Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
A fun meme (for a change)
From Maureen:
“In lieu of an actual post, I stole this meme from Miss Snark’s Blog this morning.
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest†book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.”
I’m having Jake read The Golden Compass, and it really is right next to me. Here’s the sentence:
But her mind was on John Faa and the parley room, and before long she slipped away up the cobbles again to the Zaal.
Beneath that book, I have Jorge Luis Borges Collected Fictions. Page 123 puts us smack dab inside “The Garden of Forking Paths,” one of my favorite fantasy short stories. Sentence five:
That was why unconsciously I had fully given myself over to it.
Fun and easy. I’d do Strunk and White, too, but there’s no page 123.
I tag the first five people who read this post ;o)
D.
Closest book: Access 2002: The Complete Reference. Fifth sentence, page 123:
If you choose Combo Box as the Display Control property instead of Text Box, more properties appear on the Lookup page where you can set the appearance and values of the list the combo box will display.
Do I win a prize for most boring sentence?
I will try this again at home, where there are many more, and more interesting, books piled up around my computer. Perhaps I’ll even find something worthy of posting on my own blog 🙂
Closest book: The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust (I finished it yesterday, & it was on top of the closest stack of books on my desk.)
5th sentence, page 123:
“Well, that is true.”
The 4th sentence was more entertaining.
The closest book – are you sure? Well ignoring the two phone directories, I have ‘Etiquette – rules & usages of the best society’. Page 123, fifth sentence:
If the dinner party is a large one, you may converse with those near you, raising the voice only loud enough to be distinctly heard by the persons you are talking with.
Now how embarrassing is it, for the world to know I even have this book?! And you’d think the next sentence would mention what to do if the dinner party is small – but no!
If I’d been cool, I’ve have snuck off and returned with ‘I, Lucifer’ which I’m presently reading – thanks for the tip, Doug! Really enjoying it :o)
Closest book: Lord Alexander’s Cipher; or, the Bridekirk Behemoth by some or other aspirant scribbler. Page 123, fifth sentence:
“Am I therefore to conclude that the Earl of Portland is not one of your convenient fictions, then?” asked Charlotte, smiling.
Well, I am sure that it will be better after a bit of editorial guidance.
Sxkitten, yes, you win the most boring prize. Hmm . . . what should it be . . . a Windows 95 for Dummies book, perhaps?
Darla, you tease, give us the fourth sentence.
Jona, you need to stick to Miss Manners. Glad you like I, Lucifer.
Stephen, here’s some of that editorial assistance (no charge!) I may have changed the meaning slightly, but this flows better:
“May I have some of that hot monkey loving you promised me earlier?” asked Charlotte, smiling.
My nearest book is Volume 7 of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series (Brief Lives). I had to count up to the 123 page, because the page numbers start over on each story. It turned out to be a title page, so I moved to the next page with text.
Page 125, fifth sentence: “Any chocolate?”
That wasn’t terribly satisfying.
The next closest book: Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. Page 123, sentence 5: “In one city, people may mourn the death of enemy, in another they may have neither enemies nor friends.”
How did I get to be number seven? well, the closest book is “Arthur’s New Puppy.” No page 123. Next three nearest…Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham. “I never met Alan.”
When Life Tumbles In by Baxter (fifth sentence skipping all the blockquotes: “What color is peace?” good one.
Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones (that was next to Baxter, not choosing the cool books, honest) “He wrote that he always kept the poem folded in his wallet.”
Heh. The 4th sentence was only more entertaining if you enjoy Brust’s style in this series:
“And you perceive that to have the post working once more, when for two hundred and fifty years there was none, well,it is like the sudden rising of the waves here on the coastline, in that it implies a great deal more activity than is at once visible.”
Not many authors can pull of that kind of verbosity and make me like it.
Giggling about the etiquette book.
Stephen, if you take Doug’s editorial suggestion, I hope you’ll post the rest of the scene for us. 🙂
Cynikell. *shaking my head* Chocolate is always satisfying. Particularly if you mix it with some of that hot monkey love.
Only because this is so much fun… Since I’m sitting at my desk, I have textbooks as well so:
Dream Mountain, by: Gena Hale:
“Laney knew the big cats were extremely shy and tended to stay away from human beings.”
Essential Biochemistry, by: Charlotte W. Pratt and Kathleen Cornely:
“Subsequent O2 molecules bind with higher affinity because the protien is already in the oxy (R) conformation, which is favorable for O2 binding.”
And, finally, Biology seventh edition, by: Campbell and Reece:
“Which of the following structures is common to plant and animal cells?: (a) chloroplast, (b) wall made of cellulose, (c) tonoplast, (d) mitochondrion or (e) centriole?”
~Briana N.
Oh, oh, I think I know this one. Is it centriole? And I think that other bit is about hemoglobin. Sounds about right.
“And in the clean, well-lighted aisles of my local Brainrotter, I discovered that most of the popular films, which is to say the ones that weren’t there — just the boxes were there — had obsession as a theme.” (David Bradley from “3 Minutes or Less. Life Lessons from America’s Greatest Writers.)
“You are going to feel awful beyond words.”
Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott, page 123, 5th sentence.
This scares me.
Let’s see. Closest book is ‘The Figure’ by Walt Reed.
Page 123, fifth sentence reads:
‘As you thoroughly learn the function and movement of the spinal column, it will add greatly to your ability in drawing the figure in action from every angle.’
Don’t get your hopes up, Doug, that I’ll be studying anatomy with the depth that you have. Anatomy for artists basically answers one question; will it bend that far or not?
Good, Ann. I wouldn’t wish a thorough knowledge of anatomy on my worst enemy. But that begs the main question: who is Jason Isaacs?
Nienke, that scares me too; but then, I believe in tarot.
Mary Stella, isn’t David Bradley the actor who plays Pinhead? (Sorry. I’m being willfully obtuse.)
Mary Stella, isn’t David Bradley the actor who plays Pinhead? (Sorry. I’m being willfully obtuse.)
Doug, I wish I knew. This book is ‘presented’ by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. They assume we recognized all the writers.
Yikes. I must be low-brow. I’ll have to google David Bradley.
Closest book: DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, New York
[no text, only captions, on page 123; on to page 124]
“The 1880 statue of Admiral David Farragut is by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, with a pedestal by Stanford White.”
[pssst! If you make it a question, maybe it won’t be so booooooring.]
Ok … And where might that statue be?….