Summary

In the section “Reading with a Dictionary” Jhumpa creates a personal dictionary for herself in a notebook. The words listed are those she doesn’t recognize when reading an Italian text. She has even begun listing the definitions in Italian. She describes odd reactions she’s had when she has encountered words in Italian with which she wasn’t familiar. One of these took place on a train. She felt restless until she could pin down the definition of the word that struck her attention. She notes that even though she feels she should be working toward a goal of reading Italian as well as she reads English she admits she enjoys the fact she feels more involved in her reading when she reads in Italian. As Jhumpa reads and goes about her daily tasks she gathers words...