underground reads

Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest

2008-05-07T16:30:00.000-04:00

2 TRAIN IN BROOKLYN
Garth Wolkoff, Teacher
Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest
by Eric Nisenson

I borrowed it from my coworker Eric after I read Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. I have become a little bit obsessed. I am just beginning the book, which is a biography. Like The Story of a Sound, this book is supposed to be less a conventional biography and more a focus on his music, why he made it, and Coltrane's cultural context. I'm not sure, however, if I can read two books on Coltrane.

The Post Office Girl

2008-05-09T19:59:00.000-04:00

F TRAIN, FROM MANHATTAN TO BROOKLYN
Leslie Jirsa, Teacher
The Post Office Girl
By Stefan Zweig

I needed a book for vacation. And I went to the book store and I felt really overwhelmed. I read the back, so I just picked it up and bought it.

Camera Lucida

2008-05-10T20:26:00.000-04:00

A TRAIN FROM BROOKLYN TO MANHATTAN
Matt Black, Film Editor/Filmmaker
Camera Lucida
by Roland Barthes

Matt was in the middle of another book. He realized that the Barthes' book was due at the 145th and Amsterdam branch of the library on March 17, so he put the other one down. Reading Camera Lucida, he says, is purely recreational.

4rth Read

2008-05-10T20:42:00.000-04:00

A TRAIN FROM BROOKLYN TO MANHATTAN
Wahkesa, who works at a bank,
was reading Queen Bee: Based on a True Story by Keith Young and OG Wise Man

Wahkesa bought the novel, as well as Pimp: Sequel to Queen Bee, from Keith Young while waiting for the A Train at the Broadway Junction stop in Brooklyn. She says she bought to books because she wanted to support the writer.

Ya Mon Kunta Habibi

2008-05-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

DOWNTOWN 6 TRAIN
Yusuf
was reading Ya Mon Kunta Habibi By Anis Monsur

The novel is a love story, set in Egypt, written in Arabic. Yusuf is in love with an Egyptian girl and wanted to read about love in Egypt. (Please excuse me if the transliteration of the title is wrong. You can email me at this blog.)

Bird By Bird

2008-05-11T02:08:00.000-04:00

DOWNTOWN 6 TRAIN
Kathleen, Grant Writer
was reading Bird By Bird By Anne Lamont

The non-fiction book, about writing, had been in Kathleen's bookcase for some time. She's been writing more at work lately and she thought the book might help. She wishes, however, that she had read the book years before, leaving the impression that she's not enjoying it as much as she would have.

2001 French and English Idioms

2008-05-12T18:56:00.000-04:00

MANHATTAN BOUND 5 TRAIN
Utma, who works at the Department of Sanitation
was reading 2001 French and English Idioms By Francois Denoeu, David Sices, and Jacqueline Slices

Utma was reading this book to improve his English. He didn't seem to understand that he was being asked about his book for the purposes of a blog. He was very suspicious. He would not let me take a picture of the book. I told him I did not want to take a picture of him, only the book. That did not matter. Later, when I was waiting to exit the train at Franklin Avenue, I overheard the man sitting across from him explain what I wanted.

Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction

2008-05-12T19:06:00.001-04:00

MANHATTAN BOUND 2 TRAIN
Sue, an English woman here on contract to perform "Quality Reviews" on New York public schools
was reading Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeon, and Linda Kucan

A school on which Sue had conducted a "Quality Review"--part of the process where the NYC Department of Education evaluates and grades public schools A-F--recommended that she read the book and bring it back to England with her. She thinks the book has a good concept, to extend the vocabulary range of students. She did not elaborate and seemed ready to return to her book.

The Sea of Trolls

2008-05-13T19:26:00.000-04:00

MANHATTAN BOUND 2 TRAIN, BETWEEN FRANKLIN AND GRAND ARMY PLAZA
Jane, a children's librarian who works in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was reading The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Forman.

"It's a Young Adult Book. I've almost missed four subway stops reading it. It's a fantasy about a boy captured by A Viking and apprenticed to a magical bard." Jane is reading the book, she says, because it is this month's selection in her book group, which meets at the Brooklyn Public Library's main branch at the Grand Army Plaza. She wouldn't normally read the book otherwise, she says. But she finds it is a very good book.

Double Dare

2008-05-14T20:14:00.000-04:00

Manhattan Bound 5 train, between Franklin and Atlantic
Nasrine was coming from Brooklyn College, where she is a sophomore and plans on majoring in political science and eventually becoming a lawyer. She was reading Double Dare by Cathy Hopkins. "It's a teenage type of romance book. It's very kid-ish. It's entertaining. It's about a teenage boy and his love life...I liked the cover."

