Saturday, September 13, 2008

literary tag

Egads, I've been tagged again, by fellow Enki Homeschooler, Jennifer . This meme has a literary theme that might be quite interesting, given what is usually on my bedstead. So here goes:

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Ok, so my nearest book is actually Pelle's New Suit, by Elsa Beskow, and being a children's picture book, it does not have a page 123.

So on to the next nearest book, Just Take A Bite, by Lori Ernsperger, Ph.D. and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L:

"If the child loves pizza but will not eat carrots, give her a full slice of pizza and a small portion of carrots. A teaspoon of carrots is sufficient when first learning about new foods. By keeping the portion size small, the child will more likely feel capable of trying the carrots."

Ok, so, you know, not the most compelling of passages. But what do you want from a textbook about treating food aversions!

My next closest book is the Enki Grade One Instruction Manual Book I:

"The thumb in back is NOT covering the hole. For the high notes it is necessary to blow a little more sharply. For the high E you will use the same position as you did for low E, EXCEPT, you will cover only half of the back hole."

Hmmm....

So how about something from an actual piece of literature. The closest thing I can find within arm's reach is The Trumpet of the Swan, by E.B.White -- a kid's book still (what can I say, everything in my current reading piles is either a kids' book, a text book, or something involving curriculum planning), but at least a kid's book with a page 123 (and beyond even!). So here goes:
"When the skunk wandered close to the building, Sam reached over, dangled the noose in front of the skunk, slipped the noose around the can, and gave a jerk. The noose tightened, and the can came off. As it did so, the skunk turned around and squirted -- right at Mr. Brickle, who jumped back, stumbled, and fell."

Ok, that was actually pretty exciting!

I need to get all the way over to my bookcase to find anything actually meant for adult consumption. At the top of the "to read" stack, as of yet untouched, is Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. Here's the excerpt from pg 123 of the copy I own:

"It started running in circles again. When an animal decides to do something, it can do it for a very long time. All morning the hyena ran in circles going yip yip yip yip yip."

I'm assuming, given the rave reviews I've read on this book, that there are better passages than this to be found. In fact, there are better passages than that on the dust cover.

I'm also going to assume that since I produced 5 of my own examples, that I am immune from having to tag anyone else. But if any of you actually WANT to do this meme, consider yourself tagged!!! It really was a fun one!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

From The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Kings and Queens:

The plan was to sail to the Netherlands and ferry 16,000 Spanish troops from there to England, where they would support a popular uprising among Catholic sympathizers in the south-west. Philip's ultimate goal was to sweep Elizabeth from the thone and restore freedom of Catholic worship in England. He sent his admiral, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, on what he saw as a sacred mission, with these words ringing in his ears, "if you fail, you fail; but the cause being the cause of God you will not fail.' The fleet of some 130 ships had a troubled voyage northwards and was forced by storms into the northern Spanish port of Coruna; it did not reach the Channel for over two months. The English watched and waited finally sighted the Armada off the Lizard coast of Cornwall on July 29.

Anonymous said...

From Cheaper By the Dozen:

"I didn't say nothing," said Tom. "I just said I wanted to oil my wringer good, that's all. I didn't say nothing about a washing machine for Nantucket." He started to mutter. "Efficiency."

Anonymous said...

From The Kings and Queens of England:

Apart from Henry's father, Edmund, who died before Henry was born, Henry's family was in the thick of it. His grandfather Owen led the defeated Lancasterians at Mortimer's Cross in 1461, and was captured and defeated, bemoaning the fact the head that had once lain in Queen Catherine's lap should now lie in the executioner's basket. Henry's uncle, Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, maintained the Lancasterian resistance to Edward IV for the next ten years, but was forced to flee with his young nephew to Brittany after the Lancasterian defeat at Tewkesbury in May 1471.

Anonymous said...

From Confessions by St Augustine:

Nevertheless, all this was stored away in his memory so that later on he might turn the lesson to good account. And there was another event in his life, too, which you, my God, must surely have allowed to happen only because you knew that he was to be a great man in later life and you wanted him to start in good time to learn that, in judging cases, one man must not too easily condemn another through being over-credulous. While he was still studying under me at Carthage, you allowed him to be arrested as a thief by the market officers.

Anonymous said...

From Son of Perdition:

As short as his friend was, he was strong and sturdy from a lifetime of laboring on his family's farm. "Good work, men." Timothy gazed around the group.