December 18, 2008 -- Alison Fryer is the manager of the Cookbook Store in Toronto. She was on the show today talking about some of her favourite cookbooks published this year.

Here is her list:

On the Line by Eric Ripert
Taste of Canada by Rose Murray
Market Vegetarian by Ross Dobson
Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker
Home Made by Tana Ramsay
MFK Fisher among the pots and pans edited by Joan Reardon
Martha Stewart's Cooking School:Lessons for a Home Cook
Milk by Anne Mendelson

July 14, 2008 -- Ben McNally is the proprietor of Ben Mcnally's Books in Toronto. He was on the program with his favourite books to read this summer.

The Translator  by Daoud Hari
published by Doubleday Canada

The Billionaire's Vinegar  by Benjamin Wallace
Published by Random House

The Darkroom of Damocles  by W.F.Hermans
published by Overlook Press (Penguin)

Salvage  by Jane Kotapish
Published by McClelland and Stewart

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Published by Viking Penguin


May 01, 2008 -- Dr. James Orbinski is a research scientist at St Michael's Hospital, the founder of Dignitas International and was president of Doctors Without Borders when the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize. His new book, An Imperfect Offering, explores the role of humanitarianism in the 21st century and uses the terrible things he's seen in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Darfur and beyond to inspire the work he does around the world today. James Orbinski was our guest.

April 28, 2008 -- Gregory Levey is a 29 year old Torontonian who, several years ago and quite by accident, ended up becoming the speech writer for the Israeli Ambassador to the UN. He ended up going on to write speeches for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. His very funny new book, Shut Up I'm talking( And Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned In The Israeli Government) tells the story of how a kid from Toronto ended up in a very powerful position and the adventure that unfolded. Gregory Levey was on the program talking about his new book.


April 22, 2008 -- It's been 40 years since civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was killed in Memphis.
Since then, his influence and legacy has been felt around the world, including here in Canada.
That legacy, and the current state of race relations, was the subject of a free discussion Tuesday at the U of T's Earth Science Auditorium. Michael Eric Dyson lead the discussion. The Washington, DC-based author and professor has just written a book on King, April 4, 1968, that looks at MLK, the US and asks whether presidential hopeful Barack Obama is his heir-apparent. Michael Eric Dyson was on the program.


April 21, 2008 -- Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid are a Toronto couple, who for over 25 years have been traveling the world. they've been connecting food with the cultures who produce and eat it and in turn have produced six amazing, beautiful cookbooks. The latest is Beyond The Great Wall: Recipes & Travels in the Other China. Jeffery and Naomi were on the program.


April 15, 2008 -- Toronto author Margaret Webb was on the program talking about her new book, Apples To Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms.. More and more people are visiting framers markets, joining Community Supported Argiculture schemes and generally paying more attention to the people who produce their food. That connection and its importance across the country, is the subject of Toronto Author Margaret Webb's new book.


April 03, 2008 -- Australian scientist, author and climate change activist Tim Flannery book The Weather Makers was an international best-seller. His new book, An Explorer's Notebook, is a collection of essays. The introduction of this book takes direct aim at Canada. Tim Flannery was our houseguest.


April 02, 2008 -- Richard Florida is the professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management and the head of that school's Martin Prosperity Institute. Florida arrived in Toronto last fall to much fanfare. His new book, Who's Your City, explores why where we chose to live is one of the biggest decisions we'll ever make. Richard Florida was our Houseguest.


February 01, 2008 -- To kick off Black History Month, we invited Karolyn Smardz Frost to the show. Karolyn's Governor General's Award-winning book I've Got a Home in Glory Land tells the tale of the Underground Railroad and uncovers remarkable details about the thriving black communities in Toronto in the mid-1800s. It's the result of 20 years of painstaking research. Karolyn was our guest.

