The Rules are:
1) Open the closest book -- not a favorite or most intellectual book -- but the book closest at the moment, to page 56.
2) Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following.
3) Tag five innocents (or more).
Now, as far as I'm concerned, step 3 is optional. <g> If you want to spread this around to your friends, fine, but if you don't, that's OK with me, too.
I'll start with a book I just finished reading last night: David Michaelis' SCHULZ AND PEANUTS, an excellent biography of Charles Schulz. Very interesting, entertaining, and well-written, with lots of sample cartoons thrown in to illustrate various points.
Page 56, fifth sentence:
Years later, he would remember his teacher's astonishment as she stood behind him, marveling that "Charles", alone among his classmates, had taught himself to evoke ice not as a glittering surface but as a solid mass.The next one is from Garth Stein's THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN. This is a rather odd little book, told from the point of view of a dog -- a highly intelligent, witty, and perceptive one, to be sure, but still, a dog. I'm not a dog-lover, but I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. (Thanks to Elise Skidmore from Compuserve, without whose enthusiastic recommendation I would never have thought to look for this book in the first place.)
In seventh grade, he found another opportunity to shine when Miss Lynn, setting the class to draw editorial cartoons for social studies, praised his contribution, but for some reason--perhaps, he later thought, intending to submit the class's work to a newspaper--handed the drawing to another pupil for the lines to be inked in more darkly. Insulted to the core at her insensitive, misconceived improvement, he still did not let on.
Page 56, fifth sentence:
"It's too much! I can barely take care of myself!"And of course, I have to include one from the OUTLANDER books. <vbg> In this case, since I am currently listening (yet again!) to A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, here is a bit from page 56 of the hardcover edition:
"You should have called Mike or taken him to a kennel or something! Don't try to kill him!"
"I didn't try to kill him," she whispered.
He'd brought a loaded pistol upstairs with him; that was placed on the washstand by the window. The rifle and fowling piece too had been left loaded and primed, hanging from their hooks above the hearth downstairs. And, with a small ironic flourish, he drew the dirk from its belt sheath and slid it neatly under our pillow.Anybody else want to play along? What are YOU reading?
"Sometimes I forget," I said a little wistfully, watching this. There had been a dirk under the pillow of our wedding couch--and under many a one since then.
(From A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 7 ("James Fraser, Indian Agent"). Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)
8 comments:
Hi Karen,
I've never done this before either, but sounds like fun and a nice diversion as I try to climb out from under my work.
Mine is from Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn's "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose". If you are not aware, Die Weisse Rose, or The White Rose, was a short lived resistance group in Nazi Germany. My quote is actually a very good one and starts off the second paragraph of Chapter Seven:
"The city had seen nothing like it in years; perhaps only in the early months after Hitler's takeover had such lengthy and passionate anti-Nazi tracts been circulated. The leaflets were typed single-spaced on both sides of a sheet of paper, duplicated, folded into envelopes with neatly typed names and addresses, and mailed as printed matter to people all over the city."
Karen, what are considered "innocents"?
Cool Shelfari!!!
Phelisha:
I think "innocents" are supposed to be the unsuspecting friends and acquaintances you pass this on to. <g>
I'm glad you like my Shelfari. I got the idea from Joanna Bourne's web site. She's a romance writer who hangs out on the Compuserve forum.
Karen
"They called for the Jewish slaves to fetch fresh water for them, that they might wash off the brine that burned their skin. Finally, the centurions quieted the camp, and the legion began to settle for the night. Soon, except for the occasional snort of a horse, the distant laugh of a hyena, or the crackling of the campfires, silence came."
That's from "Masada" by Gloria Miklowitz
Hi Alice,
That sounds intriguing! I'll have to check it out.
Karen
Thus preoccupied, neither one of the lovers heard or saw the three crouched figures moving stealthily toward them through the waves of long, silvery deergrass. All three wore red broadcloth tunics and blue breeches; all three exchanged handsignals as they began to close the circle around the naked, writhing couple.
The leader of the three grinned lewdly as he heard the unabashed lust in the woman's groans as she pumped her hips into each grunted pelvic thrust. She was probably not what the captain had had in mind when he dispatched them on this foolhardy expedition, but no doubt he would find some way to make use of her, regardless of whether she provided them with military information or not.
A final gesture for silence and caution had the corporal withdrawing his knife from its leather sheath. He carefully laid his musket aside, not wanting to risk an accidental misfire that could alert the entire rebel army, then crept the final ten paces before raising the knife and plunging it ruthlessly between the Highlander's sweat-slicked shoulder blades.
"The Blood of Roses" by Marsha Canham.
Great Book...2nd in series. Takes place in the Highlands during the 45. (A time most of us a pretty familiar with)
Mitzi.
Hi Karen,
Never had to select a profile before....not sure what to select so just selected anonymous, but would rather not....but nothing else seemed to work??
Mitzi.
Mitzi:
Nice to see you over here. That's quite a scene! <g> Thanks for sharing it.
I think the easiest way to post comments here is using a Google account (if you have one). But I wanted to have a way for ANYBODY to post comments, without requiring any special login id. That's what the Anonymous option is for. So it works, as long as you remember to sign your name on your comments. <g>
Karen
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