In the past couple of weeks I have enjoyed two books about our West Coast. The first was

 LONG BEACH WILD

 by Adrienne Mason, a Tofino resident. She traces the history of Long Beach covering the people as well as the flora and fauna. I was particularly interested in the history since she mentions my grandparents who lived at the beach in the 1920’s. The author provided some history about them about which I was unaware. She also details the activity during  WWll when a sizeable air base was built between Tofino and Ucluelet. It’s an entertaining  read and if you enjoy Long Beach you will enjoy this book. I downloaded it from Amazon Kindle but you may find it in hard copy at your favourite bookstore. 

Our good friends Phil & Marilyn Clark cane to stay with us a couple of weeks ago and brought me a book written by Marilyn’s sister in law Pat Ardley. 

GRIZZLIES, GALES & GIANT SALMON..Life at a Rivers Inlet Fishing Lodge

It is quite a tale. Pat Ardley and husband George, he from Lake Cowichan, she from Winnipeg built this lodge from scratch starting in their 20’s and ran it for 40 years. This couple were amazing pioneers!  She explains how they built the lodge, all on floats, how it grew to become one of the premier lodges on the coast. The hardships, the challenges, the satisfaction is all there. It’s a wonderful story. 

If you want to inhale another breath of the West Coast, pick it up. 

Finally, Peter Mayle has a new book coming out. Mayle is the author of the famous A YEAR IN PROVENCE , which launched a series of books by him of life in the south of France. His first book inspired us several years ago to rent a small apartment in the little village of St. Thibery, in Languadoc Province.  We stayed for two weeks and absorbed the small town French culture if the area. It was wonderful. 

Peter Mayle’s latest book is 

MY TWENTY FIVE YEARS IN PROVENCE

It will be released on July 26 but you can read a promo for it right now on Amazon. Can’t wait to read it. We have read almost all of his other books and enjoyed them completely. 

If, by chance, you have not read any of his books, well,  Giddy Up. You have missed some fine entertainment.

Just saying…