Product Description
Just as Jacob Two-Two settles into his new life in Canada, things are turned upside down! First, Jacob gets a new neighbor, who does double duty as a spy; then he gets a new principal, who turns out to be mean and nasty; and then, unknowingly, he makes an enemy – but who could it be? Jacob Two-Two returns in this new adventure that takes him into the fascinating world of spycraft!Amazon.com Review
Poor Jacob Two-Two! Miss Sour Pickle, Jacob's mean geography teacher, calls on him whenever he daydreams in class, and Mr. I. M. Greedyguts, the new headmaster of Jacob's school, hired Loathsome Leo Louse to prepare monstrous meals that Jacob and his classmates must eat down to the very last bite. Luckily, Mr. Dinglebat, world-renowned spymaster, just moved in next door and has concocted a plan to help Jacob.Packed with colorful characters, secret spy tricks, and lots of fun, Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case will enthrall and excite children's imaginations. For more Jacob adventures, kids should check outJacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang and Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur, the first two books in this series of three from Commonwealth Book Prize-winning author Mordecai Richler. (Ages 7 to 10) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

4.5 stars
"Poor Mr. Dinglebat was in a state. He had, he told Jacob Two-Two, recently invested a good deal of money in buying Canadian military secrets, and now he was stuck with them. 'No customers,' he said."

This clever children's book by Mordecai Richler was written for his children and modeled after the same, and it was just simply a delight to read. Featuring not only Jacob Two-Two, but also I.M. Greedyguts, Miss Sour Pickle, and Perfectly Loathsome Leo Louse, this third installment of the Jacob Two-Two series made me laugh out loud at several points. I really, really enjoyed it.

Have to get use to the writing style I'm reading it...
I'm a kid at heart :D
LOVE watching Jacob on QUBO. Got rid of Cable SOO glad there is something else, since I don't have NICK,CN, TBS, miss "Monk", was SUPPOSE to be on NBC. ANYWAY, back to the book. I'm reading more. Even if I did have CABLE or whatever. Read online stuff, etc, it's nice to have a book that's not a big deal. Pick up anytime!! ... Read more

Product Description
In 1867, young Mark Twain set out for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle-steamer Quaker City. His enduring, no-nonsense guide for the first-time traveler also served as an antidote to the insufferably romantic travel books of the period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oddly timeless in many ways
Some parts of this book give an incredible insight into the way life was actually lived all western Europe and the middle east in the 1800s. Other parts give testament to Twain's incredibly casual bigotry and racism andintolerance. But in one page he'll note his desire to not appear ignorantin front of a freed slave acting as tour guide in Venice; and then widelycompliment the fellow for his intelligence and manner. Twain doesn't smooththe rough edges - he's all rough edges. But so much the better. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Funny, not humorous
Wow, what a waste of time. Humor, of course, is a matter of individual taste but these are NOT funny stories. Most were not, in my opinion, intended as humorous by the authors- off beat, quirky and interesting, perhaps, but NOT humorous. Even the selections from the true humor writers are the least funny, from my experience of their other works. Very sorry that I wasted my time and money on the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Originally Broadcast on the CBC
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
These autobiographical tales are based on his childhood growing up in Montreal and during his travels.
READ BY LOUIS NEGIN
ORIGINALLY BROADCAST DURING 1965
1. A Story about Bennie who went off to W.W.II and came back a Cripple and a Changed Man
2. The War, Heaven and After
3. "Bambinger". A story about a Boarder who rents a room.
4. If you don't like Jack Hawkins, Tell Me
5. "Sticking Together"A story about Jewish 'Clannishness' while in Europe.
6. "Mr. Sun" The First Citizen of the World
7. "E.G.C." The first time I met Edward Gorden Craig, a great innovator in theatre design and Staging
8. "Circus Book"
9. A hunours Account of the Influence of Communism, "The Red Menace"
10. "Shooting the Brease at St. Urban" An account of life on Richler's street in Montreal during this youth.
11. "Making it with the Chicks". A story about the sex life of a Jewish Boy

FROM THE PUBLISHER
These autobiographical tales are based on his childhood growing up in Montreal and during his travels.
READ BY LOUIS NEGIN
ORIGINALLY BROADCAST DURING 1965
1. A Story about Bennie who went off to W.W.II and came back a Cripple and a Changed Man
2. The War, Heaven and After
3. "Bambinger". A story about a Boarder who rents a room.
4. If you don't like Jack Hawkins, Tell Me
5. "Sticking Together"A story about Jewish 'Clannishness' while in Europe.
6. "Mr. Sun" The First Citizen of the World
7. "E.G.C." The first time I met Edward Gorden Craig, a great innovator in theatre design and Staging
8. "Circus Book"
9. A humours Account of the Influence of Communism, "The Red Menace"
10. "Shooting the Brease at St. Urban" An account of life on Richler's street in Montreal during this youth.
11. "Making it with the Chicks". A story about the sex life of a Jewish Boy ... Read more