December 20, 2007 -- On the show we continued our look back at things we loved in 2007. More than ever before, people are collecting cookbooks - everything from the latest Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver to obscure books on game meat and Peruvian cuisine. Who better to sort through the best cookbooks than Alison Fryer. She's the owner of the CookBook Store on Yonge Street, north of Bloor in Toronto.  Here is Alison's list of top cookbooks;
1. Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink
2. Table Talk by A. A. Gill
3. New Food Lover's Companion fourth edition by Sharon Tyler Herbst
4. Asian Flavours of Jean Georges by Jean Georges Vongerichten
5. Wild Sweets Chocolate by Dominique and Cindy Duby
6. The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan
7. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
8. Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan
9. Spilling The Beans by Clarissa Wright


December 17, 2007 -- Every year, hundreds of book titles are released. Some get attention on the best      seller lists. And others catch the eye of discerning booksellers who pass on the word. We've asked one such bibliophile for his thoughts on the best books of 2007. Ben McNally is a thirty year veteran of bookselling, and the proprietor of Ben McNally Books on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. He shared his list with us on the program.

Favourite Fiction Titles:
1. Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
2. Changing Light - Nora Gallagher

Non fiction:
1. In Europe - Geert Mak
2. Agent Zigzag - Ben Macintyre
3. Down the Nile, Rosemary Mahoney

November 29, 2007 -- Roger Martin is the Dean of the Rotman School of Management. His new book, The Opposable Mind, explores leadership, how we think and what makes a good leader. Roger's conclusion is that an opposable mind - the ability to integrate two opposable ideas into one solution - is key. Roger Martin was our houseguest.

October 26, 2007 -- Alberto Manguel is this year's Massey Lecture. His essays, The City of Words explore the rise of intolerance in our world and why it's so difficult for people from diverse, different backgrounds, to live together. Alberto Manguel was my guest.

October 25, 2007 -- Toronto novelist David Gilmour's latest book,  The Film Club, is the true story of what happened when Gilmour's teenage son Jesse wanted to drop out of school. Gilmour let him, on the condition that Jesse watched three films a day with him. David Gilmour, and his son Jesse, were my houseguests.

October 22, 2007 -- Calgary's Bret Hart was one of the giants of pro wrestling. He's just written a remarkably frank autobiography, Hitman My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, that lays bare life in the big business world of the WWF.  Hart was my guest.

Octobter 22, 2007 -- Ian Holding is a 27 year old Zimbabwean and has just written a new novel, Unfeeling . It takes a harrowing look at that country's tensions between white farmers and black militias. Holding was my guest.

October 17, 2007 -- We've all got old family recipes, now some of the best, and some of the strangest, heirloom recipes have been put together in a new book. America's Best Lost Recipes is published by the folks who put together the excellent Cooks Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen program. Christopher Kimball is the editor, and former HG on Here & Now. He was back on our program talking about the new book.

October 04, 2007 -- The N word is arguably the most explosive word in the English language. It's history and use in the past, present and future is the subject of an equally volatile new book by Jabari Asim. He was my guest.

October 03, 2007 -- Canada's literary scene has a long history of producing stellar short stories. Many of the best, by authors like Vincent Lam, Barbara Gowdy, Margaret Atwood and Alistair MacLeod, have been collected in The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories. The book's editor is Jane Urquhart. She was my guest on the show.

September 26, 2007 -- Jonathan Garfinkel is a Toronto author and playwright whose has just written an explosive and funny new memoir, Ambivalence tells his story of how as a young man educated at a Hebrew day school, he met an Israeli-Arab woman, learned about a house in Jerusalem that was shared by Jewish and Palestinian residents and decided to track the house down. The book explores his ambivalence towards Israel and challenges the truths he grew up with in Toronto. Garfinkle was my houseguest.

September 19, 2007 -- Toronto novelist Stephen Marche's debut novel, Raymond & Hannah, was a great success. His follow up novel, Shining at the Bottom of the Sea, tells the story of a fictious nation called Sanjania. Stephen was our houseguest.

September 13, 2007 -- Lana Slezic is a Toronto-born photographer whose beautiful new book, Forsaken offers an intimate look into the lives of women living in Afghanistan post-Taliban. Lana was our houseguest.

September 10, 2007 -- With the film festival in full swing, George Anthony joined us to talk about his new book Starring Brian Linehan. It's a biography of the flamboyant, famously well-informed interviewer Brian Linehan, who died in 2004.

September 04, 2007 -- Back to school means back to homework. On the show I spoke with Sara Bennett. She's an attorney by trade and also a parent who struggled with her children over homework. So much so she was inspired to write a book about it. It's called The Case Against Homework. For more information go to her website.


