If ever there were a book which might be considered the most fitting to be positively reviewed on this web site of ours, it would be Linda Solomon's "Why I Love Vancouver". Released by Vancouver Observer Publications, it's made up of memoirs, essays and interviews by this ex-New Yorker, landed immigrant, journalist and - most importantly - lover of Vancouver from the USA.
The book starts with Linda's story about her personal experience in New York City on 9/11, about the reasons for her decision to move here, then it goes on to outline some of the reasons why she fell in love with this place. Peppered not only with good news stories and interviews, tackling and exposing some issues while celebrating others, Linda is a Pulitzer Nominated reporter and proves in this book why her online news site, VancouverObserver.com, and this book which is an extension of it, will likely be a success.
I've got a personal attachment to this book as Linda's story mirrors my own in a lot of ways. I was also living in America on 9/11 (during my morning commute that day I drove right past LAX where the last missing plane was said to be landing/feared to be crashing into) and while I didn't have to become a landed immigrant to move to Vancouver, the way that the USA changed after that day in 2001 had a lot to do with my decision to move back to this city that I knew and loved, and of which I'm also not a native of. Linda's book proves that you don't have to be a native to be a real part of it and that sometimes it's the transplants, like Linda and myself, who end up pointing out the things that are so easy to forget, the reasons why we all love Vancouver.
The book retails for $22 and is available online at http://www.VancouverObserver.com. You should most definitely buy yourself a copy.