Product Description
This study analyzes Richler's use of biblical and literary sources as ironic subtexts for his tales. In addition, it aims to show that Richler uses these sources to compare and judge both the world he imitates and the one he creates. This work, a study of his nine novels, seeks to prove that even the first novel is cast in the same mould as the more successful ones where he fashions his protagonist on a biblical or literary mode only to blast holes in both his hero and the model he represents. Thus he achieves his own peculiar moral density by pushing accepted conventions and beliefs to their logically absurd extremes, while keeping the realistic level intact. ... Read more

Product Description
In Son of a Smaller Hero, Mordecai Richler evokes the seasons, tempers, and moods of the Jewish ghetto of Montreal with an earnest realism unsurpassed in his later fiction.

Young Noah Adler, passionate, ruthlessly idealistic, is the ghetto’s prodigal son. Finding tradition in league with self-delusion, he attempts to shatter the ghetto’s illusory walls by entering the foreign territory of the goyim. But here, freedom and self-determination continue to elude him. Painfully, Noah comes to recognize “justice and safety and a kind of felicity” in a world he cannot – entirely – leave behind.

Son of a Smaller Hero is a compassionate, and startlingly comic, study of the nature of belonging.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This Is An Interesting Novel By Richler - But Not His Best
This is a good 200 page novel by Richler and if was a bit longer and had a bit more character development this would be a 5 star novel. As a point of reference, I have read all of Richler's major works and a few of his early novellas. This was written near the beginning of his career. It follows his first book, The Acrobats, which can be best described as muddled. That novel has not stood up well to the test of time, and there should be no doubt why. It is not good. But Richler wrote more than The Acrobats - all better -and the second novel, the present work, is far better and gives us a taste of what will follow later.

I like Richler's work, but from my reading of his novels it is clear that Richler went through a number of writing phases. Contrary to his critics, he did experiment with his writing. If anything his middle books have too much sex or are even obsessed with sex, while some of his later books such as Solomon Gursky are a bit too ambitious or overly complicated. The present work is from the early years and follows his St. Urbain theme. In short, the present book is more like his latter books, even though it was written early in his career.

Modecai Richler (1931 to 2001) grew up in Montreal and that city is the setting for many of his stories. Many of his novels are about Jews living in Canada and Britain post WWII. He is best known for his tales of life in and around St. Urbain Street. That is an area of three story buildings or walk up row houses located just east of the mountain in Montreal, and north of the commercial center of the city. At one time this was the center of Jewish immigrant life in Montreal.

His break out novel wa Duddy Kravitz which is still a great read whether you have seen the movie or not. Still, I like his last book, Barney's Vision, which is his best written piece of work. The novel lacks the edge and drama of Duddy Kravitz but has things in it that make it better. This present short novel was written early in his career and it is entertaining.

The present book is about three generations of a Jewish family and in particular the story of the twenty year old son, Noah, and his relationship with his father who is "the smaller hero" and his grandfather, a strict and more orthodox Jew. This is part a "self discovery" story and part a love story with a thirty year old woman outside the faith. The first 50 pages wander, but then the story settles down and it is a good novel.
Comparing it to Richler's first novel, The Acrobats, we see a much more focused effort with fewer and more interesting characters. Overall, it is similar to some of his later novels written decades later. It is good but not great.


... Read more

Product Description
Master of prose and polemics, Mordecai Richler was, for nearly five decades, one of Canada's most compelling writers. Though Richler insisted that his private life was not important to his work, Reinhold Kramer shows that Richler's uneasy Jewishness, his reluctant Canadianness, and his secularism were central to all of his writing. Based on never-before published material from the Richler archives as well as interviews with family members, friends, and acquaintances, "Mordecai Richler: Leaving St Urbain" shows how Richler consistently mined his remarkable life for material for his novels. Beginning with the early clashes with his grandfather over Orthodox Judaism, and exposing the reasons behind his life-long quarrel with his mother, Kramer follows Richler as he flees to Ibiza and Paris, where he counted himself as one of the avant-garde who ushered in the 1960s. His successes abroad gave him the opportunity to remain in England and leave novel-writing behind - but he did neither. More than a biography, "Mordecai Richler: Leaving St Urbain" is the story of a Jewish culture finding its place within a larger stream, a literary culture moving into the colloquial, and a Canada torn between nationalism and cosmopolitanism. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

*joshua then and now* S U C K S!!!!!!!
this book is a most difficult read. it is almost like a history lesson. the whole idea of going back and forth from persent to past, made it a most trying excersise to read. if you are a casual reader from age 17 and lower; do not attempt to read this. this was the hardest, most boring and most challenging book i have yet to come across. read with caution and lots of time ahead of you.

