"One day, I put myself in the car and simply drove. I had no idea where I was going or why. I had no idea ... I would wind up, at dusk, in a lost little valley, turning up the driveway of the Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast."

The best books, as you read them, take you from wherever you are to a place where you want to be. If you're a reader of a certain type--a lover of books, cats, and absurdity of a quiet kind--then the Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast should be on your itinerary. It introduces two fraternal twins, Hector and Virgil, unmarried men who run a cozy establishment on a Canadian island. The book alternates between notes from Hector or Virgil, and "Brief Lives," culled from the B & B's guest book. This variety of perspectives gives Bill Richardson tremendous flexibility, and he weaves all the disparate characters together with an unobtrusive dexterity. The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a pleasant, soothing, quietly absurd place to be.


From Publishers Weekly
Fifty-something fraternal twins Hector and Virgil operate a Shangri-la for bibliophiles, located somewhere between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada. In this deliciously witty tale of their B&B, which has won Canada's Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, the collected autobiographical jottings?"Brief Lives"?of the brothers' guests are interspersed with chapters alternately penned by each brother as dispatches for CBC Radio (Richardson first introduced Hector and Virgil on CBC Radio's Gabereau show). Virgil is the wry, bassoon-playing, contemplative one, sending missives from thought-inspiring locales like the cemetery-cum-golf course. (On their dead mother: "In compliance with her wishes, we kept her ashes in a ziplock bag in the freezer, attending the day we could incorporate them into a household project.") The more energetic Hector enjoys the affections of cosmetics saleswoman and would-be writer Altona Winkler and harbors a penchant for trouncing librarians at Scrabble. There's also Waffle the cat and the resident parrot, Mrs. Rochester, who spouts maternal advice along with the occasional vulgar epithet. Guests are greeted by musical eggcups at breakfast, and the brothers supply suggested book lists (e.g., "Hector's List of Favorite Authors for the Bath"). Richardson's voice is impressively versatile, equally assured with such diverse characters as Helen, a Winnipeg grandmother, and Gordon, a staid attorney on a forced wilderness encounter. This quiet charmer is a bibliophile's delight. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Middle-aged twins inherit a remotely situated, old house, which they turn into a B&B for bibliophiles. From this seed came a popular set of delightful, gentle, and fluffy fictive reminiscences originally read by the author over Canadian radio, and here collected on cassette for the first time. While Richardson is a better writer than reader, he is somewhat lacking in technique--the cassette is brief enough so that these bookishly whimsical pieces win over the listener in the end. Y.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Broadcaster Richardson, billed as Canada's Garrison Keillor, suffers from the literary humorist's bane: He shoots for whimsy, but ends up wallowing in clich‚. The novel, an elaboration of segments broadcast on CBC Radio, explores the background, opinions, and experiences of eccentric twin brothers who maintain a bed and breakfast on an island near Vancouver. An inheritance from their auto-mechanic mother, Virgil and Hector's stressless house sports a hefty library of books that Richardson deems worthwhile: Proust, Kingsley Amis, Iris Murdoch, A.S. Byatt, A.A. Milne. The boys have remained bachelors into their 50s--though Hector has a girlfriend, Altona Winkler, who writes for the scandalous local newspaper, Occasional Rumor. They live quietly with a cat named Waffle and a parrot named Mrs. Rochester, taking in guests who recount their impressions and stories in the brothers' guestbook. Richardson alternates sketches narrated by Hector or Virgil with guest accounts, each of which is identified as a ``Brief Life'': A woman recalls how she got her cocker spaniel; a lawyer reports on a harrowing New Age Weekend; a guest complains about Mrs. Rochester's cursing. The brothers' tales are less cloying, but they often seem phoned-in. ``The Top Ten Authors Over Ten Years at the Bachelor Brothers' B&B'' (Margaret Atwood, Anthony Trollope) and ``Virgil's List of Books for When You're Feeling Low'' (M.F.K. Fisher shares space with Vikram Seth) are two examples of Richardson's annoying list-making habit; there are stories about fanciful eggcups and a meditation on the subtle arts of reading and writing in bed. Flip-flopping in this manner puts enormous pressure on Richardson to be funny, which he almost never is, mainly because he's driven to celebrate the merits of a dowdy domestic life. Included are even some bad poetry and a muffin recipe. By and large, a collection of cloying cuteness and failed wit. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"A funny, cozy tale." --Anniston Star

