King Leary, by Paul Quarrington

As I currently make my way through the last of this year’s Canada Reads nominees, with the encouragement of the last KIRBC meeting, I thought I’d take a gander at last year’s surprise winner King Leary. Of course from a publishing point of view, it was an interesting story that demonstrates the power of Canada [...]

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Barney’s Version, by Mordecai Richler

Winner of the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, The 1998 Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Giller prize, I had some pretty high expectations for Barney’s Version – and I am happy to say they were met, if not exceeded.  With his trademark acerbic wit, Richler has created an intolerant, cantankerous, curmudgeonly old man that is [...]

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