Friday, January 05, 2007

Book Tag

Last night... I was already in bed... reading... but I felt the urge to do some websurfing. So I got the laptop, got back to bed and checked my email. Francine had tagged me... hoping it was not the same ABC tag that Charlotte en Marianne send me and that I still have not posted yet...(sorry!) I openened her blog and saw the following:

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence.
3. Post the text of the following 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the author and book.
5. Tag three people of your own.


Since I was in bed this was a happy coincidence, because as you can see there are a ton of books next to or in my bed :). I am usually reading 2 or 3 books at the same time; some fiction, some non-fiction (see the bottom). Do you see the black fluffy thing sticking out on the right side? It is the tail of "Het grote boek van de Poezenkrant". This book is a must have for every cat lover! In the front you see a Milan Kundera classic "The unbearable lightness of being", which I am reading for the 2nd time now after 16 years! Somehow the book isn't as interesting to me as the first time. Maybe it was a mistake to start reading it again, it takes away a lot of the magic. I had such beautiful memories of this book; so everyone who has not yet read it you must do so. It really is a literature classic.
I also read biographies; Maria Callas, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hitler. But I prefer to read these on the couch instead of in bed. Close to the window my latest purchased books: the latest Arnon Grunberg, "Tirza". At the moment he is my favorite Dutch writer. Love his cynical sense of (jewish?) humour :).
And I bought "On Beauty" from Zadie Smith. Also next to my bed "The Big Book of Sudoku"......Love sudoku!

But the book that was close to me when i read Francine's tag was the following book, also recently purchased: "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl. Check out the "trailer" for this book and see what it is all about.I have only recently started reading but I must finish 2 other books first....I am sooooo hard on myself :)














I do not only have books next to my pillow... when you lift the pillows you see this. And Danielle... the Ali Edwards book I borrowed from you? It has been there too!"















But now, on to the tag:
The book closest to me was "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" - Marisha Pessl.
The next 3 sentences after the fourth sentence on page 123 say:

"A tidal wave of nausea was starting to flood my stomach and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was like the black seawater overtaking a crimson Titanic stateroom, as recounted in one of Dad's favorite autobiographies of all time, the gripping eyewitness account Black in My Mind, Yellow in My Legs (1943) by Herbert J. D. Lascowitz, who finally, in his ninety-seventh year, came clean about his Machiavellian behavior aboard the legendary ocean liner, admitting he strangled an unidentified woman, stripped her body, donned her clothes in order to pretend he was a woman with child, thereby securing a choice spot for himself on one of two remaining lifeboats. I tried to roll over and stand, but the carpet and the couch swerved upward and then, as shocking as lightning striking inches from my shoes, I was sick: cartoonishly sick all over the table and the carpet and the paisley couch by the fireplace and Jade's black leather Dior sandals, even on the coffee-table book, Thank God for the Telephoto Lens: Backyard Photos of the Stars (Miller 2002). "

I love this book and can't wait till I reach page 123 :)
Hope this was what you had in mind Francine, when you tagged me?
Now...everyone...run to a bookstore to buy this book. It is available in Dutch too, but I always prefer to read the original version.

I will tag Mirjam, Nathalie & Charlotte

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is such a cool idea! Now I have to get my thinking cap on - first the tag-entry tomorrow or my Dutch Dare LO ;-) Your pick sweetie ;-)

Anonymous said...

oh and I have to buy that book now - thanks for pointing out!

Anonymous said...

Whoa, that is some library next to your bed! Oh and eh... i abc-tagged you too two days ago ;-)) Have fun!

=Marianne= said...

Zo, jij kan je lol op zeg met die bibliotheek naast je bed en onder je kussen.
Deze zou ik echt bewaren voor de 5-vreemde dingen tag :-).
Mijn tag is, volgens mij, dezelfde als van Mandy dus scheelt het 1 keer extra.

Christiane said...

your bed looks like mine and the shelf also :))