Hamilton Writes!
NEW TITLES BY HAMILTON AUTHORS TO ADD TO YOUR HOLIDAY READING LIST
New titles by Hamilton authors to add to your holiday reading list
“Wine from Raisins” By Josef Svoboda
In his memoir, Burlington resident Josef Svoboda traces his fascinating path from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to an award-winning professor. Svoboda, who was born in 1929, spent nine years in hard prisons and forced labour camps after being arrested by the communist regime for political crimes. He was released just before his 29th birthday. Svoboda went on to become one of Canada’s pioneers in the science of climate change through his research in the Canadian Arctic. Today, he is a professor emeritus from the University of Toronto and a member of the Order of Pope St. Sylvester. “Wine from Raisins” is his story of perseverance, faith, and idealism.
$27.95. Available online from Amazon.ca (temporarily out of stock) or novalis.ca.
“Barney” By Barry Gray
Hamilton Spectator photographer Barry Gray’s first novel describes life on a southern-Ontario farm in 1969 — a time of peace, love, moon landings, and Barney. Gray’s first novel is the story of a year in the life of a 9-year-old boy, growing up on a farm. This novel examines a life lived according to the rhythm of the seasons and hearkens back to a simpler time.
Available for free online at https:// www.wattpad.com/story/29621845barney.
“Snail Eyes and Other Uncanny Tales” By Roach Adams
This book of short stories examines the darker, more dystopian aspects of the human condition. In his debut collection, Adams offers 20 original stories, each one including a dark twist or unsettling truth. The title story, “Snail Eyes,” describes a young girl who paints incredibly realistic eyes on the shells of snails, in a hope from saving them from being crushed. “Liquor Teeth” tells the story of an unlikely home invasion that isn’t what it seems. As Adams writes, the stories “take aim at just a few of the social and environmental nightmares we face as a collective global community.”
$18. Available online from Amazon.ca and Barnes and Noble.
“Never Give Up: The Story of Eleanor Mills and the Boney Express” By Judy Cline
Vineland resident Judy Cline tells the story of Eleanor Mills, who, at 79, organized walks in 130 communities across Canada while battling severe osteoporosis. Mills’ osteoporosis had caused multiple spinal fractures that forced her to walk like an inverted “L” — but Mills was determined to demonstrate that osteoporosis need not be a crippling condition. Cline, who retired as a practicing physiotherapist in 2000, met Mills twice and was inspired to tell her story. “Her charisma and her stamina left a deep impression on me,” Cline writes about Mills in her introduction. “She was an engaging person, interested in everything around her.”
$23.95. Available online at Chaptersindigo.ca.
“An Irish Tale and Other Stories” By Peter Fleming
This collection of colourful snapshots follows Winston Crawley, a polymath in the making named after “a British National hero and an Irish nut.” Crawley, a young Irishman who grew up in Canada, feels forever bound by family ties to his native Belfast. At 19, he returns to Northern Ireland at the request of his aloof, judgmental father in a final attempt to make things right. His father reveals shocking truths about love, lust, religion and politics.
$18.95. Available online from Amazon.ca.
“Tapes from California: Teenage Road Tripping, 1976” By Jill C. Nelson
This travel memoir follows the once-in-alifetime trip undertaken by two teenage girls in the 1970s. Nelson, a west-Burlington resident, relied on letter-writing, road maps, and collect calls home as she hitchhiked more than 4,800 km over six months. Nelson and her travelling companion stayed in hostels, found work as chambermaids, and encountered hippies, Vietnam vets, outlaws, sages and lonely hearts throughout their journey. “Tapes from California” offers a glimpse of a Jack Kerouac-style adventure in the less-restrictive 1970s era.
$25. Available online from Amazon.ca.