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The Best Laid Plans

by Terry Fallis (Goodreads Author)

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 2,913 ratings · 486 reviews

Here’s the set up: A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election — but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock — an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers — to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose, and so o...more

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Published March 26th 2010 by Emblem Editions (first published August 22nd 2007)

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Jul 07, 2011 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Not a fabulous read, but not terrible either. It's an altogether predictable storyline (yes, I knew Angus would get into the role, yes I knew Daniel and Lindsay would hook up,yes I knew the Pete's would transform, yes I knew the hovercraft would make a big play) and I found most of the characters - well, the ones that are developed in any significant way - cliché. The campy, Canadian humour was cute but a little much at times (see for example p. 52 where Lindsay remarks in amazement about the la...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had a rocky start with this book. The author clearly knows politics, but much less about academia - or at least, current academia. The idea that the protagonist was approached about a tenure track appointment a couple of months before the book began, and that the position was still open, and there weren't a stack of CVs from people applying for that job, that the protagonist could just call his old prof and waltz into a tenure-track job? Well, I don't know what the academic job market used to...more I had a rocky start with this book. The author clearly knows politics, but much less about academia - or at least, current academia. The idea that the protagonist was approached about a tenure track appointment a couple of months before the book began, and that the position was still open, and there weren't a stack of CVs from people applying for that job, that the protagonist could just call his old prof and waltz into a tenure-track job? Well, I don't know what the academic job market used to look like, but it doesn't look like that now!

There were a few fumbles like this, and they were driving me crazy. And the start of the book was not that funny, and not that engaging, and I was trying really hard to like it, because I do like reading about politics, when it's well done.

Gradually, though, gradually, I started to care about the characters, and to care about what was going on, and what would happen, and although I never really found this book funny, I did eventually find it absorbing.

Daniel Addison is a former staffer for the Liberal Leader (his party is the present Opposition in this book), who flees Parliament Hill for a tenure-track appointment in English. The cost of his exit? He needs to find and run a candidate in the safest Conservative riding in the country. Muriel Parkinson, the wonderful senior citizen who put herself on the line five times previously will help with the campaign, but not take on the candidacy. (Muriel was probably my favourite character.) Daniel finally strikes a deal with his landlord, engineering professor Angus McLintock. Angus agrees to run, on the presumption that he doesn't have to do anything for the campaign, and will definitely lose. In return, Daniel will teach the English for Engineers course with which he's been afflicted.

(That was another one - English departments run English for non-English major courses all the time. They are not normally taught by the engineering faculty.)

The book makes it sound like it's all about the campaign, but as far as I'm concerned that half of the book is much slower than the second half, which deals with what happens after the impossible happens, and Angus gets elected. (I don't think I'm spoiling here - that outcome seems implied in the description of the book.) Angus in parliament is a delight to behold. He doesn't care if he keeps his seat in the next election, and bends his formidable intellect to the task of being an honest man on Parliament Hill.

Angus is almost too good to be true. He's a literate engineer, the widower of a feminist icon, a fiercely intelligent grammarian, building a hovercraft in his boathouse. But he is an immensely engaging character, and I enjoyed the book more when he was the focus. Daniel is, quite frankly, not that interesting.

This book reads like the fantasies of a former staffer, one who wondered "what if" after days upon weeks upon months dealing with business as it is done in the capitol. The campaign aspects could have been squeezed down to a fraction of the book, and more spent on the maneuverings of a minority Parliament afterwards, because for me, that's where all the fun is.

The first half isn't bad, but the second half is delightful. (less)

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Jan 11, 2013 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, book-club-books, funny-books

OK, so you know that feeling when you've found the perfect book/song/band/child's name/whatever, and then shortly after it becomes popular? You know..."GAH! Why can't I just have this one thing to myself? Why do I always have to share? Now everybody's going to be talking about it/using it/slobbering all over it, and it's going to get overdone/overused/overanalyzed - this SUCKS!" Yeah...I totally didn't feel that when this book became the Canada Reads book. I was in a rut, not really enjoying the...more OK, so you know that feeling when you've found the perfect book/song/band/child's name/whatever, and then shortly after it becomes popular? You know..."GAH! Why can't I just have this one thing to myself? Why do I always have to share? Now everybody's going to be talking about it/using it/slobbering all over it, and it's going to get overdone/overused/overanalyzed - this SUCKS!" Yeah...I totally didn't feel that when this book became the Canada Reads book. I was in a rut, not really enjoying the books that I was reading, and about to take a trip that would have me in a car for extended periods, so I needed a good book, but it had to be one that I could put down if I had to. I started looking at Top Ten books of lists, and was looking specifically for funny books. I came across a book that had won the Stephen Leacock award for humour, and googled it, thinking that award winners had to have something going for them right? So I found this book, and the premise sounded OK, but the author's story just blew me away. So I bought the book, devoured it (too fast), and started recommending it to everyone I met. It was my book club choice when I hosted our book club. When my husband was in the hospital to get his gall bladder out, I left all of the magazines at home, and told him that he had to give this book a try (he loved it, of course). It became our city's One Book, One Community choice in 2010, and Terry Fallis came to speak to the masses about the book, and I went to hear him talk, and I loved him even more (not like a stalker, but definitely like a real fan). I bought a copy of his second book at the event, and have been saving it for the perfect moment (savouring the idea that I have it - I visit it now and again, and say "not this time") In fact, the book had only been released a couple of days prior to the event, and a lady in the audience put up her hand and asked him when he was writing the next one, because she couldn't put this one down! He was genuinely surprised (and humbled) that there were people there who had not only bought the book already, but had loved it that much - I think he felt like a rock star that day. So he told the lady that he might give the characters a rest and write a different story, and she said "Hurry up - I don't have that much time!" (she was elderly). It got a great laugh from the crowd, and it moved all of us to think that this woman who is facing her mortality and has to be picking her books with extreme care (no time for crap), is desperate for his book!

Anyhoo, all that to say - I loved the characters; I loved the story; I loved the humour (I laughed out loud several times). I have been recommending it for almost 2 years, and will continue to do so. In fact...you...you who's reading this...buy this book, you won't be sorry. In fact, buy 2 copies and give one to your best friend. Let's keep this guy writing!(less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Anne Toronto1 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fun, fan

Looking forward to planned CBC TV mini-series. terryfallis.com excerpts
The Best Laid Plans, from Robbie Burns' To A Mouse 1785, is a popular title. Terry Fallis, experienced in engineering and public relations, penned a podcast that grew and won the Steven Leacock Medal. Humor and honor, "passion for proper English" conquer the compromised democracy of Canadian politics. Yet p193 "through the ringer" should be wringer, two rollers that squeeze water from laundry.

At first, apparently autobiogra...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first picked up Terry Fallis' novel which is described on the cover as a "satirical novel of Canadian politics" I wasn't expecting it to be very compelling -- I'm not much into politics, after all.

But this novel was compelling from the first word. I was immediately hooked by narrator Daniel Addison and his departure from the Canadian political scene to teach English to Engineers at Ottawa University.

I particularly enjoyed the hilarious and uniquely creative description of walking in on hi...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Lorina Stephens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

The Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis, is, in my opinion, a perfect novel, deserving of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and of every accolade it receives. If you haven't yet read it you must, right now, rush out and purchase your very own copy; no, don't borrow one, buy your own because it will be a mainstay on your bookshelf for years to come.

Now, it's best to understand it's not easy to make me laugh, and I'm also a very critical reader; despite that Terry had me laughing myself silly wi...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Dana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Daniel Addison is a former staffer for the Opposition Liberal Leader. He leaves Parliament Hill for a University position in the English department. But first,he needs to find and run a candidate in the safest Conservative riding in the country. Muriel Parkinson, the previous candidate five times over will help with the campaign, but not run for election again.

Daniel finally strikes a deal with his landlord, engineering professor Angus McLintock. Angus agrees to run, on the presumption that he d...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The protagonist of this novel is a self-confessed lover of language, perhaps something of a projection of the author himself, so it will come as little surprise that the writing is colourful, flowing, and detailed. In many ways, it captures the style of Timothy Findley or William Faulkner whose writing I enjoy so much. I hope that Mr. Fallis won't take offense when I compare the flavour of the plot to one of my old "Who is Bugs Potter?" books: our protagonists face all manner of seemingly insurm...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Phil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My book shelves are by no means crowded with political satire, but this first foray turned out to be a good one.

