Original sentence: His possible romance over, Ted returns home to the "daily grind" of pulling Dougal's head out of the settee.The next day, Ted puts several highbrow novels on the table, with the intention of impressing Polly (but Dougal takes this to mean that Ted is throwing out "the ones you couldn't get through")
Edited sentence: His possible romance over, Ted returns home to the "daily grind" of pulling Dougal's head out of the settee, while Jack cackles dementedly.The next day, Ted puts several highbrow novels on the table (along with The Committments by Roddy Doyle), with the intention of impressing Polly (but Dougal takes this to mean that Ted is throwing out "the ones you couldn't get through")