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I hope you are curious about what I read. For that’s what this post is all about. Neha tagged me to do a book tag. You can see that she has been trying to read everything except that tome on Local and Regional development which she needs for her exams. Not that I blame her – every sentence in that book seems to be a paragraph.
The rules of the tag are:
Pick up the nearest book.
Open to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people, and acknowledge the person who tagged you.
So I picked up the nearest book – Arthur C. Clarke’s “3001: The Final Odyssey” and opened to page 123. What do I find ? Page 123 only has six lines in two sentences.
So the fifth sentence in page 123 is technically the third sentence in page 124. You could argue that it’s all within the spirit of the tag, and I should now start quoting from page 124. But I must have some German blood in me, for I decided to take the rules literally.
So I sighed and opened the other book lying beside it, the one I had just finished reading. It was Terry Pratchett’s “The Light Fantastic”. I suspect I was re-reading this after many years, but I loved it anyway. I can read Terry Pratchett any number of times. I first started reading his books long years ago at the British Council library, and was introduced to Neil Gaiman through his books. I read their collaborative effort “Good Omens” because of Terry, not because I knew anything about Neil back then.
Anyway, I opened page 123 and was very relieved to see it had more than eight sentences. In point of fact, it had eighteen, but all I needed were eight. So here are the 6th, 7th and 8th sentences:
“If that was you, Twoflower, I knew it was you all along,” said Rincewind. His voice sounded suddenly clear and very alone in the gathering dusk.
Rincewind remembered the only fact he knew for sure about trolls, which was that they turned to stone when exposed to sunlight, so that anyone who employed trolls to work during daylight had to spend a fortune in barrier cream.
Having done the tag, I wish I had more discretion on which sentences in page 123 to quote. For instance, sentences 4 and 5 had a lot of good stuff about talking yew trees..
Now to tag 5 others. I would have liked to tag Space Bar, but she has decided to quit blogging for some time (no doubt, she saw this tag coming). But the rest of you guys cannot escape! Unless you’ve already done the tag, which I doubt (yes, I checked) 
Chennai ramblings (Okay, I am cheating a bit here, I know she’s probably reading Sandman)
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And yes, I am very partial when it comes to Terry Pratchett too!
Ho! Everyone seems to be doing this tag! I did it just now too!
Sigh. I did it.
I did it (and mercifully, this was an easy one. The hard part was figuring out whom to tag.)
neha: Loved this tag, it’s easy and quite an interesting one. Reminds me of book cricket
You love Pratchett too? He’s up there with Douglas Adams as far as I’m concerned, and thankfully much more prolific than Adams.
aandthirtyeights: I read yours too. You’re right, this tag is going around faster than the Olympic torch.
Aishwarya: Good girl
For a long time, I knew Joan Aiken only for her biography of Jane Austen..didn’t realize she had some good stuff of her own..
Sujatha: Ah yes, figuring out who deserves some misery today
Nice tag! I am currently in the middle of Post American World by F Zakaria, Last Mughal by W Darymple and ‘From Beruit To Lebanon’ by T Friedman.
All of them amazing books but I think I am enjoying TF and WD more than FZ.
No fair, you already knew what I was reading! Hmph! *Waggling a finger and admonishing you!*
)
Will do it later today, and coincidentally The Light Fantastic is the only Terry Pratchett I have read so far (I had forgotten its name until I saw the lines here. Rincewind is not someone so easily forgettable
It will move as fast as the Olympic torch until someone finds out that the tag originated in China!
Tarun: How do you manage to read 3 books at the same time? I’d hopelessly lose the thread. I’ve heard good things about “Post American World” and I also read this excerpt. It’s interesting, but now I don’t need to read the book, I got his point
“Last Mughal” is good too, though I haven’t read the Friedman you mentioned. It must be fascinating, he lived in Beirut and his op-eds on Lebanon and Syria show how well he understands that part of the world.
chennairamblings: Agreed, Rincewind is a brilliant parody of a hero who is completely non-heroic
I love all the Rincewind books. My order of preference in Terry Pratchett’s books are (i) All the Rincewind books; (ii) All books set in Ankh-Morpork; (iii) All other Pratchett books.
aandthirtyeights Yes, that would be downright scary, given how much spam and viruses and DOS attacks originate from China. You would suddenly wonder if this tag was actually something sinister
Somehow, I feel right at home here…
I head to the nearest B&N few days a week after work
Having studied in Delhi, I found the history of Delhi as written about in Last Mughals really really fascinating.
The intricacies of politics and life in middle east – Tom Friedman is the man to go for.
By the way, why don’t you show some ads? At least it would take care of webhosting expenses?
** Sob Sob** I dont have a single book to read right now
Btw you have been tagged
check it out !!
thats sounds interesting…I haven’t read a book in a long time…so nice reading abt them..