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.
Serouj Aprahamian, 37, grad student Book: Golden Boy As Anthony Cool by Herbert Kohl
Stop: Lawrence West Aprahamian, who moved here from L.A., studies early hip-hop culture including breaking and street art. He picked up Golden Boy, a document of graffiti in New York published in 1972, at the university library. Aprahamian describes it as the first book to look at aerosol art as a thing of beauty rather than vandalism. As part of his research, he dialed up the book publisher to speak with the author, who is now in his 80s. “It’s important to understand the roots of anything you appreciate,” he says. Priya Patel, 28, student
Book: Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman Stop: St. Clair West Since she was a girl, Patel has been fond of books with strong female protagonists. It started with Anne of Green Gables, which she read when she was 10 years old.
Brother’s Ruin is also centred on a strong female lead. It’s set in Great Britain in 1850. Patel, who was fewer than 30 pages in, says she likes the main character. “It’s nice to see a female take a leading role in a book where she’s more than just finding a husband.” Zach Chan, late 20s, physiotherapist Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Stop: St. George Joyce’s modern take on The Odyssey is often described as the most difficult book to read in the English language. Chan was able to maintain his concentration amid subway screeching, passenger coughing and stop announcements. “It’s long, very dense and a little bit confusing,” he admitted. “I’ve never read a book like this in volume or complexity. “It’s an accomplishment.” Chan, who usually prefers murder mysteries, is going through a list of ‘classics to read before you die’. Will Scarrow, 25, works in banking Book: Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey
Stop: Spadina Scarrow admits he’s a bit of a sci-fi and fantasy “nerd.” It started, as it often does, with Tolkien. “I thought it was cool — orcs and monsters. It appeals to the developing male brain, I guess.” On his lunch break, he had bought Caliban’s War, the second book of the Expanse series. The series is set in a future in which humanity has colonized the Solar system. “It’s not bad,” Scarrow says. “I’m only a little bit into it. There are more books so it’ll keep (me) busy for a year or two.”