I came away from reading this much more aware of the decay of the 'nation-first' attitude and also how important that attitude is. I can't think of a time when I have even considered putting the interest of the country ahead of my own. For me the government exists to further my self-interests, at least inasmuch as my self-interests do not interfere with the self-interests of others. Th...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Marissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While I generally enjoyed this book, the way Terry Fallis depicts the "typical" engineering student really bothered me. As someone who has recently graduated from an engineering program and attended conferences with engineering students from across Ontario, I can attest that the depiction of a first-year engineering student as someone who can barely put a sentence together but loves to read books on advanced calculus in their spare time is a tired stereotype. It isn't even the most recent stereo...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was definitely a winner and every Canadian should read it! It pokes fun at our government structure while educating the reader on government procedure. Daniel (who has his doctorate in English) has been working as a executive assistant writing speeches for the Leader of the Opposition. He is tired of his job and wants to move into the university environment. The final straw comes after he stumbles upon his girlfriend of two years, performing one of those "and other duties as assigned"...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Jonathan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Stephen Leacock Awards committee has no credibility. The characters are two-dimensional stereotypes without insight or growth. The metaphors are overwrought, thickly-slathered (usually doubly-slathered), and flat. References to hockey and skating aren't funny just because they're Canadian. The dialogue is similarly dull. The plot is predictable and the romantic side-plot superficial and wholly without dramatic tension. Underdramatized, too, are the characters. They are most often indifferent...more The Stephen Leacock Awards committee has no credibility. The characters are two-dimensional stereotypes without insight or growth. The metaphors are overwrought, thickly-slathered (usually doubly-slathered), and flat. References to hockey and skating aren't funny just because they're Canadian. The dialogue is similarly dull. The plot is predictable and the romantic side-plot superficial and wholly without dramatic tension. Underdramatized, too, are the characters. They are most often indifferent to their obstacles and overcome them either by some unrelated (and hence, unfunny) deus ex machina or so quickly that none proves significant. Re: deus ex -- is a sex scandal funny after the many we've seen from politicians?

Its political insight is fairly elementary and trends towards the obvious. After the past five years, how many Canadians are surprised to learn that parliamentary procedure is meaningful when the government is a minority, as comes to one of the characters in an "insight"?

Flipping between the present and past in the narrative voice could be an interesting trick. Here it isn't. It reads like an unedited mistake each time. It makes the narrator, in turns, emotionally neurotic, calm and experienced, and conveniently forgetful without ever being witty, interesting, or adding to the story. The narrator shows, for example, no significant signs of lingering pain from the broken relationship at the beginning of the story. Given that, the revenge he later exacts on his former lover (and her lover) comes off as mean and childish rather than triumphant.

The diary entries by one major character sadden me. These codas to each chapter are well-constructed, tie together, offer insight into that character, and achieve some poignancy. Could the rest of the book have had similar quality? What prevented it?

The only truly interesting question raised in the book is the one at the end: will the new member seize the moment now that he sees the possibility of worthwhile achievement ahead of him? What a pity the story following that question wasn't the one Mr. Fallis chose to tell.(less)

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May 02, 2011 Mark Picketts rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Funny, at parts really really funny and dripping of Canadiana - the book had me laughing out loud at various parts but the story didn't have me absolutely loving it. The main character didn't grab me but the older scot was good. I good book to read on a week's vacation.

A couple parts that grabbed me:

[when they are in power] they tend to erode public confidence in the democratic process and infect the electorate with the cynicism, self-interest, and opportunism that flow in their veins. In the m

...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Steven Buechler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While elements of this book may seem humorous to the point of being ridiculous for some, many people who are bummed out by the political/social/media institutions of Canada will find a strong element of truth to it.

