The "closest book to hand" meme thingy

[xiphias]

So, the rules are, "take the closest book to you, look at page 123, and post the fifth sentence on that page. Don't look around for the coolest book nearby, just take the CLOSEST."

There are three books in a stack right here. The top one is really more of a monograph and only has sixty pages. The second one, I'm having to be a bit wonky with the definition of "sentence", but I think I'm coming out with,
The bullet should fit closely into the pipe without forcing, but the cartridge case SHOULD NOT fit into the pipe.

The one right next to that, skipping Hebrew because I don't feel like hacking around and figuring out how to type a whole sentence in Hebrew, is
The words "offering to G-d" (above) are our translation of n'davah, usually translated (in the Torah) as the "free-will offering" to G-d.

Somehow, I feel that this juxtaposition says more about me that I really want to know.

Comments

[griffinick.livejournal.com]

I think this meme is actually pretty telling about a lot of us (or at least our interests). Unfortunately, there's only one book next to me right now (amazingly!!), so I can't look for any interesting juxtapositions. However, the sentence I got fit me pretty well, I think. :)
"Failing to get satisfaction from the king, some members of the higher clergy themselves resorted to dubious or even criminal practices."

[rivka.livejournal.com]

"Skip them and save the money." Hmm.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

"Helena smiled and declined to imbibe--she needed to keep her wits about her."

[jhitchin.livejournal.com]

When I ran into this the first time, the closest book I had at the time was a tankubon of Godhand Teru, volume 2, and the sentence was "Shin da yo." ("He's dead.") I don't think there was a next closest book. Says a lot about me (mostly that I read too much Godhand Teru).

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

"The Flyweight pattern provides an approach for handling such classes."

I'm at work right now, and all the books I have here are work-related. The closest one to me is titled Java Design Patterns: A Tutorial. Not the most fascinating reading even for a Java developer, and, honestly, Flyweight is one of the least useful patterns anyway.

Perhaps I should try this again at home.

See camel

[cheshyre]

(My pocket dictionary, 2nd definition for caisson)

[goljerp]

Get us headed toward Nerid and turn off the drive.

(Assuming the 5th complete sentence. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to be amazed at the fact that the book had a bookmark on page 123 already, despite the fact that I've never done the meme before.)

A close second would've been:

Guests may compose original poems and songs to honor the bride and groom; others might want to read a favorite quotation or poem.

which was on top of

Your presence, Your gentle touch, they comfort me.

Which really isn't what it looks like at first glance.

[oneironaut.livejournal.com]

I've seen this meme several times and never bothered to do it before, but at the moment the books I am going to consider closest to me -- they aren't closest to hand but they fell on the floor and I'm actually touching them with my bare foot -- amuse me; they are similarly telling.

There's a single-word header in this one that ends with a period, but I'm not going to treat it as a sentence. That makes the fifth sentence on page 123 A Herbwoman will have had little or no formal training, but she will have received enormous amounts of lore (OMT) from her predecessors, and anything to do with the natural world is an open book to her.

The other one ... does not have any sentences on page 123. But the fifth entry is hydatid wed-¹.

The book that's actually closest to hand (being near the top of a stack of seven novels, a cookbook, two magazines, some junk mail and a bag of candy) is pretty telling also. The Lady Amalthea held herself so gracefully that she made shreds and tatters seem the only fitting dress for a princess; and besides, she did not know that she was naked.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I can identify 2 of those...they're usually close to hand for me too. :)

[ailbhe]

Not Appleby!

(Georgette Heyer, "Friday's Child")

[rosamund.livejournal.com]

::glances shiftily at small pile of books next to her and fails to resist temptation::

OK, discounting notebook because it's new and has my writing.

Book 1: "Or waters' tops with the warm south wind taken."

Book 2: "Yield up the town, save our wives and children!"

Book 3: "He doesn't just trot it out to show how learned he is."

Lis may be able to spot the link between all of those.