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
Maeve Callery, 45, works in real estate development
Book: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Stop: St. Patrick Callery took up Little Fires Everywhere after it came recommended by the mother of her daughter’s basketball teammate.
Set in a quiet suburb of Cleveland, the novel begins with a mysterious fire in the home of the affluent Richardsons. The story explores issues including race and motherhood that hide under the surface of suburban life. Only on page 42, Callery wasn’t ready to review the book, but says it’s engaging so far. She plans to lend it to her mom, who passed down her love for reading.
Callery’s daughter is a bookworm, too. “It’s amazing how Judy Bloom and Gordon Korman, which I read growing up — those are books my daughter likes, too,” she says.
Jay Kang, 30, graphic designer
Book: Olla! T’umyonghan p’yonghwa ui ttang, Sup’ein by Sangun Yi
Stop: Lawrence West The title of this book translates to Hola! Spain the Land of Transparent Peace, according to a helpful user on the Korea subreddit.
Kang loves to travel, though she has never been to Spain, which is the subject of this book by Korean singer Sang-Eun Lee. Kang borrowed the book from the Toronto Public Library.
Lee rose to stardom in 1988 with the song “Dam Da Di,” says Jihae Chun, a Korean studies librarian at the University of Toronto. The book describes the singer’s 15-day journey through Spain including Barcelona, Seville, Ronda and Toledo.
“Someday, I’d like to go,” Kang says. “Spain has passion.”
Stephanie Hodge, 28, works in law for the government
Book: Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers by J.K. Rowling
Stop: St. George Hodge, a Potterhead since age 11, learned French in school many years ago and is now trying to brush off the cobwebs by reading The Philosopher’s Stone in the language of Molière.
She grew up in a small, Western Ontario town that didn’t have a bookstore, she says. Hodge’s aunt, who lived in London ordered the books for her.
She says reading a familiar book has been helpful because she can guess the meaning of words from their context.
Her new vocabulary includes “moldu” (muggle), “sang-debourbe” (mudblood) and “mangemort” (Death Eater).
Wes, 28, Alcoholics Anonymous mentor
Book: Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered by William G. Wilson
Stop: Spadina William Griffith Wilson, a New York stockbroker and one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, wrote AA’s Big Book, drawing on his own experience. Wes has personalized his fourthedition copy. Where the heading for Chapter 1 says “Bill’s Story,” Wes has struck out Bill and written his own name. In the margins he’s written: “Wes felt like that too.” He has crossed out the word “liquor,” though, because he had other problems.
“I kind of lived a bad life when I was younger,” he explains. “I was stabbed and put on medication. I couldn’t get off of it.”
He bought pills on the street, then heroin and fentanyl, he says. He joined AA last February and received his blue-bound copy of the Big Book. Those who join AA are given the book as long as they promise to give it to others. By his count he has given out about 20.