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Hamilton Spectator columnist Paul Benedetti’s essays paint a wonderfully funny portrait of family life today. Paul Benedetti has a good job, a great family, and successful neighbours — but that doesn’t stop him from using it all as grist for a series of funny, real, and touching essays about a world he can’t quite navigate. Benedetti misses his son, who is travelling in Europe, misplaces his groceries, and forgets to pick up his daughter at school. He endures a colonoscopy and vainly attempts to lower his Body Mass Index — all with mixed results.

One Animal Among Many: Gaia, Goats, and Garlic examines the real-life experiences of creatures great and small. Best known for his witty columns in Harrowsmith, David Waltner-Toews explores the interconnectedness of all life with insight and humour. The collection looks at everything from sheep farming to herbal remedies and rabies.

It is rare that one can pick up a book and find all the answers to the problems of Life. Yet in this one book, we find these answers, and learn a few more things that will keep us up at night. What really happened when Mike Harris woke up after emergency surgery in a hospital still smarting from budget cuts? Why did Linda Tripp turn on Bill Clinton?

Are you a snob? Then why not learn to do it right? Study this revolutionary work and become a Canadian Snob of Distinction! Victoria Branden has traced the history of Snobbery from its pre-human roots to our own era, in our own country, and has enunciated the definitive Theory of Snobbery. She examines its evolution from its crude beginnings to its present confused state, with detailed study of the most important types of snobbery, distinguishing Goodsnobs from Badsnobs, experts from fumbling amateurs.

Come and walk the offbeat world of Mike Strobel’s popular column in the Toronto Sun. Meet the legendary panhandler Shaky Lady; the Weasel, who knows where Jimmy Hoffa is buried; the secretive swinger Sexy Boots; the notorious Bicycle Bandit, who quit robbing banks, got a loan, and opened a bar; and Dr. Hook, the top doc whose professional fate rested on the cut of his jib.

Once again we are blessed with yet another collection of Jim Foster’s ravings. His first book, I hate to complain, but … with its views on everything from bank mergers to the author’s 30-year love affair with Sophia Loren, is being hailed as a classic example - though of what no one is quite sure. Readers will be amazed at the depth of the author’s knowledge on just about any subject and his total inability to keep it to himself. What should you do if a comet falls on you at 1000 mph? What are the best pick-up lines for the man or woman looking for romance?

In this hilarious collection of stories, Old Autos columnist Bill Sherk describes in vivid detail the trials and tribulations of those brave souls who, throwing caution to the wind and money down the drain, made the fateful decision that would forever change the course of their lives. They went out and bought their very first cars.And whether it came from the showroom or the scrapyard, your first car was your ticket of admission into the adult world.

The human side of birding comes to the fore in The Reluctant Twitcher, a serious yet humorous account of birds and birding and the art of chasing rarities. Richard Pope, a lifelong birder, had successfully avoided this latter pursuit for many years but capitulated in 2007 when he embarked on his "Big Year," the object being to record at least three hundred birds in Ontario within that calendar period.

Seth Grahame-Smith's handy guide to surviving scary movies might just get you through the night. But it might also be the last book you ever read.

Jessica Dorfman Jones delivers proven tactics to help anyone cheat successfully through life. She shows how to creatively enhance a resume and beat a drug or polygraph test. She also reveals how to file fabricated tax and insurance forms. Each of her 32 chapters introduces the scam, reveals its risks and rewards, and describes the time-tested techniques for pulling it off.