You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty by Dave Barry (Putnam, $31)

I first encountered American humourist Dave Barry 25 years ago at the American Booksellers Association convention (now known as Book Expo America) in Washington, D.C. Barry, whom the year before won the Pulitzer Prize for his humorous columns that appeared on a weekly basis in The Miami Herald, was at the convention to promote and sign copies of two of his latest books: the paperback edition of his collection Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits, and the hardcover edition of his soon-to-be-released take on American history, Dave Barry Slept Here.

What I noticed about Barry was his laid back manner, his easy going bantering with the large group of booksellers, publisher reps and journalists who eagerly lined up to have their few seconds of chit chat with him and get their autographed books, and the constant zingers and sarcastic (yet not maliciously sarcastic) one-liners he kept delivering at a rapid fire pace, which kept everyone laughing while they were waiting in line.

I couldn’t wait to get home to start reading both autographed copies of Barry’s books; in fact, as soon as I returned to my hotel room, I immediately started Dave Barry Slept Here. That somewhat fast, yet curmudgeonly sense of humour that I saw him project at the book signing session transcended onto the pages of his new book (which became an immediate New York Times bestseller). Over the next decade, I read Dave Barry’s new releases on a regular basis, and watched the short-lived CBS sitcom “Dave’s World”, which was based on his writings. Although the last Dave Barry book I reviewed was his 1990 bestseller Dave Barry Turns 40, it didn’t stop me from enjoying his books.

It’s been over 10 years since I last read one of  his books; and when I received a review copy of his newest collection of humourous writings, You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty, I knew it was time to familiarize myself once more  with what has been going on recently in Dave’s world.

Right off the bat, let me say that despite what the title suggests, this book is not solely a look at parenting and parenthood according to Dave Barry. What the book is, actually, is a collection of nine essays (which are being published for the first time) dealing with topics that Barry claims he know very little about, whether it is death, grammar or what women really want.

All that aside, the long time Dave Barry reader, or the uninitiated ones, will certainly not be disappointed with his new book. The essays are filled with plenty of rants, practical “advice”, and heaping doses of his acerbic style of humour.  Personal favorites include “Sophie, Stella and the Bieber Plan”, in which Barry reluctantly accompanies his daughter Sophie and her BFF Stella to a Justin Bieber concert, in which the two girls not only fawn over Bieber in a rather fanatical way, but take that devotion to a new level by actually leaving personally addressed invitations to their bat mitzvahs on the stage, in the hope that Bieber will pick them up, and eventually attend their respective rites of passage celebrations (by the way, those who are already fed up with Bieber and his obnoxious shenanigans will enjoy reading this essay, as Barry gives his no-holds-barred view on the concert, which he describes as “brutal”, and says rather pointedly that “at times the dancing looks silly, but it serves a vital artistic function; namely, keeping you from noticing that the music [and I say this respectfully] sucks.”; then there’s his piece on manliness, which is basically a collection of how-to lists (such as how to cook a steak on the grill), which reads more like a comedy routine than a bunch of helpful advice lists; and “Seeking WiFi in the Holy Land” is a travelogue that chronicles a recent 10-day family trip Barry took to Israel, in which his wife was always in constant pursuit of the ideal souvenir/gift shop in order to add to her ever growing menorah collection, and his daughter preferring those historic sites across Israel that provided WiFi.

You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty is vintage Dave Barry. Mixing his own unique brand of insight and humour to topics that are relevant and timely, we are satisfied that Dave Barry, after more than 30 years of speaking his mind through the printed page, has not mellowed with age, yet he refuses to become an old relic.

Up, Up and Away! by Jonah Keri (Random House Canada, $32)

During the final weekend of this March, nearly 90,000 rabid Montreal baseball fans filled the cavernous Olympic Stadium to watch a two-game pre-season series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets. And somehow, in spirit, the Montreal Expos returned to their East End home, albeit for a brief return visit.

Yet, you couldn’t miss the unforgettable sight of the majority of those in attendance sporting the variations of the familiar red/white/blue tri-colour makeup of the Expos on-field uniform, with that distinctive “MB” meld of a team logo. It’s been 20 years since the 1994 edition of the Expos fielded one of the best teams in the franchise’s history – only to have their division, league and World Series championship ambitions dashed by a players’ strike; and it’s been 10 years since the Expos played their swan song season in Montreal before they pulled up stakes and headed due south to become the Washington Nationals.

And for many of those fans who made the pilgrimage to the Big O last month, the wounds of 1994 and 2004 haven’t healed yet. And on top of that, they keep asking themselves why Major League Baseball placed such a cruel fate on the Expos, and what did the team do to deserve such a fate? Well, I think their questions will be adequately answered after they read Jonah Keri’s book Up, Up and Away!

This is a book that has been a long time coming, and is a story that needed to be told. Keri, a veteran sports journalist and author, who was a native Montrealer and himself a rabid Expos fan, gives the inside story of the Montreal Expos’ 35-year rollercoaster existence as a National League franchise.

