Homegrown authors offer stocking-full of holiday reading

Jennifer Cameron, general book buyer at the bookstore, with a selection of works by UVic authors.

Searching for the perfect gift? Looking for some holiday reading for yourself? Check out this selection of books written by UVic authors.

If you know someone who loves poetry, consider Whetstone, a book of verse written by writing department chair Lorna Crozier. There's also 37 Small Songs and 13 Silences by Dr. Jan Zwicky, associate professor in the philosophy department.

If you're looking for non-fiction, there's Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning Us All into Patients. Co-written by Alan Cassels (health information science) and Ray Moynihan, the book examines how drug companies expand boundaries that define illness and looks at conditions from attention deficit disorder to high cholesterol to social anxiety disorder.

Make Me a Man: Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India, by Dr. Sikata Banerjee (women's studies) examines masculine Hinduism as characterized by martial prowess, muscular strength, moral fortitude, and readiness to go to battle.

For the political buffs on your list, try Challenges and Perils: Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times, co-edited by R.S. Ratner and UVic sociologist Dr. William Carroll.

In Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom, Dr. Taiaiake Alfred (indigenous studies) traces the journey of indigenous peoples who have found ways to move beyond colonial identities.

There's also The Lost Millennium: History's Timetables Under Siege, written by Dr. Florin Diacu (mathematics and statistics). This book raises the intriguing possibility that our calendar is off by 1,000 years.

The Earth's Blanket:Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living, by environmental studies professor Dr. Nancy Turner, looks at the ecological knowledge and spiritual connection to the natural world that is fundamental to indigenous cultures.
For more book ideas, check out the "Books That Matter" catalogue, available in the bookstore. It includes a section featuring works by UVic authors.