YouTuber and book lover Audrée Archambault has been leaving free books in Montreal's Metro stations for the past eight months," CBC News reported, noting that her only request is that finders return them to the subway system once they're done reading. The books, which are primarily French-language titles, feature a Livres dans le Metro sticker "explaining it's been left there on purpose and that its finder is welcome to bring it home and read it." Her efforts are highlighted on social media under the hashtag #livresdanslemétro.
"I dream of the day where I will be taking the subway and I will find a book that I didn't leave there before," said Archambault, who was inspired by actor Emma Watson's initiative to leave books from her feminist book club Our Shared Shelf on the London Underground last fall.
"It's so funny, because I find people are shy," she said. "When they see the book, they sit down next to it and then they look at it, and they're not sure if they can take it. And then when no one's looking they take it." The city's transit agency, Société de transport de Montréal, has partnered with her to create videos of her hiding books with their authors.