-From pg 61
"The Insanity, the surreal, the bizarre, had officially begun. I sat at my kitchen table, gargling orange juice and wondeing how I'd managed to put myself in this ludicrous position. I was running a phantom candidate, in a cash-strapped campaign we were sure to lose, aided...more

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Dec 23, 2010 Sarah (Workaday Reads) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, canadian, 5-star-in-2010

I recently finished reading The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. It is definitely not my usual type of book, but I did thoroughly enjoy, much to my surprise. It is the One Book, One Community selection for 2010 for the Waterloo region, so I thought I would give it a try.

The book is about Canadian politics, and centres around an ex-speechwriter who is trying to leave politics and a university professor who agrees to be the Liberal candidate in a no-hope-to-win riding. It is very funny to read; I...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Janet Berkman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian

I started reading The Best Laid Plans after listening to a few chapters of Fallis' follow-up, The High Road, which is available free from iTunes. While you don't need to have read The Best Laid Plans first, it's the backstory and so I downloaded it onto my Kindle (it was my first Kindle purchase!) and read it in a couple of sittings.

It's a very funny book, and won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 2008. Telling the story of a reluctant Liberal candidate in a very Tory riding east...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Scott Harris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This winner of the Stephen Leacock Award and the Canada reads competition is without question a quintessentially Canadian pleasure. For those familiar with Ottawa and its political machinery, it offers an insider's delights - with playful references to political process, policies and protocols. His political characters appear thinly veiled references to some of the real players in this world. For example, one wonders if the two sign-defacing, street-thumping, political lackey Petes who gradually...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Sue Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

I was a little worried when I picked this one up to read and discovered it was about Canadian politics. Any book on politics is enough to make me inwardly groan - fictional or non - there's something about politics that puts me into a coma.

Truthfully it's probably because I'm waaaaay to cynical and disillusioned. Too many promises and not enough to show for it all.... I dislike the inherent untruth to it all and it immediately sets my brain to numb and buzz so I can't take any of it in. *sigh* S...more

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Oct 19, 2009 Scotchneat rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humour

Ah, I loves me some Canadian political satire. Don't think I've had this much fun since King John of Canada (Scott Gardiner - go read it).

A young politico quits Ottawa when the blech factor gets to be too much, but he's "persuaded" to run one final campaign in a riding where the party has no hope in hell of winning a seat.

The last guy he bugs to stand up is a an Engineering Prof who desperately wants to get out of teaching English 101, and so a deal is struck. Then he finds a firecracker former...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Brandon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, humour

Combining humour with hard politics is not an easy feat. Fallis has accomplished this though in a witty, smart, enlightening book that many Canadians would enjoy. As an outsider to the house of commons, this inside look actually teaches a thing or two about how our government is run and keeps a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the whole institution. The only downside was that I found the book slightly longer than it had to be and the diary entries at the end of each chapter provided little more...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Jack Cheng added it · review of another edition

Winner of the Canada Reads "competition" to select a book of the last decade that best represents Canada, The Best Laid Plans was a good choice.

The story told by Daniel, a disillusioned speech writer whose one task upon leaving government is to find a strawman candidate in a losing race, is political, somewhat suspenseful, and quite funny. Daniel's candidate, Angus McLintock is a ornery Scots-Canadian widower who agrees to run just to get out of teaching a University class.

The writing is amusin...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Anie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a novel about an employee of a Canadian political party (Liberal) who decides to change careers and, for reasons that aren't at all clear, must fullfill a final duty before moving on to his new job as a professor at the University of Ottawa. He must find a candidate to run in a riding near Ottawa which the Conservative party has held forever, and the incumbent is a popular Minister of Finance. The story unfolds predictably - a loveable but bright recently widowed curmudgeon agrees to run...more This is a novel about an employee of a Canadian political party (Liberal) who decides to change careers and, for reasons that aren't at all clear, must fullfill a final duty before moving on to his new job as a professor at the University of Ottawa. He must find a candidate to run in a riding near Ottawa which the Conservative party has held forever, and the incumbent is a popular Minister of Finance. The story unfolds predictably - a loveable but bright recently widowed curmudgeon agrees to run providing in exchange for the hack teaching his course on English to first year engineering students, because of course he cannot win. The incumbent suffers an embarassing public exposure of his sexual proclivities, the electorate turn on him and the curmudgeon is elected. The procrastinator returns to Parliament Hill to work for the new member, and of course he falls in love.

