The late Montreal writer Mordecai Richler gave us many characters that reveal both the comedy and the tragedy of human relationships, but Barney Padovsky is perhaps the novelist’s crowning achievement in that regard with this masterful creation of a schmuck of schmucks.
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The shameful story of how Japanese fishing families were treated on the North American West Coast is well-known among historians, but Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet brings that story to life through oral history accounts from the very people who experienced that systematic racism.
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When television wasn’t much older than I was, I remember watching a show every week called The Millionaire. A middle-aged man in a suit would knock on a stranger’s door and give them a cheque for $1 million. Then the audience would watch as the money changed the life of the recipient for better...
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I tucked into my own private bomb suit when I arrived at The Hurt Locker, a hide-your-eyes peek at three young bomb demolition experts who are caught between Iraqi insurgents, palpable fear, and the American government’s willful attempt to force its democracy on the unwilling.
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I wandered into my local Hudson’s Bay store the other day in search of a set of cereal bowls and as I walked through the main doors an announcement blasted over the store-wide speaker system. “For the next 10 minutes only, we are giving away a free paring knife,” said a male voice. “This...
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I’m finally wireless or am I? It had been a regular conundrum for me. Most days I write at home, do my emailing, research on the Internet, etc. So why go wireless? What did I gain from it?
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Canada’s trade unions have long claimed a prominent place in the struggle for social democracy. From the earliest years of that struggle, the labour movement’s press has been on the front lines. Radical Rag tells the colourful story of those pioneer days, recounting the war for social justice fiercely waged through the pages of...
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Why another cookbook? Why not another cookbook especially one that is infused with so much tenderness, thoughtfulness and a deeply maturing love. We are writing a cookbook for lovers, young and old, but particularly for those of a certain age, a mature age. These recipes will appeal to lovers of good food, good stories...
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Dad had taken a miss the past two years of the district fall fair vegetable-growing competition – squash category. Always a green thumb and always a solid competitor, he had been discouraged when his 41-pound giant won a blue-ribbon second prize, forfeiting the red-ribbon first prize to a smaller but apparently better squash.
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Wild fires still raged around Moscow in mid-August and the smoke clouds above Red Square hung heavily over the brown marble block that sits below the ominous red walls of the Kremlin. This is the final resting place of the leader of the October revolution, the event that changed the world in 1917.
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