Slim (152-page) 1997 A Wyatt Books for St. Martin's Press trade paperback received in the mail from Tukwila, Washington, USA, through PaperbackSwap. Originally published in 1993. The front cover says "Over 100,000 copies of the Bachelor Brothers books in print!" Has a little square of paper tucked inside with a rubber-stamped frog and a handwritten note: "Enjoy your book!" I saw this title on the "recently released" sidebar and was intrigued.

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.

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 cliche. 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.

A nice enough way to spend a weekend afternoon. I'm saving this to release the next time I go to see The Rosenbach Company, a pop musical about early-20th-century rare-book dealer Abe Rosenbach and his brother Philip, who remind me a little of Virgil & Hector respectively. (I released a book the first time I saw the show and it was caught.)

RELEASE NOTES
Released (with a few books mentioned in this one) during a performance of

The Rosenbach Company
a pop musical about rare book dealer Abe Rosenbach & his brother Philip by Ben Katchor & Mark Mulcahy
katchor.com

at

MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art)
Hunter Center
87 Marshall Street
North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
413.662.2111
massmoca.org

Downstairs, near the restrooms & payphone.

Thanks for finding this book
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