Everything is Illuminated

I'm somewhat loath to admit that I've started reading a new book. Mainly I don't want to admit it because I'm so fond of Courtney and I know how excited she was to have me (anyone really) read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but the two gentlemen magicians are boring me. I still plan on powering through the remaining 400 pages and would be doing so right now if not for a series of unplanned events. See I was heading to a place where reading is often required, the bathroom, and grabbed the closest thing along that path from my desk, which happened to be a splendidly colored book entitled Everything is Illuminated.

I read the first couple paragraphs and thought, "oh dear, Jonathan Safranis Foer is full of himself and his vocabulary." Then I realized that the narrator isn't a native English speaker and uses the vocabulary enlargement in an attempt to impress the reader AND he uses the words from slightly to completely wrong. It turned out to be quite funny. The most extreme example so far is his use of the word "retarded" in place of "retired" when describing his grandfather.

Later, riding the Muni on my way to basketball, I was so engrossed in the book that I missed my stop and didn't realize until the train had gone two or three stops past mine. I also literally laughed out loud; in hindsight I suspect people may have thought I was borderline crazy, but I'm not sure if there were even any people there, so whatever.

This book requires that I finish it before going back to the gentleman with thistledown hair and his two human counterparts. Forgive me Courtney, forgive me.