Yet when you start reading the book, the impression you get was that the Expos was a team that was bitten and cursed before they even took the field for their inaugural season in 1969. Mayor Jean Drapeau, councillor Gerry Synder and owner Charles Bronfman promised Major League Baseball and the National League that if Montreal was granted a franchise, the team would have a domed stadium of their own by 1972. However, before that became a “reality”, they had trouble finding the team a temporary home; Delorimier Downs (the home of the much revered Montreal Royals) was too small, and the Autostade near the Expo 67 site was too expensive to convert into a baseball stadium, which is why they settled on tiny Jarry Park, in which the all too short expansion plans were delayed by a massive snowstorm, and almost wasn’t ready for opening day. As well, the players they chose during their expansion draft were either too young or too old for the majors, and some players – like veteran Maury Wills – were quite vocal about their aversion to playing for this upstart team in Montreal.

Keri outlines the many reasons why the Expos were such a beloved, yet cursed, team. One reason that really stands out was the team’s inability to hold onto a good player for an extended period of time. Because of continuous financial difficulties, and the reluctance of a string of owners (especially Claude Brochu, who is painted as the villain of this saga) to let loose their purse strings and invest in trading and drafting talented players, it was almost like the team had no choice but to cut loose their best players for either money or players who were mostly mediocre at best. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Jeff Reardon, John Wettleland, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, Vladimir Guerrero … the list of talented players the Expos lost to other teams where they excelled even further just goes on.

As well, Keri occasionally involves himself in his narrative of the Expos story, as he parallels the team’s burst of success in 1979, 1981 and 1994 with his personal devotion to the team, which was exemplified with “The Maple Ridge Boys”, a group that included him and his friends, in which they fanatically followed the team at home and even on the road, which is a vivid example of a sports fan’s devotion to the home team. He even chronicles his painful disillusion after Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled the 1994 season during the players’ strike; however, that sense of disillusionment melted away when his girlfriend and future wife bought him a 1959 Felipe Alou rookie card for his birthday.

Besides the terrific research and countless interviews he conducted with former players, broadcasters and front office personnel, Keri offers several sidebar pieces that give some new perspectives on different aspects of the Expos story, such as a brutally honest analysis of the team’s 1969 opening day line up; the story behind the “MB” logo; the appeal of Pascual Perez; the case of why Tim Raines should be a Hall of Famer; and why Vladimir Guerrero was the last Expos superstar.

So whether you were a fan of “Le Grand Orange” or “El Presidente”, remember the painful legacy of “Blue Monday”, was harassed by Souki, the Expos’ pre-Youppi mascot; attended the 1982 All-Star Game, or was a proud resident of “Jonesville”, Up, Up and Away! is a book that you must read, so that you can get the full story of the bittersweet history of the team that we affectionately called “Nos Amours”, and realize how much we really miss them.

Will Robert Libman make the jump to federal politics in 2015?

While voters across Quebec were tentatively waiting for the results of the April 7 provincial election, and the implications it would have for the future of both the province and the rest of Canada, one former – yet popular – figure from provincial politics past was tentative about his future in federal politics.

During an appearance at the B’nai Brith Canada annual Public Policy Conference last week in Montreal, former Equality Party leader and MNA Robert Libman was asked if he was considering running for the Conservative Party nomination in the Mount Royal riding during next year’s federal election. In response to that query, Libman didn’t confirm – nor deny – his intention of running for the Tories in Mount Royal, a staunch Liberal stronghold since 1940, which has previously been represented by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who recently decided to step down after serving as its Member of Parliament since 1999.

And Libman’s response to this question came on the heels of an announcement made by Cote St. Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather at the end of March, who stated his intentions of seeking the Liberal Party nomination in Mount Royal.

Libman is no stranger to the world of politics. An architect by trade, he helped to establish the Equality Party in 1988, in response to then-Premier Robert Bourassa’s use of the Notwithstanding Clause following the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling that parts of the Quebec language law – Bill 101 – was unconstitutional, especially when it came to restricting the use of English on commercial signs. The Equality Party’s accomplishment of having four of its candidates elected to the Quebec National Assembly (including Libman) in the September 1989 provincial election stunned the Quebec political scene. Libman served as an MNA until 1994. The following year, he wrote Riding the Rapids, a very informative best selling memoir about his turn at changing the face of provincial politics.

In 1998, Libman was elected Mayor of Cote St. Luc and three years later was elected Mayor of the Cote St. Luc-Hampstead-Montreal West borough in the wake of the controversial  municipal mergers that created the short-lived Montreal megacity. He also served on the Montreal Executive Committee and City Council before leaving municipal politics in 2005. These days, Libman runs Libcorp, his own architectural consulting firm and is a much sought after political expert and analyst by many local and national TV and radio news shows.

It was his vast knowledge of provincial politics that brought him to the Public Policy Conference, where he delivered a fascinating, informative recap and perspective on the recent election, which he called it "one of the most interesting campaigns in Quebec history." He also cited how the level of concern amongst the Jewish community, especially when it came to the threat of a third referendum on separation if Pauline Marois' PQ government would win a majority mandate, has increased drastically (as well as a considerable feeling of angst) since the last provincial election less than two years ago, in which Marois won a minority government and ended the nine-year Liberal government of Jean Charest.  

Whether Libman decides to take his political ambitions to the federal level remains to be seen. But if the scenario one year from now allows two popular municipal mayors (not to mention experienced and widely respected politicians) battle it out for a riding that has been the jewel in the federal Liberals' crown for over 70 years, it will certainly be one of the most exciting races that Mount Royal riding has ever witnessed in a very long time.

To be continued, as they say...