"A whimsically gentle fiction." --Minneapolis Star Tribune



Review
"A funny, cozy tale." --Anniston Star

"A whimsically gentle fiction." --Minneapolis Star Tribune



Review
"A funny, cozy tale." --Anniston Star

"A whimsically gentle fiction." --Minneapolis Star Tribune



Book Description
A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.



About the Author
Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, originally published by Douglas & McIntyre, won Canada's prestigious Stephen Lecock Award for Humour in 1994, and was published in hardcover by A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press in 1996. Its sequel, Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book, is a Canadian bestseller, and will be published in hardcover by A Wyatt Book in October 1997. Bill Richardson is host of CBC Radio FM's "As You Like It" and lives in Vancouver.

ANNOTATION

An educated, hilarious romp through the stories of two middle-age twin brothers who run a bed-and-breakfast on a remote Canadia

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors - in their fifties, and fraternal twins - own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast supplements each twin's distinctive and colorful description of life at their B&B with entertaining extracts from their guest book, lists of suggested reading materials (e.g., Books for When You Are Feeling Low), and astoundingly bad verse penned by a local poet. The lively cast includes Waffle the cat and the scripture-quoting parrot, Mrs. Rochester, as well as the ever-present warm memory of Mother.

SYNOPSIS

An educated, hilarious romp through the stories of two middle-age twin brothers who run a bed-and-breakfast on a remote Canadia.

FROM THE CRITICS

AudioFile

Middle-aged twins inherit a remotely situated, old house, which they turn into a B&B for bibliophiles. From this seed came a popular set of delightful, gentle, and fluffy fictive reminiscences originally read by the author over Canadian radio, and here collected on cassette for the first time. While Richardson is a better writer than reader, he is somewhat lacking in technique—the cassette is brief enough so that these bookishly whimsical pieces win over the listener in the end. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Broadcaster Richardson, billed as Canada's Garrison Keillor, suffers from the literary humorist's bane: He shoots for whimsy, but ends up wallowing in cliché.

The novel, an elaboration of segments broadcast on CBC Radio, explores the background, opinions, and experiences of eccentric twin brothers who maintain a bed and breakfast on an island near Vancouver. An inheritance from their auto-mechanic mother, Virgil and Hector's stressless house sports a hefty library of books that Richardson deems worthwhile: Proust, Kingsley Amis, Iris Murdoch, A.S. Byatt, A.A. Milne. The boys have remained bachelors into their 50s—though Hector has a girlfriend, Altona Winkler, who writes for the scandalous local newspaper, Occasional Rumor. They live quietly with a cat named Waffle and a parrot named Mrs. Rochester, taking in guests who recount their impressions and stories in the brothers' guestbook. Richardson alternates sketches narrated by Hector or Virgil with guest accounts, each of which is identified as a "Brief Life": A woman recalls how she got her cocker spaniel; a lawyer reports on a harrowing New Age Weekend; a guest complains about Mrs. Rochester's cursing. The brothers' tales are less cloying, but they often seem phoned-in. "The Top Ten Authors Over Ten Years at the Bachelor Brothers' B&B" (Margaret Atwood, Anthony Trollope) and "Virgil's List of Books for When You're Feeling Low" (M.F.K. Fisher shares space with Vikram Seth) are two examples of Richardson's annoying list-making habit; there are stories about fanciful eggcups and a meditation on the subtle arts of reading and writing in bed. Flip-flopping in this manner puts enormous pressure on Richardson to be funny, which he almost never is, mainly because he's driven to celebrate the merits of a dowdy domestic life. Included are even some bad poetry and a muffin recipe.

By and large, a collection of cloying cuteness and failed wit.