HAMILTON READS
From humorous horror and fairytale to a walking exploration of Westdale, a historical baseball tale, and short stories from Caribbean perspectives, here are five books from local writers that should be on your summer reading list.
This summer, put your feet up and relax with a good book — of the local variety! Here are just a few books by Hamilton authors or illustrators to look for next time you visit your favourite independent bookstore.
All You Can Kill
By Pasha Malla
Each year, the Hamilton Public Library chooses the one book it thinks Hamilton should read. This year, it’s chosen All You Can Kill by Pasha Malla – an imaginative novel that combines horror and humour – to be the Hamilton Reads pick. White Lotus meets Shaun of the Dead, All You Can Kill is an absurdist take on a wellness retreat that finds the book’s narrator and his accidental companion impersonating the Dhaliwals, a couple that's likely been killed in a helicopter crash. Along with participating in Hamilton Reads book clubs and other events, local writers are also encouraged to take part in the first Hamilton Reads Short Story Contest. Judged by local author David Neil Lee, participants who live in the Hamilton Public Library service area are challenged to write a fictional short story of 2,000 words or less that contains a theme found in All You Can Kill.
Wild Life
By Amanda Leduc
Wild Life, the dazzling new book by Hamilton’s Amanda Leduc, transports readers to 19th-century Scotland, where they’re greeted by the most unlikely of characters: two walking, talking hyenas who blur the line between human and animal. Named Barbara and Kendrith, they’re strange messengers who transform the humans they encounter, inhabiting a world that is both devastating and beautiful. Readers of Leduc’s previous books will recognize her superb prose and her remarkable ability to weave elements of fairytale into storytelling that’s firmly rooted in the complexities of being human.
Westdale in 10,000 Steps: The Story of
Hamilton’s Western Plateau
By Roy J. Adams
Two summers ago, after seeing a media report about the health benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day, Roy J. Adams set out to do just that. He explored every street in Westdale, as well as many others in Ainslie Wood and its surrounding communities. While he didn’t plan to write a book about the experience, he found himself noticing many details and asking himself questions he'd overlooked in 50 years of living in Westdale. “The walking led to research to answer the questions, which led to more research and more questions,” he writes in Westdale in 10,000 Steps, an ambitious book that traces vibrant Westdale from pioneer days when most, but not all, of the early settlers were United Empire Loyalists to the business and culture hub we know today. Filled with photographs and maps, it’s an essential read for anyone with roots in Hamilton’s west end.
The Northern
By Jacob McArthur Mooney
Set in the summer of 1952, Jacob McArthur Mooney’s The Northern follows one man and two boys dispatched from Minnesota to Ontario by an upstart baseball card company – the fictional Four Corners Baseball Card Company. With their eyes set on players from the Northern League, the bottom-most rung of professional baseball, they embark on a journey that takes them through Windsor, Hamilton, London, and Niagara Falls, inhaling gas fumes in a Hudson Hornet that’s well past its prime. With memories of World War II not far behind, The Northern is a coming-of-age story that’s perfect for summer, complete with the magic of baseball games on a warm July night.
A Quiet Disappearance
Rabindranath Maharaj
Another perfect pairing for summer is a collection of short stories, allowing readers to immerse themselves briefly in a new world while at a park, on a road trip, or between the summer plans that pile up quickly. A Quiet Disappearance is the most recent offering of short stories by Rabindranath Maharaj, who immigrated to Canada from Trinidad, and now lives in Hamilton, having previously published with Hamilton’s Wolsak and Wynn. A collection of beautifully crafted stories, A Quiet Disappearance centres on the stories of older men and women from the Caribbean, each confronting their pasts as they approach the end of their lives.
