Oh-oh, it seems it's a meme season again! I'll dutifully do them, one at a time. Today - the good old 123 book meme, which memeticized over time into being called "Goosed meme". I was tagged by Lance Mannion who was hoping that the book closest to me is the OpenLab07. Sorry. It's not. It was until earlier today. Tough luck, Lance, you'll just have to buy it.
Anyway, the rules first:
⢠look up page 123 in the nearest book
⢠look for the fifth sentence
⢠then post the three sentences that follow that fifth sentence on page 123.
The nearest book is the one which arrived in the mail today, so I have not have had the pleasure of reading it yet, though I am chomping at the bit as it is supposed to be quite racy. It is It's every monkey for themselves by Vanessa Woods, a book which, for various legal reasons, is not available in the USA or on amazon.com, but you can order it directly from Allen&Unwin.
So, let's see what's on page 123 and if it is considered cheating if I do not consider single-word shouts in a dialog as sentences:
"But it was impossible. People in the monkey house were obsessed with sexual relations. We couldn't help it. We spent all day watching monkeys go up and down the hierarchy because of who they had sex with."
Whetted your appetite yet?
Now I need to tag some other bloggers to do the same excercise:
I hope that Eric Roston's manuscript is the closest book to where he is sitting right now.
I hope that Tom Levenson keeps his manuscript close to his computer.
I hope that Chad Orzel's dog has not dragged the manuscript away from his computer.
I guess that Jennifer Ouellette is always writing a new book as well and has a draft nearby.
And what the heck, might as well tag Vanessa Woods herself - she is busy writing two books so one of them is bound to be the "closest".
- Log in to post comments
Since I like the general meme idea, have never been tagged, and there are no comments here yet, here goes.
Nearest book is The Rough Guide to The Brain by Barry J Gibbs.
Page 123, as of sentence 6:- "A study in which some children were allowed extra nutrition for a period of years found that they performed better to mental tests than their malnourished peers. But care must be taken when interpreting such results - a lack of proper nutrition also impacts on motivation and energy levels, meaning a person may score badly because they are simply not up to being tested, rather than because they have a low IQ".
Off to engage in a "high IQ meal".......
Damn, can't top monkey sex!
Alas for Bora, I am in the research phase of the next book, not the hardcore writing. The book nearest to me, which has just arrived from a secondhand dealer found on Amazon, is an out-of-print copy of Edmund Pearson's STUDIES IN MURDER, first published in 1924. Dorothy Sayers was a fan. I got it because it has one of the best rundown of the Lizzie Borden case.
So, page 123 just happens to be the beginning of a new chapter on "The Twenty-Third Street Murder":
"What she saw was the gap of an occasional vacant lot which interrupted the uniform rows of dwellings, three or four storeys high. The park was leafy, as it is now, but I think it was also rather more given to thick bushes near the ground. The Fifth Avenue Hotel was soon to rise, at the corner of West Twenty-third Street, to the surprising altitude of six storeys, but to be equipped, so it was rumoured, with a new contrivance called an 'elevator.'"
Former and current New Yorkers will know that six storeys is the legal limit for a building NOT to have an elevator.
So there you have it: a glimpse of NYC circa 1924. :)
Thanks for tagging me Bora!! I'm technologically inept, so I think this is what I'm sposed to do:) If bonobo handshake was going at the mo, I would for sure tag you!!
xxV.
ok, i'm trying to get it. the nearest book to me is cindy pan's pandora's box and on p 123 it says...
'When you grow up and have to take a bit more responsibility for these events, presents take on a new meaning: credit card debt. This dulls the sheen a tad but then there's always that end of year 'rage till you puke and let it all hang out' to put the glint back in your eye: the office christmas party. Some workplaces encourage you to bring partners (at your own risk)'
i hope i did it right...