Books with author Brian Doyle

Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher, John “Spud”' Sweetgrass at least still has his job selling french fries from a curbside “chip wagon.” But he notices that something stinks — literally. It’s the smell of rancid cooking oil at a polluted Ottawa beach. His suspicions aroused, Spud follows Dumper Stubbs, a creepy delivery man who services local restaurants and chip wagons. Spud gets angry when he sees Dumper living up to his name, dumping oil into a storm drain and causing terrible pollution in the river. When Spud blows the whistle, he loses his job. Enlisting the help of his buddy Dink the Thinker, and Connie Pan — whom he calls his girlfriend though she isn’t exactly that — Spud thinks he has a chance of regaining his job and stopping the Dumper’s harmful activities. In the background of this offbeat farce are serious issues that Spud must also deal with, including his father’s death, his mother’s withdrawal into grief, and his own awkward transition through adolescence. Brian Doyle expertly interweaves comedy and important contemporary concerns of young people in this vivid story with a message.

There are thousands of religions in the world. All are paths human beings follow to live good lives, and to reach out to the external spirit we call 'God'. However, religions differ in what exactly they imagine this spirit to be and how we human beings can become one with it. In this book we take a look at six of the largest religions in the world can learn what they have in common, so that hopefully we may all understand each other and learn to live in peace, side by side.

In the latest comic novel by Canada's celebrated author Brian Doyle, Hubbo O'Driscoll, the enterprising hero of Easy Avenue, is learning to enjoy the pleasures of country life. But when the local covered bridge, home to a wayward ghost and her lovelorn postman, is threatened by development, Hubbo must devise a strategy to save it. Pitted against the forces of "progress" represented by builders Ovide Proulx and his wife, Prootoo, Hubbo and his inimitable dog, Nerves, search for a way to reconcile the old and the new. At the last minute, the unexpected help of Foolish Father Foley from Farrelton and a crazy goat ensures that Mushrat Creek continues to be a haven for all who love the past as well as the present.

Hubbo O'Driscoll, the earnest young hero from Easy Avenue, is back. He's living at Mushrat Creek in the Gatineau Hills and has found a new job as curator for the local covered bridge. Things seem to be looking up for Hubbo - until he learns that the covered bridge is going to be torn down for a new bridge. His job is over before it has begun. But Hubbo is resourceful, and with a little ingenuity - as well as the assistance of a ghost, a love-struck mailman and the local priest - he sets out to save the covered bridge, and his new job, from senseless demolition.