i basically read english books by ignoring/guessing the unknown words and only looking them up if they came up a lot. i did this until the deluge of unknown words dropped to something like one every few pages.
THAT'S when i became a dictionary fiend.
i also like re-read books multiple times, so that helps.
is it time for drizzting the illithid until they become an evil species whose only members you can possibly meet are all chaotic good and hate their own people?
bones are supposed to be wrapped in meat and skin. not poking through! that's normally the sign of a terrible injury.