MEXICO CITY — Victor: “I was about to cry, reading this story. It follows a group of friends who have known each other since college. They’re all men, but they are not a boys-don't-cry stereotype. On the contrary, they are very delicate. Their life is difficult, especially for one of them. He has low self-esteem and is afraid of people because of everything he experienced growing up. But his friends help him to feel better and to endure the pain. Their friendship transcends—they are friends until they are old. I think it's hard to make friends as you grow up. I would like to have more camaraderie with my friends, especially my male friends. It's hard for us to say ‘I love you’ because we're afraid of being misunderstood. Unfortunately, there is still that idea that men don't express their emotions. I think it’s important that we don't deny feelings and that we cultivate friendships in general.” @elbibliotafo #ALittleLife #TanPocaVida #HanyaYanagihara / @gs_laura for #subwaybookreview #mexicocity 🇲🇽 (at Mexico City, Mexico)

ZURICH — Isabella: “I like that the title is a question. It translates to ‘and what does that have to do with me?’ and it feels like an invitation. The author suddenly found out that there was a great mystery in his family. Someone left pictures on his desk at work. They were of his aunt giving a party in her castle. At the end of this party, the guests killed 180 Jewish people. It’s not entirely clear how or if his aunt was involved. He deals with this terrifying revelation about his family in a very interesting way. Instead of ignoring it, he starts to do research and eventually writes this book. Everybody has a family story where someone has witnessed something or someone has died. This book really touched me. There are so many questions we could be asking.” @isabellagyr #ACrimeInTheFamily #UndWasHatDasMitMirZuTun #SachaBatthyany / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #zurich 🇨🇭 (at Zürich, Switzerland)

NEW YORK — Rafael: "I sell books on the subway, that's how I support myself. It's an honest living and I don't have to feel bad about myself. Me, I love reading Westerns because the bad guy never gets away with it. The bad guys always die, Mami." #MarcialLafuenteEstefania #Western / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork #repost🗽 (at Brooklyn, New York)

MUNICH — Charlotte: “I love this book. It’s all about things going wrong. That’s when things get interesting. Since yesterday, Erik Kessels, the author of this book, is part of my project Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. It’s literally me standing on the shoulders of people who inspire me, captured in a photo. I’m in the creative scene and started as an art director, but now I’m more in love with ideas and creative direction—that’s why I founded my own agency. People in Munich are into design. It’s a very tidy, conservative, and quiet city. It feels like reading crazy books like this one would help them break them out of their shell without really having to make noise. Munich pretends to be a Little Berlin, but we’re not. We’re more like a huge living room.” @charlottebufler #FailedIt #ErikKessels / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #munich 🍻 (at Munich, Germany)

MEXICO CITY — Cynthia: “I discovered this book at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. It’s the largest book fair in the Spanish-speaking world. I have followed the work of Leila Guerriero for several years, so I was very glad I found this book. It’s about why journalism exists. Every sentence she writes is an inspirational quote for me, not only because I'm a journalist as well, but because it’s a life lesson. I think jobs like ours are important today. We must learn how to observe the world and care about the stories of real people—be more empathetic with the person who is telling us their story. That way we'll find the right way to communicate. I always keep that in mind.” @lunecas #ZonaDeObras #LeilaGuerriero / @gs_laura for #subwaybookreview #mexicocity 🇲🇽 (at Mexico City, Mexico)

NEW YORK — Boat: “Yes, my name is Boat, like sailboat. There is no great meaning behind it. My parents are eccentric and gave me a fun name. By eccentric I mean that they’re kind, free-thinkers. My dad recommended this book to me because he loved it. The story is about growing up as a girl. Each sentence feels very truthful. The women in the story are objects of admiration and the main character Evie lusts after them and their aura. I’ve had plenty of girl crushes in my life so I relate to her and want to be like the girls in the story. I don’t know what happens to them but I’m drawn in.” @lil.boat #TheGirls #EmmaCline / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽#repost (at Manhattan, New York)

LONDON — Aina: “This book is about Mary, who seems to be a very fragile character and in pain constantly—physically and mentally. I get the feeling that Mary is someone who doesn’t ask anything out of life anymore. She has just gotten selected for a mysterious job, which turns out to be a famous actor recruiting women to be his girlfriends. The so-called ‘girlfriend project’ dissects the role of the girlfriend into several characters, played by different women: the angry one, the maternal one, the intellectual one. Like much else these days, it’s sold as something innovative but, from a gender perspective, you have ten girls who collectively form a ‘perfect girlfriend’ for a powerful and famous man. The way the author writes about dating is perverse, but at the same time it’s quite funny. Mary has just gotten chosen as his emotional girlfriend, and I’m super intrigued to see where she’ll take the story next.” @aina_pomar #TheAnswers #CatherineLacey / @marta_bh for #subwaybookreview #london 🇬🇧 (at London, United Kingdom)

NEW YORK — Frank: “I have at least 7 or 8 books in my book bag. I read multiple books at the same time and I really like fantasy and fiction. This one is about a girl named Ottoline and she likes mysteries. I keep a book log, but I don’t like writing as much as I like reading. What’s cool about reading is that you get to enter a new world of creativity and fantasy and you can get stuck in it. I like that.” #OttolineAndTheYellowCat #ChrisRiddell / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽 (at Brooklyn, New York)

NEW YORK — Hailey: “This book is about Eve’s experiences in LA and California. She dives deep into what makes a place a place and relates it to being in love with a person. Some people don’t understand being in love with a city and find it weird, even though we easily say we love a person, our job, or justice. I live in Chicago and would actually say I’m in love with it. I’ve caught myself having phone conversations with someone telling them how much I love my city. I think how welcoming communities are and the collaborations that are happening there—it’s powerful. It has opened me up to myself more.” @hayhails #SlowDaysFastCompany #EveBabitz / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽 (at Brooklyn, New York)

MILAN — Iolanda: “I only read thrillers, but I never buy them. I always go to the library next to where I live and pick the name of a thriller author. Then I start reading every book that author wrote in chronological order. It’s impressive to see how a writer works and what their themes are. This one is set in Paris and every book I’ve read by Grangé is set in France. His books are ferocious but he also uses well-researched historical references. What I enjoy most about thrillers is that in the beginning everything is unclear and at the end it isn’t anymore. Reading these types of books makes me believe that bad things that are happening in the world can always be resolved. It gives me hope.” #Miserere #JeanChristopheGrangé / @itselis for #subwaybookreview #milan #italy 🇮🇹 (at Milan, Italy)

DELHI — Priyanka: “The title completely threw me off! I thought it would be a motivational or philosophical book. I picked it up because I loved ‘The God of Small Things’ by the same author. It continues to amaze me. This book travels the fault lines of India through two stories. It offers a critique of the social norms and the political scenario in the country, as it was a decade ago. One story is about Anjum, a trans woman who lives in Old Delhi and is a Muslim. She's such a strong character. I fell in love with the book because of the way she pushes against prejudices and finds happiness in small things, like wearing a red lipstick or draping a saree. It's really empowering.” @priyanka.sarda3 #TheMinistryOfUtmostHappiness #ArundhatiRoy / @anoush_0503 for #subwaybookreview #delhi #india 🇮🇳 (at Delhi, India)

Glory: "This is a memoir and coming-of-age story. The vulnerability in the narrative is beautiful. You really feel like you're getting a glimpse of Tracy K’s life and her relationship with her mom. As you grow up, you learn that your mother is a human who tries and hurts just as much as you do. My mom and I got close after college when the worries she had for me dissipated and we could become friends. She is a rambunctious Nigerian woman who can read you with one look. When I can capture that essence of my mother, I will be a true adult." @guidetoglo #OrdinaryLight #TracyKSmith / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽#repost #mothersday (at Greenpoint Avenue)

Siheun: “This was on a human rights list of books to read. We’re living in the age of Trump where fascism and human rights are coming head to head. People think they’re easily on one side, but then there’s a lot of inaction. How do you move from comfort to doing something that requires you to speak up? History can often provide a guide on how to act. This book is about the Gwangju Uprising. It’s painful to read because there’s a lot of death and you’re watching the character watching trauma unfold. The reader is addressed as ‘you’ so there’s a really blurred sense of self. Where does my being end and begin? What are the boundaries of the self? Koreans are known for being demonstrators and we have an underdog mentality. Hundreds of thousands of people went to Seoul for six weeks straight and forced the President to resign. When we come to America we lose that because we become part of the immigrant and church communities. I’m passionate about organizing. I put 50,000 people on buses to the Women’s March on Washington. It was the hardest I’ve ever worked and also the proudest moment of my life. Free assembly is a constitutional right.” @siheun #HumanActs #HanKang / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽 (at Union Square)

Indy: “My full name is Lucy-Indigo but I go by Indy because it’s too long. My book is about a girl named Apple and she is from the Philippines. Her real name is Analyn Pearl. She moves to the US when she’s four and the only thing she knows about her Dad is his name, because it’s written on a tape by the Beatles. Apple gets teased at school a lot because of how she looks and there’s a group of kids who put her on their ugly list and call her names. No one is ugly. We just all look different. There’s no one who is exactly the same. Not even identical twins.” #BlackbirdFly #ErinEntradaKelly / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽

Tahj: “I was making deliveries to apartment buildings on the Upper West Side. There was a box full of books in one of the buildings and this one stood out to me. I also took a book called ‘American Amnesia’. It looked as if someone was throwing out their old stuff or maybe they moved out. This book is in pristine condition. The inscription reads: to Sanna, from Mom. The author, Richard Dawkins, is amazing. I like his type of rhetoric and that he has facts to back up his facts. In this book he answers the questions I want answers to, like who was the first man, and why there are so many animals.” @yoo_tjay #TheMagicOfReality #RichardDawkins / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽

Lindsay: “I’m flying to Peru and thought this would be a good book for a long flight. I really like true crime stories, like ‘In Cold Blood’. This is a dark story about a British woman who goes to Japan to work and pay off her credit card debt. She works as a hostess in the sex industry and ends up being murdered. The story is about the dark side of Japan that we don’t often hear about. The problem is that it’s a white dude writing about a woman’s life—he’s coming at this book with a complete outsider perspective. I always have a bit of an issue with men describing women’s thoughts and lives in their books. It’s almost trite the way some of them try to find reason behind why women do what they do. I’m sure there are plenty of Japanese authors who write about their country but I wouldn’t even know where to find them.” @lindsayhdsn #PeopleWhoEatDarkness #RichardLloydParry / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽

Jessie: “I love the game of poker and used to be really into card tricks. In High School, I watched the World Series of Poker obsessively. Three or four months ago, I got more serious about it and started studying the game. This book isn’t about strategy, it’s about controlling your emotions. It teaches you how to take actual steps and to recognize when you’re starting to tilt—that’s a poker term for being off your game. I’ve lost big before, like $900 in New Orleans, but to me it’s more important to play well. Being process oriented matters more than being results oriented.” @yesssjessie #TheMentalGameOfPoker #JaredTendler / @theubc for #subwaybookreview #newyork 🗽 (at Penn Station)