WORD UNDER THE STREET
You know when you see a stranger on the subway immersed in a book and you’re dying to know what they’re reading? Geoffrey Vendeville asked for you
Golnesa Amani, 29, educator Book: La Grande Aventure de la langue française by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Stop: York Mills Amani teaches French in elementary school, but she doesn’t stop at the basics such as conjugating the verb "être." “I want to talk about what it means to speak French in this place and time,” she says. “That’s why I go back in history to contextualize the language.” Montreal-based journalists Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau delve into the origins of the French language more than a 1,000 years ago. Their book is billed as a biographical and anthropological study. Amani learned the language in French immersion, partly as a means of keeping up with a family friend a few years younger than her who was trilingual as of 3 or 4 years old. Her favourite French word is "merde," but she probably leaves that off the syllabus. Scott Baker, 29, terrestrial effects scientist Book: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Stop: Lawrence Why did some societies develop faster than others? Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond argues it has much to do with geography and climate. The peoples who had an advantage in food production were more likely to advance beyond the hunter-gatherer stage. Baker discovered the Pulitzer Prize-winning book through a YouTube clip of someone criticizing it. He wanted to see for himself if the theory makes sense. While he agrees it’s compelling, he says the author does a poor job of referencing archeological details that are vital to his case. Isiah Corpuz, 28, analyst Book: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Stop: Davisville Although Angie Thomas never knew Oscar Grant III, his death at the hands of a white transit officer in 2009 affected her deeply. Grant, who was 22 years old and unarmed, was shot on a train platform in Oakland, Calif. Far away in Jackson, Miss., where Thomas was in college, she penned a short story about the tragedy, which became the basis for her young adult novel. “When these unarmed Black people lose their lives, the hate they’ve been given screws us all,” Thomas explains in an interview with Cosmopolitan. “We see it in the form of anger and we see it in the form of riots.” The subject may seem heavy for a YA book, but Corpuz says the best examples of the genre deal with important issues. “YA has a bad reputation about being only about fantasy and romance,” he says, “but this fits right into YA. It’s about growing up and finding your place in the world.” Ted Horton, 28, urban planner Book: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Stop: Bloor-Yonge
The Remains of the Day is a story of suppressed love set in the summer of 1956 and told through the eyes of an English butler who puts duty before himself. Horton borrowed the Booker prizewinning book from his mom. He describes it as “tangential and meandering,” in a good way. “It really grabs you and takes you down the winding paths of the forest,” he says.