21 February 2008

What's on Page 123?

I had the damnedest time trying to figure out the rules to this meme. The page of the book starts in the middle of a sentence of dialogue. The next paragraph maybe has five sentences, but there's dialogue involved, so it may really be three sentences. So instead, here's the second full paragraph.
A pause developed, and prolonged itself to uncomfortable lengths. Then, unexpectedly, the other laughed. "Oh Douglas, oh Douglas, Tender and true...I am moved to respect. Very well. The bargain stands. Tell me the name of your friend, and you shall have your documents."

It's from Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings - a gripping historical fiction of the Scottish and English in the mid-16th century. I'm not done with it yet, but I was smitten on page 15, with this sentence:

It was only a sneeze; but a sneeze outside the door of their chamber, which dislimned every shade of their privacy.

Dislimned! Be still my heart.

Here are the rules:

  1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
  2. Open the book to page 123
  3. Find the 5th sentence
  4. Post the next three sentences
  5. Tag 5 people

Who She She tagged me. I tag Alejna, Suz, Sarah, Julia and Becky - because I want to know what they're reading!

6 comments:

  1. Do you mind if I cheat a bit and respond to the meme in a comment? No? Good. OK, so I just started Schuyler's Monster, by Robert Rummel-Hudson. He's a blogger, actually, whose daughter has a rare neurological disorder that leaves her unable to speak.

    Here's the excerpt (except that given what the 6th sentence was, I had to cheat a bit. Else I would have written a whole bunch of medical diagnoses. So this is the 10th full sentence, plus the next two):

    In a family of disorders as rare as winning lotto tickets, BPP is the most common of the polymicrogyria clan. It stands out from its brethren by way of partial paralysis of facial muscles, resulting in speech difficulties and excessive drooling; in some cases it can lead to feeding problems for a baby. It lives in a deeply grooved area on either side of the brain called the sylvian fissure and impairs both the speech areas and those controlling fine motor skills.

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  2. Kierkegaard was the closest book when I tried this. It made me seem all smart and stuff but I haven't ever read this book. (Purity of the Heart Is To Will One Thing).

    The meme got me to open the book for the first time.

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  3. Anonymous2:25 AM

    Thank GOD you didn't tag me! The closest book to me at this minute is 'How computers work' don't know why and don't know where it came from.....

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  4. Oh, this is fun. This is the second time I am seeing this title. I should just go ahead and get it already. I don't do anything useful on the shuttle anyway.
    Thanks for the tag. I am going to cheat a bit because I am currently on the couch, and the only book here is the one I left on this little table yesterday after the big clean, and I intend to write about it on the blog separately. So I will do the meme this weekend, after I re-localize myself to a more book-filled area, k?

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  5. Anonymous10:55 PM

    I plan on doing this sometime soon. (And I'll resist the urge to go sit next to some impressive-sounding book...)

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