Fortunately, I didn't have to look it up, because the person who gave me this meme also supplied me with the definition of a meme, and it's not like mê mê , as in my wonderful French-Canadian mother-in-law. This is pronounced meem, and it means "an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture." In this case, the culture is the blog culture, and here's the meme, gotten from writers Jerilyn Dufresne and Anne Frasier.
1. Take the first five novels from your bookshelf.
2. Book 1 -- first sentence.
3. Book 2 -- last sentence on page 50.
4. Book 3 -- second sentence on page 100.
5. Book 4 -- next to the last sentence on page 150.
6. Book 5 -- final sentence of the book.
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.
8. Feel free to "cheat" to make it a better paragraph.
9. Name your sources.
10.Post to your blog.
And here's my pargraph.
I found Elizabeth waiting at the door of my office, standing at a respectful distance and watching as two men sat together in the evening and pored over maps and charts and tables. They looked up, and I could tell they considered me some kind of strange wild animal, as I laid on my American accent and my all-round toughness with a heavy hand. I knew I’d have to send the girl away. It troubled me in some mysterious way, yet also made me happy.
And my sources:
Ross MacDonald, The Ivory Grin.
Jessica Richards (me), Mistress of the Western Wind.
Wilfrid Sheed, Transatlantic Blues
George McNeill. The Plantation (an old friend I’ve sadly lost touch with).
D. M. Thomas, The White Hotel.
4 comments:
This is so much fun. And I've enjoyed reading paragraphs on several people's blogs.
Good job, o.
Mine turned out to be rather disturbing. Realized I had two Greenes in there (grabbed End of the Affair too), pulled out the last line and grabbed the next book off my shelf. Which only made the paragraph worse:
I was told by a Guard who came to the door. So we went for a walk round by the canal and she told me she was a slavey in a house in Baggot Street. It seemed quiet and friendly to Father Quixote. Finally, let us see what happens if you, a minor, accused of having impaired the morals of an adult in a respectable inn, what happens if you complain to the police of my having kidnaped and raped you? Righteous, ain't it?
Sources:
Roddy Doyle, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
James Joyce, The Dubliners (specifically, Two Gallants)
Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
William Shears, Up All The Way
Whoo, good one. Is that really the last line to "Up All The Way"?
I wouldn't lie. And you should know. You wrote the damn thing. :)
I didn't mess with the lines in the paragraph at all. Those are all direct quotes, in order, nothing added, nothing subtracted. Well, I eliminated the quotation marks on the last two sentences. Which is why it's a little disjointed. But only a little.
Creepy, isn't it?
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