no hype. i couldn't stop laughing as i was reading this. and i mean laughing out loud. in a cafe. with everyone staring at me. but i didn't care. and i couldn't help it if i did. it's just too hilarious.

There is at least one author who may remind you of Stephen Leacock, namely Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame, but Leacock should be recognized as the ultimate master of quaint, bucolic humor. Leacock, who died in 1944, became arguably the most prominent Canadian humorist of his day (and probably of all time). What is ironic about that claim is that Leacock worked for most of his life as a professor of economics. We do not usually equate economics with humor, preferring to think of that profession as one of bow ties and supply and demand charts. Throw that presumption out the window and pick up a copy of "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town," Leacock's best known work available through the New Canadian Library series.

For me, one of the funniest sections of the book was the introduction written by Leacock, where he gives you some background about himself and his profession. This short piece of writing quickly gives you an idea of the type of humor you will find in the actual sketches: a very sly, very quiet and clever type of humor that often takes a while to sink in. Leacock does not rely on rim shot jokes or manic posturing in his writings. Instead, he creates the fictional Canadian town of Mariposa and populates it with small town archetypes that are wonders to behold.

All of the characters are hilarious in their own way: Mr. Smith, the proprietor of the local hotel and bar, full of schemes to earn money while trying to get his liquor license back. Then there is Jefferson Thorpe, the barber involved in financial schemes that may put him on the level of the Morgans and the Rockefellers. The Reverend Mr. Drone presides over the local Church of England in Mariposa, a man who reads Greek as easy as can be but laments his lack of knowledge about logarithms and balancing the financial books of the church. Peter Pupkin, the teller at the local bank, has a secret he wants no one to know about, but which eventually comes out while he is courting the daughter of the town judge. All of these characters, and several others, interact throughout the sketches.

Leacock has the ability to turn a story, to make it take a crazy, unexpected twist even when you are looking for such a maneuver. That he accomplishes this in stories that rarely run longer than twenty pages is certainly a sign of great talent. By the time you reach the end of the book, you know these people as though you lived in the town yourself, and you know what makes them tick.

Despite all of the crazy antics in Mariposa, Leacock never lets the reader lose sight of the fact that these are basically good people living good lives. There seems to be a lot of feeling for the citizens of Mariposa on the part of Leacock, which comes to a head in the final sketch in the collection, "L'Envoi. The Train to Mariposa," where he recounts traveling back to the town after being away for years, with all of the attendant emotions that brings as recognizable landmarks come into view and the traveler realizes that his little town is the same as when he left it years before.

I suspect there is a historical importance to "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town." These writings first appeared in 1912, a time when many people living in the bigger Canadian cities still remembered life in a small town. In addition to the humorous aspects of the book, the author includes many descriptive passages concerning the atmosphere and layout of Mariposa, something instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up in such a place. Nostalgia for the simpler life of the small town probably played a significant role in the book's success.

I look forward to reading more Stephen Leacock. While much of the humor in the book is not belly laugh funny, it does provide one with a deep satisfaction of reading clever humor from an author who knows how to tickle the funny bone. You do not need to be Canadian to enjoy this wonderful book.

Perhaps the finest comment about Stephen Leacock in the last half century is that "he is a
Will Rogers for the 90's."

Rogers, of course, is one of the most beloved of American humorists -- he was killed in
1935 when his plane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. Leacock died on March 28, 1944.
Like Rogers, he had been Canada's favorite humorist for decades.

Sunshine Sketches is about Orillia, Ontario, Canada, where Leacock had his summer home
on Brewery Bay (he once wrote, "I have known that name, the old Brewery Bay, to make
people feel thirsty by correspondence as far away as Nevada.") His home is now maintained
as a historic site by the town of Orillia. I lived there for almost 30 years, and the people of Orillia are still much the same as Leacock portrayed them in 1912.

