Reeder Reads

Books In Transit #1

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Books In TransitEvery day I get on the subway here in Toronto to get from one location to another and everyday I see people reading books, comic books and interesting looking magazines. Some of these books I’ve heard about through the power of social media, some are books I’ve seen front and centre at bookstores and sometimes I’ve never seen or heard about a particular book in my life. It got me thinking about how or why people pick up these books. Is it because they heard about it from a friend, did they read about it in the newspaper or were they inspired to pick up the book because of a fellow  subway commuter?

I’ll never know their reasoning behind picking up a book, but it is fun to see what the people of Toronto are reading. So I started making a running list of books that people have been reading in an attempt to introduce new literature to my overflowing shelves and piles of books. Then I thought all of you might enjoy hearing what’s being read underneath the busy streets of Toronto; therefore, I’m going to start a new tradition on these parts every Thursday, aptly named, Books in Transit.

So what are Toronto Transit patrons reading this week? Well a variety of interesting books and because I haven’t read any of them, I’m going to get Amazon’s help to describe them to all of you!

The Racketeer - John GrishamThe Racketeer by John Grisham

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge’s body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.

What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price-especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday . . .

Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever new novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

Sleep No More - Iris Johansen

Sleep No More by Iris Johansen

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan knows what it’s like to be haunted by the past. For years after her daughter Bonnie was stolen from her, she fought for closure. Now, as she strives to begin anew, she finds herself on another missing-persons case—one that is as mysterious as it is personal. A woman named Beth Avery, who has been locked away in a psychiatric facility for years, has vanished. And her connection to Eve is deeper than she can imagine. As long-buried secrets about Beth are uncovered, Eve begins to realize how their lives are entwined—and how Beth’s disappearance puts her in grave danger. Desperate, Eve enlists the help of profiler Kendra Michaels, whose uncanny ability to detect clues and solve puzzles leads her to the truth: That Beth escaped from the hospital—and the mind-altering drugs that held her prisoner for so long—and is on the run. Soon, Eve begins to see the threads of a twisted plot within the powerful Avery family, one that threatens to destroy not only Beth but anyone else who might jeopardize the high-stakes game that is already in play. And time is running out…

Danse Macabre - Laurell K. Hamilton

Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

It was the middle of November. I was supposed to be out jogging, but instead I was sitting at my breakfast table talking about men, sex, werewolves, vampires, and that thing that most unmarried but sexually active women fear most… Anita Blake needs to be concentrating on a dangerous situation: The ardeur, the sexual power that flows between Anita and Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the City, and Richard, the volatile werewolf who loves her passionately, is reaching new levels, perhaps evolving into something altogether new. The ardeur seems to be choosing new lovers for Anita, acting with a will of its own. As Jean-Claude says, the ardeur is hunting powerful prey. The unexpected effect of this is that Jean-Claude’s own power as a master vampire has grown to new levels – and Richard, never predictable, is changing, too. But as the days pass, Anita’s less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: She may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, she knows perfectly well that being a Federal Marshal known for raising the dead and executing vampires is no way to bring up a baby…

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo05boo"Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo

In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter—Annawadi’s “most-everything girl”—will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call “the full enjoy.”

But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

Pedagogy of the Opressed - Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire’s work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm. With a substantive new introduction on Freire’s life and the remarkable impact of this book by writer and Freire confidant and authority Donaldo Macedo, this anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed will inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come.

We’ve got vampires, lawyers, illiteracy and much more in this list of books! Get inspired by the people of Toronto and stay tuned next week for
round two of Books in Transit!

9 thoughts on “Books In Transit #1

  1. I’m always curious about what people are ready on the subway. I love to creepily try and peek over their shoulder to see what book it is. And I get annoyed when there’s a lot of ereaders because it could be anything!

  2. This is SUCH a neat idea! I always get caught straining my neck to read the spine or cover of a book someone on the subway is reading. One time, an older woman was reading one of my favourite books.. and I started talking to her. She didn’t speak English that well … it was embarrassing. This is a much better way to talk about those situations haha.
    Can’t wait for your next installment!

  3. I love this! Can’t wait to see next week’s. And seriously, Pedagogy of the Oppressed? That’s some hardcore reading right there. Also, I completely agree with Christa. Though I find my Kindle terribly convenient, it’s sad not to be able to see what e-readers are reading!

  4. one of my favourite tumblr blogs works with this idea
    http://undergroundnewyorkpubliclibrary.com

    i love the way it captures a private moment without somehow removing that element of privacy and being inside your own head

  5. I love this idea! I’m the girl reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi on the TTC this week.

  6. This is a super cute idea to expand past what you’re reading and offer some other ideas! In unrelated commenting, I really miss living in a city with mass transit :-(

  7. I love this idea. I no longer take transit (i can walk everywhere!!) and i miss seeing what people are reading. I’ve actually interrupted people with e-readers to ask them what they are reading. I’m so nosy.

  8. I too love checking out what others are reading…on the plane. Here is what I saw…The Casual Vacancy, Defending Jacob and The Panther. I was reading Home Front by Kristen Hannah!

  9. Fantastic idea! I love UNYPL. I spend more time on the subway looking at what other people are reading than reading my own book!

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