Musician's Quest

2008-05-16T22:23:00.000-04:00

UPTOWN 4 TRAIN BETWEEN FULTON ST/BROADWAY AND BROOKLYN BRIDGE-CITY HALL
Shana was reading Musician's Quest by George MacDonald and Michael R. Phillips because her friend told her that MacDonald had influenced C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. She bought the book at www.half.com, which she says sells books at very low prices. Half.com is a part of eBay, and seems to sell books, CDs, DVDs , and video games.

Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

2008-05-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

UPTOWN 6 TRAIN BETWEEN BROOKLYN BRIDGE/CITY HALL AND CANAL STREET
Just before rush hour, Corey sat reading Jonathan Kozol's new book, Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid School in America, a book he called really good--"even better than his last book." Corey is studying elementary education at Brooklyn College and was reading the book for school.

8789 Words of Wisdom

2008-05-20T06:41:00.000-04:00

Manhattan Bound 2 Train between Winthrop and President Street in Brooklyn
8789 Words of Wisdom
by Barbara Ann Kipfer

Jalika says that 8789 Words of Wisdom is about advice, about anything in live. She graduated high school last year and says that her mentor in high school gave her this book on graduation day.

How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Church

2008-05-20T06:50:00.000-04:00

Manhattan bound 2 train between Franklin Street and Grand Army Plaza.
Like many people who talk about the books they're reading on the train, Louise reacted to the question "Can I ask you about the book you're reading" with a wary smile. She was reading Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Church by Scott Hahn. "I'm of the Catholic religion," she told me. She didn't need reasons to believe but she was reading the book to learn something. She did find it a good and interesting book. "It's not necessarily for people of the Catholic faith." She got it from the library, she said, when she wanted "Something to give me hope for the world. I was looking at all the books and this is what I came up with, and I am a Catholic."

The Undomestic Goddess

2008-05-23T06:58:00.002-04:00

Manhattan bound 2 Train, Winthrop to Grand Army Plaza
Jackie felt caught with "trash." As soon as I asked her if we could discuss her book, she started laughing. She was reading The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella. "It's an escape," she called her experience of reading the book, which was recommended by a friend. "It's about a woman who quits her job as a lawyer a job as a house keeper, even though she can't cook and clean."

An Obedient Father

2008-05-25T10:11:00.001-04:00

Waiting for the Manhattan Bound A Train at the Nostrand Station, upper level
Nikhil is an English professor in Manhattan and looked very suspicious of the question about his book. He did not offer much. The book was titled An Obedient Father, by Indian author Akhil Sharma, who I learned from both Wikipedia and Amazon is an investment banker as well as a novelist. Sharma is a friend of Nikhil, he said, in answer to why he was reading the novel. He called it a good book.

The Ghost Brigades

2008-05-25T10:23:00.000-04:00

Uptown F Train at Broadway-Lafayette
Walking up to people on the subway and asking them a question throws the interviewer into a void of possibility. There is the fear that the person sitting or standing there will respond by clobbering the questioner. Or simply refuse to answer the question. The space in between riders feels sometimes like a holy separation--it's New Yorker's space, as we used to say in California, and crossing the unspoken barriers into that space feels risky. My biggest fear, however? That the person will turn out to be reading an interesting book and have a lot to say about it. Which is exactly what happened with Hatim, who was reading the mass market paperback The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi. Hatim is working towards his doctorate in Media and Communications. He was reading the novel because he studies "popular narratives about technology and politics." How did this novel fit into this kind of investigation? We'll never know because he had to get off the train at 14th Street.

Zen in the Art of Archery

2008-05-25T10:37:00.000-04:00

Uptown 4 Train at 59th Street Station
Dave is a writer at an ad agency and his Creative Director gave him a copy of Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. He told Dave that it would be a good book to learn how to reach a goal. I told him about a book I read in college, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He had never heard of it.Zen in the Art of Archery "is confusing," he said. "I'm a Christian and this is not stuff I am used to reading." I was about to ask him to explain, but we had reached his stop.

Killing Johnny Fry

2008-05-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

Manhattan Bound 5 Train, Last Car, Winthrop
Marc began reading Walter Mosley with Devil In a Blue Dress, the noir-ish pot boiler featuring the likable Easy Rawlins. He read the last Rawlins mystery, Blond Faith, the 10th, which he says--teasingly--might be the end of Rawlins. Marc, who is an elementary school paraprofessional for PS 315 near Brooklyn College, says he thinks Killing Johnny Fry is about a guy whose girlfriend cheated on him. But he just began reading the book. He doesn't know yet.