It was pleasant to read a story that is set in a familiar locale, but the stereotypes in this book are so blatant that the book became a bore.

Polticians are nincompoops who could not get through their days without the assistance of the paid party staff
Engineering students - and apparently engineers - are culturally deficient
Conservatives bad, Liberals good
Voters are just plain dumb, completely unable to decipher the complexities of even basic economics. The writers total contempt for the unwashed masses was so blatant that it made the book a nuisance that I felt compelled to finish. The finish was so predictable that I could have just skipped from midway to the last page and not really missed anything.

Strangely, though, what rings most in my mind the day after finishing this book are two glaring factual problems:

1. Why would anyone looking for shelter in a winter snowstorm in Ottawa walk down Elgin Street past the Lord Elgin hotel to get to the Chateau? That is the coldest and windiest area of Ottawa. Any simpleton would surely stop at the Lord Elgin.

2. No matter how powerful the motor, there is simply no way a hydrofoil could travel from any suburban riding down the Ottawa River to the Parliament Buildings in the time set out in the book. And no normal person, particularly an apparently elderly gentleman, could scramble up the hill to the Parliament Buildings from the canal in the time set out in the book.

Neither activity added to the plot, so why weren't they corrected by the editors?

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Sep 22, 2012 Dan York rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, satire, canada, humor

A political satire from Canada? Really? Yes, indeed... and a thoroughly enjoyable read! I first met The Best Laid Plans when Terry Fallis (who, in full disclosure, I know professionally) started podcasting out the chapters in weekly episodes. I immediately got caught up in the story of Daniel and Angus and kept waiting impatiently for the next week's episode to come. Having lived in Ottawa for five years, it was fun to know some of the places and locations where events were taking place.

As a pol...more

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May 13, 2012 Terri rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book grabbed my attention because it won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Readers familiar with Leacock will understand why this novel won within its first few pages; Fallis uses humour to address some hefty issues in Canadian politics. His work can also be classified as local colour fiction, as it captures details of life in Ottawa that are familiar to those who live there (he nods to The Fulcrum, provides an accurate address for Liberal Party headquarters, and damns our winters).

Tha...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Josi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book may have changed my life by genuinely getting me interested in politics. That aside, it's a clever, humorous book with a unique plot. Really, there's nothing quite like this out there. However, Fallis's writing felt a bit awkward at times, particularly in the beginning, and he has the tendency to force the crude elements of the story. They work, (how else do you get major cred in the senior's home? Fall in some dog doo...) but aren't always integrated in the best way. It's almost like...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Ruth Seeley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hmmm. I've got nothing against satire, but I'm afraid this one just didn't go far enough. It seems to owe a lot to that rather strange Newfie movie called Rare Birds where one of the characters spends a lot of time working on his RSV (recreational submarine vehicle). The tension between plausible and implausible just isn't sufficiently maintained here. I don't think you can have a book that earnestly explains parliamentary rules of procedure on the one hand while asking you to suspend disbelief...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Heather Pearson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian

Daniel Addison has one thing left to do before is done with politics; he needs to find a candidate to run in the Tory stronghold of Cumberland-Prescott. Even though there is essentially no chance of a liberal candidate winning he is finding no one willing to take up the challenge. After speaking with every possible contender he turns to his landlord, Engineering Professor Angus McLintock. With essentially no fund, no campaign workers and no committed party representative, Daniel somehow has to r...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, ebooks, fiction, canadiana

Massachusetts Congressman Tip O'Neill famously said, "all politics is local." This seems like a general truth yet one subject to several important exceptions. If true, what of the political novel? A Huffington Post article from 2011 recommends new political novels and leads the list with Jonathan Franzen's Freedom and Ian MacEwan's Saturday. Both fine novels but more concerned with the effects of politics on ordinary people. By political novel I mean a work focussed on politicians, on institutio...more Massachusetts Congressman Tip O'Neill famously said, "all politics is local." This seems like a general truth yet one subject to several important exceptions. If true, what of the political novel? A Huffington Post article from 2011 recommends new political novels and leads the list with Jonathan Franzen's Freedom and Ian MacEwan's Saturday. Both fine novels but more concerned with the effects of politics on ordinary people. By political novel I mean a work focussed on politicians, on institutions and on policy. If today's so called "political" novels deal with the political process at all it is usually in the context of terrorism, infidelity or some other stupendous emergency. It is no understatement that far more readers know how American government works (or attempts to work) through TV shows such as "The West Wing" and lately, Netflix's American rebranding of Britain's "House of Cards."

