sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

August 11, 2011


booking through thursday: national book week
posted by soe 8:20 pm

Today’s Booking through Thursday assignment should be an easy one:

booking through thursdayIt’s National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status.

Unfortunately, the closest book to me, Tea: A Global History, ends a chapter on page 56, and there is no 5th sentence on that page.

And while the book I’m currently reading, Diamond Ruby, also concludes a chapter on page 56, it has more than five sentences on the page. Here’s the appropriate one:

“As the front door slammed, Ruby sat very still for a few moments.”

For being located in a really emotionally draining scene, that’s a really dull sentence.

Category: books. There is/are 3 Comments.



The book closest to me is “Gossie.” It’s a book for very young readers and it doesn’t have a page 56. Will you settle for pages 5 and 6? They say, “She wears them when she sleeps. She wears them when she hides.” You see, Gossie likes to wear “them” (her bright red boots) every day.

The book I’m currently reading is “Wasn’t the Grass Greener?” by Barbara Holland. The 5th sentence of page 56 is “Sometimes they brought a croquet set.”

Absolutely riveting.

If anything, this exercise goes to show that the whole of a book is greater than the sum of its parts.

Comment by Karen 08.12.11 @ 5:34 am

@Karen: Would you describe Gossie’s boots as galoshes? And thank goodness you’re right about the sum being greater. Although a few exceptional sentences sprinkled here and there really do help.

Btw, how is the Holland book? I enjoyed Endangered Pleasures when you gave it to me and spaced those essays out as if they were bon bons.

Comment by soe 08.15.11 @ 12:17 am

I don’t know if Gossie’s boots would qualify as galoshes, but I love the way “galoshes” sounds and I wish I had more opportunities to say the word.

I’m glad you liked “Endangered Pleasures.” I like this other book, too. Holland had a real knack for writing essays that recall simpler days. She almost makes me want to hang up a clothesline. Almost.

Comment by Karen 08.24.11 @ 9:39 pm