These stories about various personalities in town were printed in the local newspaper in the
1910 - 1912 era, before being compiled into this book which established Leacock's literary
fame. The people portrayed really lived, though some are composites; the events are of a
kindly humorist looking at the foibles of small town life. Once they came out in book form
and soared to national popularity, everyone in town figured the rest of the country was
laughing at them because of Leacock's book and he was royally hated in Orillia to the end
of his life.

Gradually, and this took decades, Orillians came to recognize that genius had walked
amongst them for several decades. (It's hard to recognize genius when your own ego is so
inflated.) Orillia now awards the annual "Leacock Medal for Humor" -- Canada's top literary
prize for the best book of humour for the preceding year.

Leacock died when I was six, but I did know his son, who still lived in town. I delivered
papers to the editor of the "Newspacket," Leacock's name for the Orillia Packet and Times
(where I worked) and the rival Newsletter. The Packet had the same editor in the 1940's as
when Leacock wrote about him in 1910.

But the book is more than Orillia; it is a wonderfully kind and humorous description of life in
many small towns. The American artist Norman Rockwell painted the same kinds of scenes;
it is the type of idyllic urban life so many of us keep longing to find again in our hectic
urban world.

Leacock realized the book was universal in its description of small towns, and in the preface
he wrote "Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of
them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square
streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels, and everywhere the
sunshine of the land of hope."

True enough, which gives this book continuing appeal nearly a century after it was written.
All great writing is about topics you know, and as a longtime resident Leacock knew Orillia
well. As for Leacock himself, he wrote, "I was born at Swanmoor, Hants., England, on Dec.
30, 1869. I am not aware that there was any particular conjunction of the planets at the
time, but should think it extremely likely."

He says of his education, "I survived until I took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
1903. The meaning of this degree is that the recipient of instruction is examined for the last
time in his life, and is pronounced completely full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted
to him."

In reviewing Charles Dickens' works in 1934, Leacock wrote what could well be his own
epitaph: "Transitory popularity is not proof of genius. But permanent popularity is." The fact
his writings are still current illustrates the nature of his writing.

In contrast to the sometimes sardonic humor of modern times, Sunshine Sketches reflects
Leacock's idea that "the essence of humor is human kindness." Or, in the same vein, "Humor
may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life, and the artistic
expression thereof."

Granted, this book is not what he recognized to have widespread appeal to modern readers.
In his own words, "There are only two subjects that appeal nowadays to the general public,
murder and sex; and, for people of culture, sex-murder." Yet, anyone reading this will
remember scenes from it for much longer than anything from a murder mystery.

In today's world, where newspapers almost daily track Prime Minister Tony Blair's dash to
the political right, Leacock wrote, "Socialism won't work except in Heaven where they don't
need it and in Hell where they already have it."

He described his own home as follows, "I have a large country house -- a sort of farm
which I carry on as a hobby . . . . Ten years ago the deficit on my farm was about a
hundred dollars; but by well-designed capital expenditure and by greater attention to
details, I have got it into the thousands." Sounds familiar to today's farm policies ?

It's what I mean by this being a timeless work.

Leacock himself noted, when talking about good literature, "Personally, I would sooner have
written 'Alice in Wonderland' than the whole of the 'Encyclopedia Britannica'." This is his
'Alice' and it well deserves to be favorably compared to Lewis Carroll's work.

By all measures, it is still the finest Canadian book ever written.

This book was indispensible for my recent travels through Alberta. It contains detailed descriptions of all the best places to go, including some great small town festivals that I would of otherwise missed. The book also has many hikes included, mostly in the Canadian Rockies. I budgeted to spend around $50 a night for motels, and found that this book described many good choices in this price range but also includes campgrounds and more expensive places. Overall, I found it to be very current, not only for restaurants and the like but also coverage of issues such as overcrowding in the national parks, which I found an interesting addition.

