Tag...I'm It
Wow...my last post was in March. I need to get on the ball! I discovered on Friday that I had been "tagged" by Earl. For those of you who may not be familiar with the blogger’s tradition of “tagging,” it is a get-to-know-you-better way of playing tag. When your blog is tagged, you are usually required to do something in a post that shares more about yourself or the world you live in outside of your blog. You are then required to tag a few more bloggers you’d like to get to know better.
This tag requires that I pick up the closest book around me at the time of the tag and give the title and the content of the third paragraph on page 128. The closest book to me currently is The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy. The third paragraph on page 128 reads:
Go on. Get it over with. Grab the garden hose, some heavy adhesive tape, a bottle of Irish, a vial of tranquilizers. Then drive off to some secluded spot, insert the hose into the exhaust, tape it in place, thread it through the window, tape the rest of the window closed, pop twenty Valium, chase them with a large swig of Black Bush, turn on the ignition, and surrender to the inevitable. You'll pass out, won't feel a thing. Face it, you'd never be able to live with the guilt. Every waking hour would be overshadowed by the fear: Today they'll find out...today they'll come for me...today is the last time you'll ever see your boys again. And even if you somehow managed to dodge detection for a while, the agony of inevitable arrest would be unbearable. You're going to lost everything anyway. End the agony now. Cleanly. With the minimum of fuss.
A few thoughts:
1. Geez, it figures that the 3rd paragraph on page 128 would be the longest paragraph in the book! I hope I caught all of my typos!
2. Wow, that's a morbid paragraph. Without ruining the rest of the story for you, I can tell you that the whole book isn't quite so gloomy and he doesn't kill himself here.
3. Pretty much the only reading I do is reading fiction for pleasure. I love to go to garage sales and check out the books people are selling. I talk to the people selling the books and find out which are their favorites and why. I'm fairly picky about the novels I'll read. Every story I've ever really enjoyed has some common characteristics. 1) It's realistic/believable. This may sound weird coming from a guy who likes science fiction, but it's true. 2) It's got great character development. I need to really get to know the main characters in a story to be able to make a connection to them and want to read about the events in their lives. 3) It's written in a certain informal style. I don't want to have to work too hard when I read--deciphering what the author is trying to say in a fluffy way or wade through page after page of unnecessary description. Get to the point already.
The Big Picture definitely fulfills all of these requirements. I've read it 3 or 4 times (I often reread books I like a lot). Although I'm far from suicidal, I definitely connect with Ben Bradford--the main character in the story. And the entire book is written in first-person from Ben's point of view in an easy-to-read style.
Now for the hard part--who to tag next. I only read a few blogs (Earl's being one of them), so I have limited options. Earl was kind enough not to tag his wife, so I'll tag Dianne. I'll also tag Catalin, who I'm guessing is either sitting by a children's book or a technical book that is WAY over my head. Third I will tag Trei Lewis. I learned of Eragon and Eldest, which I enjoyed, from him--so let's see what he's reading now.
This tag requires that I pick up the closest book around me at the time of the tag and give the title and the content of the third paragraph on page 128. The closest book to me currently is The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy. The third paragraph on page 128 reads:
Go on. Get it over with. Grab the garden hose, some heavy adhesive tape, a bottle of Irish, a vial of tranquilizers. Then drive off to some secluded spot, insert the hose into the exhaust, tape it in place, thread it through the window, tape the rest of the window closed, pop twenty Valium, chase them with a large swig of Black Bush, turn on the ignition, and surrender to the inevitable. You'll pass out, won't feel a thing. Face it, you'd never be able to live with the guilt. Every waking hour would be overshadowed by the fear: Today they'll find out...today they'll come for me...today is the last time you'll ever see your boys again. And even if you somehow managed to dodge detection for a while, the agony of inevitable arrest would be unbearable. You're going to lost everything anyway. End the agony now. Cleanly. With the minimum of fuss.
A few thoughts:
1. Geez, it figures that the 3rd paragraph on page 128 would be the longest paragraph in the book! I hope I caught all of my typos!
2. Wow, that's a morbid paragraph. Without ruining the rest of the story for you, I can tell you that the whole book isn't quite so gloomy and he doesn't kill himself here.
3. Pretty much the only reading I do is reading fiction for pleasure. I love to go to garage sales and check out the books people are selling. I talk to the people selling the books and find out which are their favorites and why. I'm fairly picky about the novels I'll read. Every story I've ever really enjoyed has some common characteristics. 1) It's realistic/believable. This may sound weird coming from a guy who likes science fiction, but it's true. 2) It's got great character development. I need to really get to know the main characters in a story to be able to make a connection to them and want to read about the events in their lives. 3) It's written in a certain informal style. I don't want to have to work too hard when I read--deciphering what the author is trying to say in a fluffy way or wade through page after page of unnecessary description. Get to the point already.
The Big Picture definitely fulfills all of these requirements. I've read it 3 or 4 times (I often reread books I like a lot). Although I'm far from suicidal, I definitely connect with Ben Bradford--the main character in the story. And the entire book is written in first-person from Ben's point of view in an easy-to-read style.
Now for the hard part--who to tag next. I only read a few blogs (Earl's being one of them), so I have limited options. Earl was kind enough not to tag his wife, so I'll tag Dianne. I'll also tag Catalin, who I'm guessing is either sitting by a children's book or a technical book that is WAY over my head. Third I will tag Trei Lewis. I learned of Eragon and Eldest, which I enjoyed, from him--so let's see what he's reading now.
posted by Patrick at 9:21 PM
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