Just blew in from Chatanooga

That one book meme is back already, with little travel stickers all over its cardboard suitcase like in a 40's movie. It's Jo what tagged me this time. It goes like this:

Grab the closest book to you. Resist the urge to get hold of one of the cooler, intellectual ones! You've gotta be honest. Turn to page 123. Go down five sentences, and then post the next three sentences in your blog. Simple.

"Simple" all right, except nobody wants to hear me read from that pile over there. The last time I answered a book meme with a policy book list, Tonya quit speaking to me!

So hang on a moment, while I look for one of the books I've saved for summer reading. Here: Idoru by William Gibson.

It was a boy-nightmare, the sort of environment Chia knew from the brothers of friends, its floor and ledgelike bed long vanished beneath unwashed clothes, ramen-wrappers, Japanese magazines with wrinkled covers. A tower of empty foam ramen bowls in one corner, their hologram labels winking from beyond a single cone of halogen. A desk or table forming a second, higher ledge, cut from some recycled material that looked as though it had been laminated from shredded juice cartons.

** yaaaaay! **

My turn to tag three people. (I saw that.) I choose ... Tonya (of course), Karen, and Snow. Have a safe journey, little meme.

Comments

[Jo]

It is a sweet little meme, isn't it? I'm waiting for the person who says "I don't own any books!" though how it is possible that it would be someone we know... no way.

[Richard]

You totally cheated! Shame on you! You went "looking" for a book. The challenge said: "grab the book closest to you." I hating cheating! Here's my result, the closest reference book on my desk....

"A self-appointed elite, they clearly disliked, snubbed or despised non-German Jehudim; and they were (if one must generalize) heartily disliked--and envied-by the poorer, less assimilated, much more religious kin to their east. The familiengefiel (family feelings) of a common heritage, shared values, common problems, common threats, misfortunes and persecutions, was nevertheless exceedingly strong among European Jewry. In the United States, the social-prestige scale was sensitive and exact: first generation Jews envied second-generation Jews; and German Jewish families--Kuhns, Warburgs, Seligmans, Kahns, Schiffs, Lehmanns, Loebs, Ochses--became an elite of remarkable influence and social cohesiveness."

Whew. Good thing I didn't have War and Peace on my desk. Back to bed.

[pam]

Well, I ... reached, for a book, Richard. That's my story an' I'm sticking with it!

[GraceD]

Good for you, Pam. A book that has no educational value, except, of course, for the curriculum of life.