This book and its companion volume to British Columbia are undoubtedly the best travel books I have ever used. I just returned from a two-month trip that took me to the Calgary Stampede, through the Rockies, up to Yellowknife and through British Columbia to Vancouver. Alberta is an amazing place to visit and by buying this book I was able to enjoy it all the more. The author has obviously done his homework and describes the region in a colorful style but also with an incredible amount of detail. By using these books I managed to plan my trip before leaving home, even down to where I wanted to eat. The other guide I had with me was rarely used. I also found local information centers sending me along well worn tourist paths, and while this book covers all of that side of Alberta it also led me away from the masses to areas of equal beauty. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to Canada!!

This was an excellent guide for family travel. It provided first rate information on dinosaur adventures in the Red Deer region to Waterton NP to the Canadian Rockies including Banff and Jasper and all points in between. Includes tidbits of local history and written in such a user friendly manner that by the middle of our three week adventure we were fondly refering to it as Mr. Moon, as in, what does Mr. Moon reccommend for dinner. If you are traveling to the Canadian Rockies, the British Colombia guide by this publisher makes an indispensable companion to the Alberta Guide.

I bought this book in preparation for 2 weeks of both dayhiking and backpacking in the Mountain Parks, from which I just returned. I had never been to the Candian Rockies before, but have been to other mountain ranges in Western North America.
Travelling through Banff, Jasper, and Robson I found the book accurate in the details and broad in the coverage of trails. The authors give kilometer-to-kilometer logs of the hikes, which is very useful if you are hiking part of the way on a long trail, because it gives you a good idea as to how far you want to go. Historical background and some info about wildlife are given and keep the trail descriptions from being too "dry". If you are to buy ONE book for a trip, this is it. (I also have "Opinonated Guide...etc" and borrowed other books, but this one was the one to get used almost all the time. Get the Gemtrek topos (for example from Maptown.com) that cover the areas your interested in, and you're all set for dayhiking and 98% of backpacking needs.
The one weakness of the book is its lack of off-trail descriptions. While one can debate if anyone going off-trail should need such advice, it is very nice to have an idea about what's doable for a given level of skill and effort. Give the JNP and BNP trail offices a call -very helpful.
Nevertheless, this is a very well-written, comprehensive, yet detailed book.

There is NO reason to have ANY other book. Don't weight down your packs with anything else, this book is simply THE REFERENCE for hiking ANY of the parks in the Banff area. The trail descriptions are so explicit and so correct. The maps make everything a cinch.

BUY THIS BOOK!

This book is the standard reference to hiking trails in the national parks of the Canadian Rockies. It's so indispensable that experienced hikers will often have multiple editions of this book, in order to stay current.

This edition, the seventh, is a more comprehensive revision than usual. Coverage has been expanded to include several provincial parks (including Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in the Kananaskis area, a welcome and overdue addition). There are more maps, and they've been redone: trails are numbered for easy reference. Plus updates and revisions throughout. Owners of previous editions will find it worthwhile to get this one as well.

As with previous editions, the interior photos are black and white and the package is by no means flashy, but this is a reference to be sworn by and used. It's always better to see the mountains close up, anyway. Pack this book along with your topo maps. I wouldn't be caught dead on a trail in Banff National Park without it!

I would augment it with another guidebook to balance reviews and recommendations. Moon Handbooks are great for the traveler on a "middle class" budget and will guide you to the "must sees" without the extra confusing fluff that other guidebooks include.

Not really a review, but a definite This Is a Great Book. I'd never heard of Moon Handbooks, but purchased this guide through Amazon and found it helped immensely on recent trip to Canada. Everything was included and the detailed recommendations covered everything from hiking to where to eat. If you're heading to the Canadian Rockies, buying this book is money well spent.

This book was invaluable for our Spring 2001 trip through the Canadian Rockies. The book is obviously written with the aim of appealing to a wide range of travelers, and does so well. My wife and I have very different interests, but found that each evening we would sit down and study the next day's itinerary almost solely using this book--her searching out museums and a picking a spot to eat dinner and me looking for outdoor activities. As a retired historian, I was also pleased to see comprehensive coverage of the history of the region, along with dozens of interesting tidbits that helped make the trip more enjoyable. It was too early in the season for us to do much hiking, but the trails we did follow all came from this book and another, Canadian Rockies Trail Guide. I highly recommend this book to anyone traveling north through the Rockies region of our Canadian neighbors.

