Donairs: An Irreverent History of Food in Nova Scotia by Steven Laffoley

September 11, 2022September 7, 2022 by Heather McBriarty

Far from the canned ravioli and Jell-O salads of his youth, Laffoley discovered that Nova Scotian food could be fresh and fascinating, frivolous and fun.

Field Notes on Listening by Kit Dobson

November 10, 2022August 20, 2022 by Bill Arnott

Field Notes on Listening is a response to our lack of connection to the land we call home, the difficult history of how many of us came to be here and what we could discover if we listened deeply to the world around us.

James’ Rapid Review Roundup May 2022

May 30, 2022 by James M. Fisher

I have decided to write up seven "brief and breezy" reviews of some recent reads.

Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid

March 14, 2022 by Mala Rai

The Canadian first lady of Iceland pens a book about why this tiny nation is leading the charge in gender equality, in the vein of The Moment of Lift.

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

January 31, 2022 by Bill Arnott

In Fool's Gold, Donaldson explores the legacy of Joachim Foikis. On April 1, 1968, a tall, bespectacled, 35-year-old former social worker named Joachim Foikis received $3,500 from the Canada Council for the Arts in order to finance a unique, self-imposed mission unseen since Elizabethan England: reinvent the vanished tradition of "Town Fool."

Trail Mix: 920 km on The Camino de Santiago by Jules Torti

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 by Bill Arnott

A rollicking travel memoir that invites the curious, the initiated, and even the skeptics to tag along on the ever-changing landscape of “The Way”

Be Free: Mountains, Mishaps, and Miracles in Africa by Angela deJong

January 3, 2022January 3, 2022 by Bill Arnott

Be Free is a collection of personal travel essays that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride across Africa as seen through the eyes of a solo female backpacker, Angela deJong.

Best Non-Fiction of 2021

January 17, 2022December 26, 2021 by James M. Fisher

To complement our “Best Fiction of 2021” list, we will now turn our attention to the best non-fiction of the year. The eight selections below are based on the recommendations of The Miramichi Reader’s fine team of contributors.

Revisiting Restigouche: The Long Run of the Wild River by Philip Lee

June 2, 2022December 13, 2021 by Wanda Baxter

In this article, author Wanda Baxter revisits Philip Lee's "Restigouche: The Long Run of the Wild River".

The “Mr. Big” Sting: The Cases, the Killers, the Controversial Confessions by Mark Stobbe

November 22, 2021 by James M. Fisher

The “Mr. Big” Sting is essential reading for anyone interested in unorthodox approaches to justice, including their successes and failures. It sheds light on how homicide investigators might catch and punish the guilty while avoiding convicting the innocent.

On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake by Gregor Craigie

June 2, 2022November 1, 2021 by Heidi Greco

Finalist, 2021 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy. The Big One and what we can do to get ready for it.

No Thanks, I Want to Walk by Emily Taylor Smith

October 27, 2021 by Bill Arnott

In Emily Taylor Smith's latest adventure, walking the perimeter of New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula, is another epic journey for the record books.

The Sun is a Compass by Caroline Van Hemert

October 17, 2021 by Bill Arnott

In Comox, I stopped at Blue Heron Books, where I picked up Caroline Van Hemert’s The Sun is a Compass, her personal account of travelling, along with her husband, for five months by rowboat, kayak, raft, foot, ski, and sled from Washington State to Alaska, crossing Canada’s Yukon and Northwest Territories in the process.