WORD UNDER THE STREET
You know when you see a stranger on the subway immersed in a book and you’re just dying to know what they’re reading? Well, Geoffrey Vendeville asked for you
Brigitte Nagy, call centre supervisor Book: How Will I Know You? by Jessica Treadway
Stop: St. George The mysterious death of a teenage girl pits neighbour-againstneighbour in the small town where this thriller is set. The story is told from the perspective of the girl’s friends, family and acquaintances, Nagy said. Halfway through the book, she still doesn’t have much sympathy for the victim. “You’re finding things about her that aren’t very pleasant,” she said. “She was involved with the mean popular girls and that might have contributed to her death.”
Gabriela Iglecias, teacher, 26
Book: The Spy by Paulo Coelho Stop: St. George The centenary of Mata Hari’s death has revived interest in the dancer and alleged spy. Paulo Coelho reimagines her story as told through a fictional jailhouse letter that she writes before her execution on charges of espionage. He has been one of Iglesias’s favourite authors ever since she read The Pilgrimage as a teenager. The Spy is different from his past work, she said. “There’s a lot of jumping to different time frames and that sort of thing, so it’s not as fluid per se, but it’s still very entertaining.”
Chris Luszczek, 30, Ph.D. student Book: From the Barren Lands by Leonard Flett
Stop: Dupont Luszczek, an environmental biologist, has studied the effects of climate change on freshwater systems in northern Manitoba. To learn more about the region’s history and its people, he’s reading a book he received for Christmas last year, the memoir of Leonard Flett, a Cree status member and former vice-president of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Over four decades, Flettworked his way up from a fur-trading post run by his father to an executive suite. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2004, for creating opportunities for Aboriginal People.
Thom Bryce McQuinn, professor Book: The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall
Stop: St. Clair West After a well-liked teacher at a prep school in small-town Connecticut is arrested for sexual misconduct and rape, the lives of his wife and children are also upended. Toronto author Zoe Whittall examines rape culture and what happens to the family of those accused of unforgivable crimes in this novel. “I like that she was able to sketch out the perspective of the four family members in such plausible ways,” McQuinn said. “They sound like real people.”