August 30, 2207 -- We wrapped up our Toronto Book Awards profiles with a chat with Vincent Lam, author of the Giller Prize-winning Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Vincent was my guest. The winner will be announced on September 5th.

August 29, 2007 -- On our tour of talking with nominees of the Toronto Book Awards, I spoke with Sally Gibson, author of Inside Toronto: Urban Interiors 1800s to 1920s.  Sally was my guest.

August 29, 2007 -- Barbara Klunder is a longtime Toronto artist whose work can be seen around the city. She designed the look of the old Bamboo on Queen West. Barabara has a new book out, Other Goose, takes familiar nursery rhymes and twists them around. Barbara Klunder was my guest.


August 28, 2007 --   Our next stop on the Toronto Book Awards profile was Michael Redhill, author of the fantastic book Consolation.  Michael spoke to us from his new home in the South of France.

August 27, 2007 -- We kick off a week-long series of interviews with nominees for the Toronto Book Awards . First up was photographer Geoffrey James, the man behind Geoffrey James' Toronto.


June 26, 2007 -- Pier Giorgio di Cicco is Toronto's Poet Laureate. He's also been at the forefront of this city's creative renaissance. His new book,  Municipal Mind, offers a series of manifestos on creativity and city building. Pier Giorgio di Cicco was our guest.

June 25, 2007 -- Eliza Clark is the Toronto author of  Miss You Like Crazy and the Giller-nominated What You Need. She's also a creative writing prof at York U. She's just combined those two disciplines in a new book. Writer's Gym, Exercises & Training Tips For Writers features authors like Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Michael Redhill and Douglas Coupland offering tips on how to be a better writer. Eliza was our guest.

June 19, 2007 -- A group of big-name Toronto chefs have thrown their combined culinary skills behind a new cookbook, A Gift from the Stars. Toronto chef Daniel Racine is behind the project. It's a fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Daniel was our guest

June 11 2007 --  Richard Cannings, the author of An Enchantment of Birds is about birding in the big city. Cannings was our guest.

June 07 2007 --  Farzana Doctor's new novel, Stealing Nasreen follows the lives of immigrants new and old, to Toronto. They work menial cleaning jobs despite professional training, struggle with issues of sexuality and watch their children abandon traditional food in favour of Frosted Flakes. Farzana Doctor was our guest.


June 05, 2007 -- The 2007 Griffin Poetry Prizes has been handed out. Each year, the Griffin Trust awards $50,000 each to a Canadian and international poet for a new collection of poetry. We invited the three Canadian finalists on the show to read from their collections. First up was Ken Babstock, an award-winning poet based here in Toronto. He read from his collection, Airstream Land Yacht, which won the 2007 Trillium Prize. Then we heard from Priscila Uppal. She's a professor at York University and the author of Ontological Necessities. Finally we heard from this year's Griffin Prize winner Don McKay. He was born in Owen Sound, but now lives in Vancouver. He's the winner of two Governor General Awards for poetry. His collection is Strike/Slip.


May 28, 2007 -- Greg Girard lived in Shanghai for close to a decade. From giant skyscrapers to impossibly complex networks of expressways, Shanghai is a city in the grips of extraordinary development at breakneck speed. These are not the images Greg Girard has captured in his new book, Phantom Shanghai. He shows crumbling colonial buildings in the shadow of the skyscrapers, the last holdouts in the face of marching progress. Girard was our guest.

May 21, 2007 -- Alison Fryer of The Cookbook Store stopped by with her favourite summer cookbook picks.  Below is a list of those picks;

1. 100 Best Grilling recipes - Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh

2. More Grilled to Perfection - Chris Knight and Rob Rain Ford

3. King of the Q's Blue Plate BBQ - Ted Reader

4. Great Food Fast; From the Kitchen of the Martha Stewart Living

5. Vegetable Harvest - Patricia Wells

May 14, 2007 -- John Mighton is an award-winning playwright and a brilliant mathematician. He also wants to change the way our kids are taught. His new book, The End of Ignorance is based on the assumption that every child has the potential to be successful in every subject. John Mighton was our guest.

