Take the book you are reading right now, turn to page 123. Type out the 5th sentence, and the three sentences that follow.
I'm currently reading Jane Austin's Sense & Sensibility, and page 123 is a climactic page (you know... for Austin) and sentence 5 is smack in the middle of Willoughby's letter to Marianne:
"I shall never reflect on my former acquaintance with your family in Devonshire
without the most grateful pleasure, and flatter myself it will not be broken by
any mistake or misapprehension of my actions. My esteem for your whole
family is very sincere; but if I have been so unfortunate as to give rise to a
belief of more than I felt, or meant to express, I shall reproach myself for not
having been more guarded in my professions of that esteem. That I should
ever have meant more you will allow to be impossible, when you understand that
my affections have been long engaged elsewhere, and it will not be many weeks, I
believe, before this engagement is fulfilled. It is with great regret that
I obey your commands of returning the letters, with which I have been honoured
from you, and the lock of hair, which you so obligingly bestowed on me."
And thus breaks Marianne's heart.
Come on... share what you're reading!
8 comments:
what possessed you to pick up jane austen? were you feeling masochistic?
ok. and this is REALLY weird. i just looked at the book i'm reading and... I'M ON PAGE 123. holy crap.
So, for a moment, it seems fair—equal assumptions—but I look around and I don't see an us. And they never lived in a world where their notions of good aren't constantly validated. Even this strip is like a shrine to the local, the mundane. The good.
from 'man gone down' by michael thomas
I always thought that was one long rambling letter..had to reread it a few times to really get a grip on it. I think ol'Jane kinda grows on you, I hated her like 8 years ago, but now, I kinda like her. Go figger.
"OK--so we are all one, and divinity abides within us equally. No problem. Understood. But now try living from that place."
from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I read beFORE it became insanely overmarketed and am now re-reading.
d - if you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a girly-girl. I've got the movie version of S&S practically memorized so I figured I should actually go read the book. I don't think I would have liked it without seeing it on DVD first.
olga... the entire book strike me as a bit long & rambling, but I'm enjoying it.
karin - I had mixed feelings about that book. It was an okay read but I gave my copy away. Does it improve on rereading?
Sense and Sensibility was my first of the Jane Austin books. I thought it was a whole lot of fuss about getting married, but I do adore the movie and the screenplay did stay true to the novel. Pride and Prejudice is a much better read with a more complex plot.
I'll spare you the 123rd page of "God - A Biography", the book I'm reading now. I started it at the waterpark hotel and it helped me have a very satisfying nap next to the wave pool.
Page 123 of my book ("Dictionary of the Khazars") is a chapter-heading page, with no text.
Mixed feelings about Eat, Pray, Love? Really? I love it. I have nothing bad to say about it. It's a nearly perfect book. For me. As similar as we are, I realize that we have many fabulous differences.
What makes you not love it so much?
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