Extendable Ears

One thing that I really enjoy about taking the train is that I have decreed it designated reading time during which I can catch up on my reading. As of late, I've been taking the train so often that it has become the only time I actually read.
I finished Sam Lipsyte's The Fun Parts yesterday on my return trip home from work but didn't make it to the library in time to pick up my requested copy of Jessica Hagy's How to Be Interesting. Fully aware that I would be spending about four hours commuting the next day, I asked my sister to borrow her copy of the much-beloved Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Four hours later and I remember why this series is widely appreciated. The last (and first) time I read the fifth book in JK Rowling's series was probably in third or fourth grade, so it felt really nice to experience Harry Potter's Wizarding World again after so long. I also now know what horn-rimmed glasses are and thus can't get the image of Percy and Arthur Weasley donning said glasses out of my head. Such hipsters.

One thing that I found incredibly pleasant was that JKR is much funnier than I could previously recall. Despite the melancholic and pensive themes throughout the Harry Potter series, JKR manages to slip in a few genuinely funny bits that even got me smiling on the train. Maybe you'll find it amusing too. Here's an excerpt:

“Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see,” said Ron. “They’re really useful.” 

“Extendable -?” 

“Ears, yeah. Only we’ve had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized what was going on. We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know -” 

“Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order -” said Hermione. 

“And some of them are standing guard over something,” said Ron. “They’re always talking about guard duty.” 

“Couldn’t have been me, could it?” said Harry sarcastically. 

“Oh, yeah,” said Ron, with a look of dawning comprehension. 

excerpted from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix