White Teeth... Zadie Smith

Just got this book in the mail the other day... I joined an internet group called BookMooch. Basically you join as a member, and list all the books you have and want to give away, and set up a "wishlist" of books you do want. When you have points (received when sending books to someone), you can "mooch" a book from somebody. The members in BookMooch are from all over the world, but of course more from the US than anywhere else. There's no cost for BookMooch, the only price you pay is to send the book. But overall, the cost of sending the book is a bit less than you pay for buying a new book, and you can get whatever you want while getting rid of books you are finished reading. It's awesome (definitely cuts down on the clutter!). Anyway...

After Veet recommended the British author Zadie Smith, I did some research on Wikipedia and decided I had to read her work. White Teeth was first on my list, and it arrived in the mail the other day. I started to read it, but because I don't have as much time on my hands as I would like, I'm only on the 2nd chapter starting today. Here's a paragraph from the first chapter that had me laughing out loud on the train this morning.

Tim Westleigh (more commonly known as Merlin) finally registered the persistent ringing of a doorbell. He picked himself off the kitchen floor, waded through an ocean of supine bodies, and opened the door to arrive face-to-face with a middle-aged man dressed head-to-toe in gray corduroy, holding a ten-pence coin in his open palm. As Merlin was later to reflect when describing this incident, at any time of the day corduroy is a highly stressful fabric. Rent collectors wear it. Tax collectors, too. History teachers add leather elbow patches. To be confronted with a mass of it, at nine in the A.M., on the first day of a New Year, is an apparition lethal in the sheer quantity of negative vibes.

It made me laugh even more because I knew there was a package from my parents waiting for me with a new pair of corduroy pants in it. ;-) If you go to BookMooch, I'm listed under the username "Matuhart."

More later. It's late and I have to go to bed. Can you believe the week is almost over already?