It was Claude who tagged me with the now improved Book Meme

and it was Duane who first (that I noticed) noticed how the meme has changed since Feb 2005 when it first did the rounds in "our circles" at least. I can see and appreciate how adding the requirement to tag five others with the infection is evolutionarily advantageous, but can see no usefulness or adaptive advantage to the silly requirement to count five sentences and then quote some more. So I will attempt to dilute the less desirable new trait, and offedr this semi-modified "book meme":

Grab the nearest book.

1. Open the book to page 123.
2. Find the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
4. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.
5. Tag five others with the infection.

Back then I had a library book, I must have been blogging quietly in bed before the day started:

Our motto: 'We collect strings'.

Still strikes me as a great sentence, but (since I never finished the book - but got bored and dropped it) I still don't understand who or what had the motto concerned! The book was Paul Di Filippo Ribofunk if anybody read beyond p.123, do tell me what it was all about ;-)

Today, with the busyness of preparing to depart for more interesting places, I have work around me, my NRSV Bible is marginally closer than either the PhD or Bar-Efrat's classic Narrative Art in the Bible, so this year's sentence is:

The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.

Which, at least without context seems more than a little injust! However, this book is (I've just noticed with a sigh of relief.) interesting in that it also has a page 123 in the appendix:

When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak, and went on with their teaching.

Which, is less misogynist and still interesting, and if I open the book the "right" way as a Hebraist should is also correct... Actually this edition has the "Apocrypha", which also has a page 123, so you all get a bonus:

They said: Here we send you money; so buy with the money burnt offerings and sin offerings and incense, and offer them on the altar of the Lord our God; and pray for the life of kingNebuchadnezzer of Babylon and for the life of his son Belshazzar, so that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven.

Which, is an appaulingly long sentence! And comes in the middle of the page, so the others are as bad ;) so I have well and truly served mine!


I nominate: Michael Pahl, Judy Redman (who this time I hope I have spelled correctly first time, and from memory), the eponymous Lingamish, Suzanne, and Philip Sumpter to share our infection and the joy of discovery!