May 10, 2007 -- Severn Cullis-Suzuki is the daughter of David Suzuki and a long-time activist. She's also the editor of  Notes From Canada's Young Activists: A Generation Stands Up For Change, a book that confronts the notion that her generation is one ruled by apathy and indifference. Severn Cullis-Suzuki was our guest.

May 08, 2007 -- Hamida Ghafour was 5 years old when her family fled Afghanistan and moved to Canada. In the years since, she's become a journalist and writer for Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail. In 2003, Ghafour was posted in Afghanistan. Her new book,  The Sleeping Buddah is the story of her return to her home country, and how people there have coped through years of war and instability. Hamida Ghafour was our guest.

April 30, 2007 -- Eating locally is a hot topic in the food world these days. James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith took that concept to extreme lengths when, for a year, they only ate food grown within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. The experiment is the subject of their new book, The 100-Mile Diet: A Year Of Local Eating . James and Alisa were our guests.

April 26, 2007 -- Mohsin Hamid is the Pakistan-born, London-based author of the new novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It tells the story, through a monologue, of a young, bearded Pakistani who works in a high-powered New York firm and then watches as everything changes on September 11, 2001. Mohsin Hamid was on our show.

April 18, 2007 -- Ishmael Beah is the author of Long Way Gone,  the story of how as a 13 year old became a child soldier in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Beah was rescued by Unicef, moved to New York, studied politics and is now a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch. He was our guest.

April 17, 2007 -- Marina Nemat is the Toronto-based author of the memoir Prisoner Of Tehran. It's the story of how, when she was 16 and living in Iran, she was arrested, and imprisoned in Iran's notorious Evin prison. That's just the beginning of the tale, which also includes her eventual arrival here in Toronto. Marina Nemat was our guest.

March 23, 2007 -- Marjorie Harris is the gardening columnist for the Globe & Mail, the editor at large for Gardening Life Magazine and the author of several gardening books. Her latest is How To Make A Garden: The 7 Essential Steps For The Canadian Gardener. Marjorie Harris was our guest.

March 20, 2007 -- Richard Poplak grew up white and privileged in Apartheid-era South Africa before moving with his family to Toronto. He's just written a stunning memoir about his life, there and here, called Jo, No, Man.  Richard was on our show.


March 8, 2007 -- Joshua Key was a poor American when he signed up with the US Army. He ended up fighting in Iraq, became disillusioned with the war, and his government, and fled to Canada. He and his family have filed for refugee status here, and he's told his story in a new book, A Deserter's Tale. Joshua was our houseguest.

March 5, 2007 --  Susan Winemaker is a self-described good Jewish girl from Toronto. She moved to London, trained as a chef, and then ended up working for many years as a dominatrix. It is a peculiar story told in her no-holds-barred memoir, Concertina. Winemaker was our guest.

March 2, 2007 -- Lawrence Hill is an award-winning novelist and journalist. His latest novel, The Book Of Negroes, is an incredible epic about slavery, Canada and the real Book Of Negroes, a list of Black Loyalists who sailed from the US to Canada. Hill was our houseguest.

Februrary 28, 2007 -- CS Richardson is an award-winning book designer in Toronto who has just published his first novel. The End Of The Alphabet explores what happens when a man, on his 50th birthday, is told he has one month (give or take a few days) to live. It's extraordinary. CS Richardson was our guest.

February  06, 2007 -- Tim Harford is the author of a fascinating new book, The Undercover Economist. It's been called an economist's version of  the way things work. Starbucks can charge $4.00 for a latte and why organic food costs more than conventional food, this book is for you. Tim Harford was our guest.

February 05, 2007 -- David Morley is the CEO of Save The Children. For seven years, he was the executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres. He traveled to some of the world's most impoverished, war- torn places, delivering aid through the NGO. Morley has documented his experiences, and how what he saw changed him forever, in a new book,  Healing Our World. David Morley was our Houseguest.

January 23, 2007 -- Wikinomics is a book co-authored by Toronto author Don Tapscott. The book documents how online collaboration has altered the way business operate, made traditional corporate hierarchies redundant and created some extraordinary new products. Don Tapscott was our houseguest.