Billy’s Best Bottles 2008, by Billy Munnelly
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 @ 7:30PM $40 (ticket includes book and wine tasting).
Faculty Club
(41 Willcocks St., Upper Dining Room)
Order tickets via phone at (416) 640-5836.
Redeem your ticket at the event for your book.
Enjoy an evening of wine tasting and interpretation with Billy Munnelly.
For some it’s the Farmer’s Almanac, but for thousands of wine drinkers the annual must-have is the new edition of BILLY’S BEST BOTTLES!
BILLY’S BEST BOTTLES: WINES FOR 2008 is the most user-friendly wine book available. Munnelly’s picks are easily found in the liquor store, and each wine featured is shown with its label. All wines are classified by mood— a novel approach that makes shopping dead easy. Half of the selections (there are over 200, all classed by mood) cost less than $13, and some cost less than $10. Because Munnelly uses everyday language to interpret wine, his book is useful to everyone, novice and experienced wine lover alike. Billy says, “Why waste time, money and brain cells trying to figure out the crazy wine world when someone else has done all the work for you? I don’t try to tell you everything about wine, just the bits that are important and useful.”
Besides tips on what to buy, this colourful handbook also contains down-to-earth information about pairing wine and food, planning a party, and basic do’s and don’ts. Munnelly also gives a country-by-country analysis of what’s going on in the world of wine, and offers straight-ahead answers to the most frequently asked questions about wine. With loyal followers from coast to coast, Billy’s handy guide has become an eagerly anticipated favourite.
Billy Munnelly is the champion of good everyday wine. One of Canada’s most creative wine writers, Billy Munnelly has delivered irreverent, lighthearted and enlightening wine advice for 30 years. Munnelly’s goal has been to remove confusion and intimidation from the wine selection process – taking it back from the snobs. Before devoting his life to the pursuit of good, affordable wine, the Irish-born bon vivant spent years in the restaurant industry. In 1977 he opened Stratford’s Rundles restaurant with current owner Jim Morris. In 1981 he opened the Rosedale Diner in Toronto. In 1983 Billy switched to drinking full time and ‘hasn’t missed a day’s work since’. Munnelly was one of the first to write and publish a wine consumer report. His bi-monthly wine publication, Billy’s Best Bottles Wineletter (1983 - 2005) was Canada’s most widely circulated consumer wine report, with subscribers from coast to coast. In the early 90’s, Billy saw the need for an annual wine buying guide for the wines that are sold across Canada. His wine guidebook, ‘Billy’s Best Bottles – Wines for 2006‘ (now in its 16th edition) and has been a Canadian best seller each year since its inception. Billy has appeared on Canada AM, Christine Cushing Live, Breakfast TV, Hunter’s Gathering, The Gardener’s Journal and CBC radio. His writing has been showcased in newspapers and publications including The New York Times, Canadian Consumer Report, Wine X and LCBO’s Food & Drink magazines. He is a member of the Wine Writer’s Circle of Canada and currently writes for newspapers and magazines, including Metro, Toro and the London Free Press. You can often catch Billy’s seminars at wine festivals and wine events, (including Toronto’s Gourmet Food & Wine Expo in November and Santé in May). In addition to writing and publishing, Billy is involved in servicing the wine and hospitality industry via ‘alternative’ wine education and innovative marketing concepts. He and Kato often take their ’show on the road’ and conduct their ‘Wine my Mood School’ in homes and restaurants.
Billy moved from Stratford to Toronto 5 years ago, and now lives close to some of the best downtown bars.
The Future of the Great Lakes
Thursday, November 15, 2007 @ 7:30PM FREE
Hart House Library
(7 Hart House Circle)
Join us for an evening of discussion about the future of the Great Lakes with Wayne Grady, author of The Great Lakes: The Natural History Of A Changing Region , and Prof. A. P. Lino Grima, retired professor from the University of Toronto Centre for Environment, Geography and UTM.
A comprehensive, engaging, and timely exploration of one of the most important ecological systems on Earth, a life-sustaining continental resource that is increasingly under threat.
Five immense lakes lie at the heart of North America. They comprise the world’s largest freshwater system, containing 95 percent of the continent’s fresh water—and one-fifth of the planet’s total supply. The Great Lakes drainage basin is home to 40 million people and is the hub of industry and agriculture in North America. Its rich mineral deposits and natural resources have attracted and sustained human and wildlife populations for more than ten thousand years.
The Great Lakes: The Natural History of a Changing Region is the most authoritative, complete, and accessible book to date about the biology and ecology of this vital, ever-changing terrain. Written by one of Canada’s best-known science and nature writers, this essential resource features superb nature photography and numerous sidebars that focus on specific animal, plant and invertebrate species.
Wayne Grady, one of Canada’s foremost popular science writers, has won three Science in Society awards from the Canadian Science Writers’ Association. In 2004 he collaborated with David Suzuki on Tree: A Life Story, a best-seller now in its third printing. He is the author of eight books of non-fiction, translated eight novels and edited six anthologies of short stories.
He won the Governor-General’s Award for Translation for On the Eighth Day by Antonine Maillet, was nominated for the 2005 Governor General’s Award for his translation of Francine D’Amour’s Return from Africa, and received the John Glassco Prize for translation.
and
At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914 to 1916
Thursday, October 25, 2007@ 7:30PM FREE
Robert Gill Theatre
(214 College St., 3rd floor)
Join Tim Cook, author of At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914 to 1916, and curator at the Canadian War Museum, for an evening of stunning slides and stories of Canadians in the Great War.
At the Sharp End covers the harrowing early battles of World War One, when tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, died, before the generals and soldiers found ways to break the terrible stalemate of the front. It provides both an intimate look at the Canadian men in the trenches and an authoritative account of the slow evolution in tactics, weapons, and advancement. Featuring never-before-published photographs, letters, diaries, and maps, this recounting of the Great War through the soldiers’ eyewitness accounts is moving and thoroughly engrossing. At The Sharp End is the first comprehensive history of Canadians in World War One in 40 years. It heralds a growing interest in World War One history with a CBC documentary currently under development. Acclaimed Canadian actor Paul Gross is starring in a $20-million feature film to be released in summer 2007.
Tim Cook is a curator at the Canadian War Museum, as well as an adjunct professor at Carleton University. He is the author of No Place to Run and Clio’s Warriors.
The Last of the Wild Wolves, a slide presentation by Ian McAllister
Thursday, November 8, 2007 @ 7:30 pm FREE
Hart House Library (7 Hart House Circle)
co-hosted by U of T Bookstore Reading Series in partnership with Hart House
Call for information call (416) 640-5836
An awe inspiring wilderness, where bear-hunting wolves take to the sea, grizzlies clash in titanic battles and wild salmon are the pulsing lifeblood of an entire rainforest ecosystem….
The Last Wild Wolves: Ghosts of the Great Bear Rainforest,
by Ian McAllister.
Includes a dvd of rare video footage
published by Greystone Books,
a division of Douglas & McIntyre Publishing Group
Join award winning author and photographer Ian McAllister as he launches his latest book, The Last Wild Wolves. It will be an unforgettable evening of exploration, adventure and first hand accounts drawn from nearly two decades of wildlife observation, research and photography along the remote outposts of Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest.
Ian McAllister, a founding member of the Raincoast Conservation Society, has spent the past twenty years working to conserve B.C.’s temperate rain forest. He is the author of The Great Bear Rainforest and is also an award-winning photographer and filmmaker. He lives on Denny Island, British Columbia.
Greystone Books, a division of
