A London Public Library staff member told me several weeks ago that this year’s choice for its annual One Book One London program would be a departure from the past. The newly constituted selection committee, she said, was getting away from books dealing overtly with social issues and returning to the notion of reading for pleasure.
This morning, we learned this year’s title: The Saturday Night Ghost Club, by St. Catharines native Craig Davidson.
Davidson, who has also written under the pen names Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter, has already built an impressive body of work; his admirers include author Clive Barker and screenwriter Paul Haggis. A previous novel, Cataract City, was nominated for a Giller Prize. Rust and Bone, another of Davidson’s stories, was adapted for the silver screen, with Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard in the lead roles.
The Saturday Night Ghost Club is billed as a coming-of-age story, with the theme of memory and awareness woven throughout. In addition to a return by Davidson to London for a reading on March 2, 2020, the library plans to host other events related to the book. Those include a public discussion on Jan. 27, 2020, featuring neuroscientists Dr. Adrian Owen and Dr. Stefan Kohler of Western University on the subject of the brain and memory.
This is the fourth novel to be highlighted by the One Book One London project. Previous selections were Emma Hooper’s Emma and Otto and Russell and James (2016), David Chariandy’s Brother (2017) and Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (2018).
Similar to programs in other cities such as Chicago, One Book One London aims to create a common literary experience among Londoners from which discussions can emerge, both informally among individuals and within groups such as book clubs. Library officials say the project “has become extremely popular, with thousands of Londoners borrowing or buying copies of the selected book and many attending related events and book club discussions.”
The London Free Press’s story on the One Book One London selection is here.
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