The Last Lecture

2008-05-28T22:29:00.000-04:00

On the Outbound R Train towards Bay Ridge
The Last Lecture, says Romina, is a true story about a dying professor giving his last lecture. "My friend gave it to me. I think Oprah recommended it." A friend gave it to her for her graduation from NYU, where she recently got a masters in Speech Pathology. "It's like he's giving his last advice. It's inspirational"

Big Brain

2008-05-28T22:51:00.000-04:00

On the Outbound R Train towards Bay Ridge
Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence, by Gary Lynch and Richard Granger, looks like a big read, a thick popular science book, a science book for the rest of us. "It caught my eye." She was browsing at St. Marks Bookshop in the East Village. "I like non-fiction," said Stephanie, who when questioned about the book showed no hesitation about jumping right in explain what the book is about. We learn about a group of South Africans who had much bigger brains than we do now. Lynch and Granger, said Stephanie, who is waiting to study at the Aveda Institute, investigate the Boskops, who 10,000 years ago were human-like with bigger brains.

The New York Trilogy

2008-05-28T23:13:00.001-04:00

Manhattan Bound 5 Train, Nevins St. stop
Josh was reading a book packed like a modern noir classic: The New York Trilogy (detective novels for intellectuals), written by Paul Auster, illustrated by Art Spiegelman, with an introduction by Luc Sante. He saw it in a book store and told his girlfriend about it. She happens to work for Penguin, who publishes this "Classic Deluxe Edition." I confessed to Josh that while I loved all three books when I read them 20 years ago, I had a harder time remembering the plot than I did the joyful perplexity of following his characters through the novels. "I don't know how to describe it (the first of the trilogy, City of Glass). "It's one man losing himself in someone else. He's someone else trying to be someone else. Josh is in his first year studying physical therapy at NYU. Part of his training is to work with severely injured patients at SUNY Downstate hospital in Brooklyn. He just finished Candide, also a "Classic Deluxe Edition," which was illustrated with stick figures.

Mastering the Opening

2008-06-01T11:12:00.001-04:00

Queens Bound F Train in Manhattan
I have been remiss in not posting an entry about Naf, who was reading a chess book on the train last weekend, Mastering the Opening, by Byron Jacobs. Naf "works downtown...in investment banking" and says his book is "something to read in the subway." Then he laughs. He asks me if I play chess, and when I mumble yes--because I can play chess even if I don't play chess--he asks me about my favorite opening; his book, as the title indicates, is about openings in chess, the first move a player makes. For those who know chess, this is a key move. For others, like myself, it's the only move that isn't usually followed by checkmate. Naf doesn't refer to himself as some kind of master chess player, but has played and admired the players in Washington Square Park in the Village. "Sometimes in the Park, they play for money. Most of the time, they win, or they would not play for money."

No Thank You

2008-06-01T11:43:00.001-04:00

Uptown 6 Train
Yesterday, I had my first -- I don't even know what to call it--rejection? I approached a young woman in a car with only two other people on it, two middle-aged men arguing about the economy. She was a dark-haired white woman reading a hard-cover book; I could not see the title. She is the 23rd train passenger I have approached. I asked her, as I do, if I could ask her about her book because I write a blog about the books people read on the subway, and she said "No. Thank You." Because I have not been denied an interview before, I didn't hear her very well, and I kept going with my next question, "So what book are you reading." She said, "I said, 'No thank you.'" I apologized and walked away, feeling flustered and nervous. I did a quick checklist: Was my breath bad? Was it the fact I did not shave that morning? Had she reached a really good part of her book? Did her mother tell her not to talk to strange men on the train? There will be no answer. The odds are very good, as subway travel dictates, that I will not see her again.

Born Dying

2008-06-01T19:47:00.001-04:00

Manhattan Bound A Train between Nostrand and Hoyt-Schermerhorn
Donna said that she just started reading Born Dying, by Harold L. Turley II. "It's basically kids trying to make a living any way they can on the street." The story is set in Harlem. I mentioned to Donna, a bus driver, that a lot of my high school students read books about violence in the streets. I wondered what she thought. "I'm not out in the streets so [by reading Born Dying and books like it] you get to know about the streets." She thinks the book probably exaggerates street violence.