my 'book accent' is too thick :: breebop

This is very funny and very me - given that reading is an intrinsically solitary practise you end up without context for the new words you see. I tend to guess at their pronunciation and move on. And then get caught when I pull them out for other people's edification later... I think some of the better dictionaries online now have mp3 files with the correct pronunciations, which is a kick-ass improvement on the old-school way of splitting the words and using accents to explain the stress points.