Tag! I'm it!

I was notified by my friend Chriesi that I was tagged in her blog, and went to find that I am the next victim *ahem LOL* participant in a meme! This is my first one, so I'm excited.

The rules are:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I have a bookshelf right here next to my computer, so it's hard to figure out the "nearest" book. But I stretched my arm out, leaned over, and grabbed the first one I touched.

Digression/Background: Quite a few years ago, the singles group at the church I attended did a service project for an elderly lady. Our mission, to clean out her attic. It was PACKED with books, papers, and old things and was both an ideal penthouse for rats as well as a major fire hazard. The singles minister instructed us to throw away all of the old books, and my sister and I....well, we just couldn't! We grew up in a house with antiques that our parents collected, and old family things that were treasured. So we rebelled. We loaded up the back seat and the trunk of my little Mazda 323 with books; we were probably dragging the ground at the end of the day! LOL

Anyway, I grabbed one of these books, Sixteen Famous British Plays, which was published in 1942. The book includes plays by Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), A.A. Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame, and the inimitable Noel Coward. This is quite apropos, because aside from my love of cooking and baking (which is what this blog mostly consists of), I have a great love of literature and writing. After all, my degree is in English! :)

Capote, Welty, Faulkner......Hendrix?!?! =:D

Following the rules led me to What Every Woman Knows, written by J.M. Barrie, whose claim to fame is being the author of Peter Pan. The following quote is from the first paragraph of Act One of WEWK. Some characters are playing some sort of board game, I think (I have to admit that I haven't ever read this, so we're all sharing it for the first time):

"JAMES glares; and, too late, his opponent is a simple old father again. JAMES mops his head, sprawls in the manner most conducive to thought in the WYLIE family, an, protruding his underlip, settles down to a reconsideration of the board. ALICK blows out his cheeks, and a drop of water settles on the point of his nose."

See? There it is. Read for yourself.

Hmmm. Cracking this book open has really intrigued me. I'm going to have to check it out! :)

And the following 5 are officially tagged to do the same thing I have just done!
1. Anna, my lovely sister and partner in crime when saving old books - at It's Just Not Me
2. My awesome "W Girl"* friend Brandie at Confessions of an Ill-Behaved Woman
3. The very cool (and likely just as ill-behaved, LOL) Megan at Hobbit Ramblings, also a "W Girl"*
4. Michele, my 3rd "W Girl"* at Barrels of Monkeys
5. OK, that's it. I'm not that widespread to have a 5th person. Sad, no?

All righty, girls, have at it! :)

*Term of endearment for fellow grads of my alma mater