Will please any Richler fan
This book is classic Mordecai Richler:

His main character, Joshua, is a Montreal Jew who is opinionated, cynical and comes from a seedy background: and yet, is able to survive, become successful and marries into a well-off family that have their own set of closet skeletons.The story has many interesting twists and emotions vary from the serious, sad or sometimes, to the very funny.Like many of Richler's characters, there is a gutsy determination, a sense of purposeful indignation about Joshua that you can admire and identify with.

The novel is well written and easy to read and uses sporadic explicit language.This is sure to please anyone who has enjoyed other Richler books such as "Barney's Version" or "St. Urbain's Horseman". A recommended read!

Comic, Crude, and Didactic
Mordecai Richler definitely came out of hiding with the release of Joshua Then and Now, a literary marvel that made me roll in my chair with uncontrollable laughter.This novel has many features worthy of praise.First, Joshua's character can go both ways in terms of admiration: some readers admire this crude character while othere despise the man who is a mere image of Richler.Second, continual flashbacks to different periods and settings make Joshua Then and Now a page-turner.The novel also had its lows.It was evident that Richler took a shortcut in producing this novel as Joshua Shapiro's character was a reflection of his own.Also, the novel could have done without scenes dealing with the William Lyon Mackenzie King Memorial Society as this did little to advance the novel.All in all, Joshua Then and Now was a success, preaching audiences about the importance of moral and sound family values.Mr. Richler, your comic energy and satires will be missed forever.

Fun to read, however borders on homophobic.
The novel is definitely funny. I had the strange luck to read it during my internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, which is where scenes of Joshua's infirm wife took place. Richler easily gets me to belly-laugh. BUT, part of his humor is based on homophobia. Joshua is mistaken for gay and his mother enthusiastically and misguidely marches with PFLAG. I think such humour is of the "lowest common denominator" variety. In this as in other books of his, Richler relies on gay people, or misidentified straight people for a cheap laugh, which I don't appreciate.The rest of the book is great and I recommend it.

I Laughed Out Loud!
This was the first Richler novel I've read and it was wonderful!There were characters and scenarios so well drawn that I could not help myself from laughing out loud.It is one of the few novels I wished never ended. ... Read more

Product Description
Mordecai Richler selected all the pieces included here. Together they give us an intimate portrait of a man who admired the players and prized the struggle. Throughout his life, he nurtured his obsession with sports, writing brilliantly on ice hockey, baseball, salmon fishing, bodybuilding, and wrestling, for such publications as GQ, Maclean's, and The New York Times. His encounters with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe are by turns moving and uproarious. There are wonderful pieces here about Ring Lardner, Hank Greenberg and lady umpires. Full of irony and irrepressible wit, this is a book for all fans of Mordecai Richler. (5 3/4 x 8 3/4, 320 pages) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"He's an art form,the baseball diamond his canvas."
Although this book was published in 2002;I have the distinct honor to be writing the first Customer Review.In my opinion,Richler is one of the best Canadian writers,and if you've never read anything by him;this book should convince you.His perception,observation,experiences and expertise with language is simply masterful.
This book is composed of material he wrote on sports over the years;the bulk of it from the mid-eighties.That means about 20 years ago.I would think that someone at least over 60 would relate more to this material than someone under 40.Personally,I lived in Montreal in the 60's,and was a diehard "Habs" fan and enjoyed seeing the Expos and The Worlds Fair come to Montreal.Those were very heady days.All that has changed and that whole excitement is now a thing of the past.
Reading this book is very illuminating and answers the questions as to what has happened to sports and what is missing today.Richler really brings it home.Let me quote a few lines from his book.

"It isn't the stars who are expensive,it's the high price of mediocracy."

"After you quit,though,it's a long time between Monday and Friday."

"Beliveau led his team to 10 Stanley Cups in 18 years with the club as a player."

"Dick Irvin used to say it doesn't matter haw hard you hit the glass or the boards,the light won't go on."

"Big, handsome Jean (Beliveau) was a commanding presence,and as long as he was on the ice,the game couldn't degenerate into Ping-Pong:it was hockey as it was meant to be played."

Richler shows how the sports stars played for the love of the game and it's enjoyment and particularly for the respect and admiration of the fans.In the off-season,they lived in the community and were very approachable.
Regretfully,that is a thing of the past.He shows us how it has changed and why things went so wrong.
Imagine,after the rich history of baseball in Montreal,the Expos are now gone and the Canadiens are a dynasty in memory only.
Thanks Mordecai for a great collection and your total rejection of political correctness.

"He might be gone now,but
Mordecai Richler kept his
eye on the ball until the end."
The Globe and Mail

Mordecai Richler died on July 3,2001. ... Read more