I’ve Been Tagged!

March 4, 2008

This might actually be the first time I’ve been tagged unless you consider those emails people send along where you are supposed to fill out all the questions and send it on to hundreds of people as tagging. Probably not. If you’re not familiar with it, it just simply means that someone tags you electronically and you must answer the questions or do the deed described and pass it along (tag others). Usually the tag is for you to tell 5 things about your yourself or 5 things you didn’t know about me. But this tag is different.

A while back I was minding my own business when at tweet came across my stream on Twitter from @msherr.

I immediately recognized the book and the author as The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It has been so long since I’ve read the book, but I distinctly remember this part because of the personification of the lake. It’s truly a beautiful book.

So we’ve been following each other ever since, and Ms. Herr tagged me with this interesting tag:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences (sentences 6-9).
5. Tag five people.

Okay, so I’ll start by saying that I had to change the rules. I just had to blaze a new path. Do things my way or the highway. (Insert your own Cliché here)

The nearest book to me was my Freshman Composition book. I was not about to spend 20-30 minutes writing a blog post to insert a few lines from my textbook. Booooring. Next was the book I’m so desperately trying to start and finish: Persepolis. Yes, it’s a movie, but it was book first. And if you’re familiar with it, you’ll understand why I couldn’t use it either for this. It’s a picture book with bubbles with text in them. Pass.

Okay, so here’s where I changed the rules. Close your eyes and randomly grab three books off your bookshelf. Follow the above rules. Post the best one. So here goes:

“I am one such intrusion, stroking you with necrophiliac obsession, loving the shell laid out before me.

The dead you is constantly being rubbed away by the dead me. Your cells fall and flake away, fodder to dust mites and bed bugs. Your droppings support colonies of life that graze on skin and hair no longer wanted.”

I’ll leave that uncited in case anyone cares to guess the source. It’s a great book- one of my favorites. It beat out A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf – didn’t have 123 pages, and Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues. I just couldn’t bare having to type the word vagina 3 times and have it read out of context.

Now for the best part. Who should I tag? I’ll go with my old faithful Cybersalon Crew and my reading buddy. Although I don’t anticipate a big response since I know half of you will be heading off to SXSW next week, just thought I’d see what you’re reading.

1. @caitcody: I’m sure she’s got some juicy Rad book sitting on her nightstand.
2. @nooccar
3. @rrodrigo
4. @befitt
5. @cogdog

Blogging, Literature, Twitter