This book has achieved what a really good book should; it has transported me elsewhere, away from here, this dimension, this often sad reality. This book is emotionally captivating, intellectually stimulating and continuously surprising. I have recommended Mrs Leddy's book to everyone of my friends that usually enjoy this type of fantasy material and they have all enjoyed it. No later than today, I recommended it again. I come back to it every once in a while. It's like travelling without moving, but coming back with smells, tastes and physical traces of the voyage! I can never completely forget about this tale for it is so well written and constructed. I was and still am mesmerized by Tanis and her life. That's how good it is!!

A wonderful book that was hard to put down once I started to read it. The words that Ms Leddy uses to describe the experiences of her characters are so exciting and real that you feel that you are right there with them. It is worth a second read. I recommend it highly.

This book is definitely a curl-up cozy read. A story about past
lives and travel through time may sound a stretch, but Ms. Leddy
draws you into the story so effectively you'll doubt not the events nor the so-real characters living them. There is a rich
pallette of settings and I loved travelling to and fro; from
Canada to Wales, from the present to the past. Just a lovely tale, told with striking authenticity and obviously well researched. I look forward to more from this writer.

Some women might want to call "The Red Green Show" chauvinist because there's nothng but men on it. Have you ever noticed that? Actually, I can remember one episode that had a beautiful model pretending to be Bernice, Red's never-seen wife. But that was the one and only woman I have ever seen on the show. I said women COULD call it chauvinist, but if they watched it, they SHOULDN'T. It's a show that does nothing but make fun of men. And it is funny.

This book takes some of the best material from the show and kind of throws it together. You'll meet pretty much all of the Possum Lodge members; a wierd collection of some of the goofiest regular guys you'll ever meet. I'm a particular fan of Buzz Sherwood who alledgedly can fly his airplane around Possum Lake, but when you're that stoned all the time, how do you do it? You might be glad to learn O.L.D.M.A.N. Sedgwick's full name.

If you're a regular viewer of the TV show, then you don't need me to tell you to buy this book. If you haven't seen the show, find it somewhere on you local PBS station, or gripe to the station for not carrying it and get one of the videos. Then, maybe you'll appreciate this book and maybe you'll buy it, or something.

Well, Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati. (you'll need to read the book or watch the show carefully to figure that out.)

This book is all of the hilariousness of The Red Green Show laid out in book format. There's Red giving advice to middle age guys, Harold's advice to teens, Red's songs, Harold's for-sale and other announcements, and so forth. I recognized some of these from the show, but by no means all. (Then again, I have not been lucky enough to see every episode.) Then, there's piles of information on Possum Lodge: the pledge, the charter, the rules (yes, they have some), Lodge merit badges, a history of Possum Lake, the transcript of a Lodge meeting (complete with Old Man Sedgwick, Stinky Peterson, Moose Thompson, et al.), a Meet Your Member bio of many member, [pant, pant, pant] and so much more!

This book is great. As soon as I got it I immediately started reading it out loud to my wife (her gardening book couldn't possibly have been as good as this one!). Don't be fooled, the jokes start right at the beginning of the book (if you can find it). This is a great book, a must-have for all Red Green Fans. Hurry up and buy it!

I bought this book for my husband, because he loves the show. He has had to fight me to get hold of it to read. It is a must buy!

Without regard to popular opinion McBride spells out his opinions and experience in the 'War to end all wars'. Not only is his honest (as opposed to 'politically correct') account refreshing, but informative as well. Military buffs and armed services personnel will find a great deal of useful information regarding the employment of small arms. In spite of the amount of useful military knowledge, the book is also lively reading. I recommend it highly!