Terry Fallis's The Best Laid Plans is a fine example of a political novel. That is also a comedy is equally good news. Mr Fallis is Canadian and his novel deftly satirizes many elements of the Canadian political system. That it does so successfully is evident by its success. The book won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was selected as the 2011 winner of the national "Canada Reads" competition. It is rife with insider knowledge of the methods and particular madness of the Canadian Parliament and two of its major political parties - the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives.

The book tells the tale of Daniel Addison, a speechwriter and parliamentary aide for the leader of the Liberal Party, who wants out of the political game. In order to squeeze the last remaining ounce of work from him the party makes a deal that he can leave if he finds a sacrificial candidate to run in what is described as the safest constituency in the country. A riding held by the Tories from the dawn of Confederation. Daniel finds his candidate, who extracts his own bargain in turn. The comedic turn hinges on the fact that the candidate, University of Ottawa engineering professor, Angus McClintock demands as part of the bargain that he must not be required to make speeches, attend candidate's forums, do press interviews or canvass door-to-door. Of course, nothing turns out as planned (hence, the title of the book). There is much that is convenient and often improbable but the novel is full of hilarious moments skewering both politicians and academics.

So, apropos the opening paragraph of this review, is the Canadian setting a problem for the foreign reader? I am no judge being far too familiar with the background of the novel but I think that it will translate well to readers everywhere. There is a sense of the human comedy despite which regime one lives in.

I must quote the passage that, as a librarian, I particularly enjoyed.

I stood aside and let Angus pass into the three-tiered wooden glory of the Library of Parliament. An alabaster statue of Queen Victoria towered over us in the centre of of the circular library. A handful of staff laboured under her benevolent gaze. I fell silent and listened for Angus's reaction. I was rewarded by his sharp intake of breath at the sight of three levels of ornate, wooden shelves, which circled the perimeter of the room, and the arched windows in the domed, sky-lit ceiling. I'd entered that place dozens, even hundreds of times and always felt a slight wobble in my knees as I passed over the threshold.

In 2007, in Ottawa for a family wedding, I was exceedingly pleased to be part of a backroom tour of the Library of Parliament. Arranged by the groom, a Parliamentary librarian, and led by the head librarian it was a wonderful experience. The Canadian Parliament Buildings burned in 1916 but God in his wisdom spared the library and it now stands as an example of the days when libraries were beautiful buildings. More information here.

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Oct 14, 2011 Bev rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a book club pick and since I don’t have a keen interest in politics it’s unlikely I would have read it on my own. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than I anticipated.

The characters were well developed and I especially enjoyed Angus; a crotchety and stubborn Scotsman. I visualized Angus as being slightly rough around the edges; a diamond in the rough. He was not afraid to speak his mind and often did so in a manner that was considered politically incorrect. Angus also had a softer side an...more

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May 12, 2011 Penny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011, what-book-club-read, kobo-book

I'm finished now and the rating still stands - maybe to 4.5 stars if I could....I'm sad to see my time with Angus end and I won't be reading about him any longer. Great ending!!

Okay, so I still have 60 odd pages left, but I'm going to stop and say that I did really enjoy this book. How I love Angus! My favourite parts were always when he would so lovingly write a diary to his late-wife. I can just picture a burly and curmudgeonly old Scot sitting himself at a desk writing faithfully to her each...more

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About Terry Fallis

Terry Fallis is the bestselling author of the comic novels The Best Laid Plans, and The High Road, and Up and Down. His debut novel (TBLP) was originally self-published in 2007 and won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Then McClelland & Stewart published TBLP in September 2008. He also won the Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Regional Fiction - Canada East ca...more

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Quotes from The Best Laid Plans

“nothing furnishes a room like books” — 3 people liked it

“the use of profanity for effect to be a practice of the weak-minded” — 3 people liked it

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The Best Laid Plans

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