The rule of five (and a bit of three)

I must be the last blogger to get caught up with tags and memes and, to date, I've tended to bypass any that headed my way, especially the personal ones. But, as I'm still in post-wild garlic, Blog-Lite mode, and struggling to write with any degree of acuity, I was happy to respond when The Thoughtful Dresser tagged me earlier today, a) because this one's easy (although you could make it very hard for yourself, indeed; b) it's about books, and c) requires very little physical energy.

All you have to do is:

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.

However, I'm dispensing with the rule of five, as it's the first of May and the Lord of Misrule is about and, in that democratic way, inviting everyone to chip in, bloggers, commenters, e-mailers and other visitors. Who knows, if we put them all together, we might have the makings of a whole new book. (But we'd need a lawyer to sort out the royalties.)

I give you:

'But - here was the catch - the world immediately outside the door was also threatening, far too unprocessed, too shapeless, too suggestive of bone and gristle to provide her with any solace. The fields were full of menace: bulls, barbed wire, water, snakes, insects, nettles. The countryside was raw and meaningless, she had no way into it (she'd forgotten how to ride a bike), it was outside, but not out, not in the sense she meant when she longed to 'get out of the house'.

Bad Blood, Lorna Sage

Comments

[Maureen]

Forgive me if I pass on the meme/tag thing, D, but must compliment you on your choice of book. Prose of that standard, which is sustained throughout, always deserves an airing!

[Jay]

I have thousands of books, but the nearest happens to be A Field Guide to the Insects of Britain and Northern Europe!

And so -

The two British species, Piesma maculatum and P. quadratum, are primarily insects of salt-marshes and coastal areas where sea purslane and other chenopods grow, but they are now quite widespread in old gravel pits and similar waste land. P. quadratum is found over much of Central Europe where it interferes with sugar beet cultivation because of a virus disease it carries. The males of this species stridulate loudly by rubbing their wings against certain abdominal sclerites.

There. I bet you're glad you asked! LOL!

We're talking about beet bugs, by the way.

I do like the language of the book you're reading - I'm going to look out for it.

[Juliet Doyle]

Bad Blood is an amazing book, isn't it? It's a long time since I read it but everyone seems to be talking about it again, so I'm thinking of putting it on the TBR pile for a re-read.

As you know, my blog is a resolutely no-tags, no memes zone, but since this is *your* blog, not mine, I give you this:

'I need say little about (i) and (ii). As to (i). There must be a wage or other remuneration.'

- the nearest book to hand being the page-proofs for an as yet unpublished book on employment law. I do hope your other readers come up with some more interesting contributions (although, as thoughts for the day go, 'there must be a wage or other remuneration' is pretty pertinent, at least chez moi!)

PS nipped over to the Thoughtful Dresser and have bookmarked for further visits.

[60 Going on 16]

Well, I knew I could count on all of you to take this seriously . . . gripping stuff. (I do like the sound of sea purslane and chenopods. Thank you, Jay.)

Bad Blood just happened to be sitting on top of the latest pile of books that I really ought to recycle, give away, put on Greenmetropolis but after having read just that fragment again, I've snatched it back. How could I have ever contemplated letting it go?

[Woof Woofington]

Hope the Rough Diamond is making a speedy recovery. What is a tag and meme?

You are NOT the last blogger to know about these things.

Woof Woof xx

[The Rough Diamond]

Thank you, Woof Woofington, (and everyone else) for thinking of me. I am doing very well.

Tags and memes? I will email you about these, Woof. They're simpler than they sound but they're not every blogging dog's bowl of chow. 60 going on 16 says that this is almost certainly the only one she will ever, ever do because she is not good at rules. (Nor am I, which is probably why we get on so well.)