IF YOU CAN SLOG THRU THE MIDLLE OF THE BOOK THE BEGINING AND THE END ARE QUITE GOOD. THE SHOOTING INFORMATION IS VERY VALUBALE. I DID NOT START OUT TO READ THIS BOOK FOR THE HISTORY, BUT IT IS ACCURATE AND INTERTANING.

according to my college classes, a "classic" accurately depicts life (fictional or nonfictional) of the time in which it was written with all idioms/syntax/slang/etc. intact. this is a classic.

A Canadian of 23 years old, she packed her bags and headed off to be a nursing missionary in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and her mother sent with her this cookbook. Well, the pages of the Purity Cookbook are torn and stained with dirt from PNG. Then across to Australia she came to settle down with a new husband. How often this cook book was used you would not believe, the pages have notes written on them (some are now almost impossible to read), some pages are torn, others are missing and almost all pages have been impregnated with ingredients!
This is the recipe book that all 3 of us children learnt to cook from, the recipes are so simple and so delicious that I don't think anyone could fail with this cookbook. Yes, I was going to try and retype the whole recipe book to make sure that the recipes would not be lost and I was overjoyed when I discovered that the original Purity Cookbook had been reprinted. I can't wait till my mid year break from studying nursing to cook a feast!
I have so many fond memories of this book from my childhood; making sugar cookies with my mum, licking out bowls from the chiffon cake batter and learning how to make bread from scratch. This, and my mum, are what made me the reasonably good cook I am today. This has to be my most prized recipe book. If you are looking for a reliable and tasty recipe book, then this one if for you. I cannot sing its praises high enough.

My father, who was and still is the cook in my childhood home, used this cookbook so much it is now beyond ragged. I bought a used original edition copy on EBay awhile ago for myself, but I was very excited to see that it was reissued and I bought two more copies for my brother and cousin. The recipes in this book are excellent. My husband swears by the pancake batter recipe. My father has made every pie, cookie, roll etc recipe. You will not regret ordering this cookbook.

I agree! Mum is Canadian and brought the book with her when she married Dad, who is Australian. She used it before that when she was living in Papua & New Guinea. Then she used the book in Australia when we were growing up, so the book is now held together by rubber bands!! It has some great recipes in it, and my sister was going to re-type the whole book until she saw this on Amazon! She told Mum and Mum told me. We're going to ask my aunt from Canada if she'll bring some copies over with her when she visits this year!

This heart warming book is a fabulous book. It makes readers think that there're lots of generous people who can help you when you feel sad or if you think that Christmas or New YEar is not that exicting.

This book is so charming and gentle. It is filled with lovely stories of Christmases past. All of them have a message of the true meanings of Christmas: giving, loving, sharing, forgiving, and family. The stories are so simple and fresh in today's day and age. Lucy Maud Montgomery is a treasure in any child's library. This is no exception. There is a light warm feeling that comes from reading this book. There are enough stories to count down the days of Christmas with your children with a story each night. What a lovely way to wind down a day, and tuck them in with a warm feeling inside!

This collection of Christmas and New Year stories full of the spirit of the season. It is a wonderful, heart-warming book to be treaured all year long. It lets it's readers know that at Christmas time, and at New Year's as well, anything can happen as long as their are kind and generous people in the world.

This book is almost a bible to me while traveling the Great Lakes Region. It features over 300 lighthouses of both the American and Canadian side of the lakes. The lighthouses are indexed by lake, making a trip to an area, easy to plan and execute. Each lighthouse has a photo (if available), brief description and most importantly to me, access availability and directons.

With the access availability to each lighthouse, (boat, car, private or public), weekend trips are planned to visit each lighthouse in the area. A checkoff box is also printed, to mark off each lighthouse you have visited.

This is a very useful guide to these historic sites, both operational and non-operational, and a valuable reference book.

I have a few books on lighthouses but this one is amazing. The imformation on each lighthouse giving you the location and a place to check mark it and the date you saw it. I am looking forward to using it on my trip to the lakes in October. Thank you for helping me get the best imformation for my trip.

Great set up, lake by lake. Good history of each light, plus a story about each of the lakes. I also appreciate the information regarding visitation of the lights, very useful. A must have for Michiganders