Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Wisdom at 21 Meme

The Grand High Exalted Mystic Empress Lime and Her Majesty the Queen are in alliance again to bring you a literary meme of great importance.

1. Find the nearest bookshelf of your favorite reads, cookbooks, tech books, magazines. It doesn't matter. This will work for all print media. If you don't have seven books lined up on a shelf, grab the first seven you see around the house. (I'm using the closest stack since I have many stacks. [Yeah, go ahead and make your jokes about how stacked I am.] It's a mixture of "recently read" and "to read" items.)
2. Book #1: Turn to page 21. Read the 21st sentence (you may have to turn the page).
Write it down.
3. Do the same with the first seven books or articles you see. The sentences will make a paragraph. You must write them down in the order you found them.
4. When you are finished, read over your "story" and title it.
5. Show us your bibliography at the end of this meme.



The owner was away at the time and in his absence the place had become a sort of flophouse for those of his relations who could not be bothered, or were too drunk, to drive back out to Manganui. The list that was tucked away in his glove compartment itemized the things he still needed to buy in the morning before he carried out his plan. In my heart I feel little-scarcely any doubt of his preference. I talk with the surgeons, most of whom seem to think I'm part of the setup staff. Sixth-century Buddhist murals in the ancient caves at Ajanta depict women spinning and weaving by hand, much as they still do today. In 2001, curators interviewed Julia Child. Anyone out there reading this haiku journal, give this to my mom.



1. Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You: A New Zealand Story by Christina Thompson
2. Think No Evil by Jonas Beiler with Shawn Smucker
3. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
4. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
5. Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber by Stephen Yafa
6. Smithsonian January 2010 "What to Collect?" by G. Wayne Clough
7. Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum


I think the argument could be made that the bibliography is every bit as weird as the resulting story. As for the wisdom bit, at 21 I was married, pregnant, and graduating from college magna cum laude...again with the weird combinations.



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL Excellent...can I have your Mom's address?????

S said...

OK perhaps I ought to come back and try this later when I have had more than 3 hours sleep....

:P

Cricket said...

Talking Ragtime!

Which is a more horrifying deterrent: a $500 fine for soliciting a prostitute or the thought of your friends and family ogling you on www.HookersAndJohns.com? Most underground animals are small - moles, tiny insects, and so on - but some can get to be very long. The parent's terror, however, decreases as the child grows older. Take care lest you be tempted to forsake God and turn to false gods in worship. It is entirely certain that at the end of the first century, or the beginning of the second, the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke were regarded as integral parts of the Gospels. Fortunately for Sam, he's fairly easy to distract. And by the way, if you don't think men are stupid, check the newspaper.

Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Nature's World Records, by John R. Quinn
What Dr. Spock Didn't Tell Us, by B.M. Atkinson Jr.
Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
The Book Of Mary, by Henri Daniel-Rops
The Happiest Toddler On The Block, by Harvey Karp, M.D.
When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?, by George Carlin

Bijoux said...

LOL - I thought the poster above me was spamming you at first!

Those are some bizarre book choices, Lime. Maybe I'll do it on my blog.

Craig said...

The New Zealand book sounds interesting. . .

~Dragonfly~* said...

Very cute... wish I were home near my books to participate!! May have to try this out later tonight.

Ananda girl said...

Likewise, I am not with my books, though I am surrounded by books where I am. I could just grab some of those, but it would not be the same at all. So... at a later time.
Fun one!

Commander Zaius said...

Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum

I'll have to check that one out, always in the mood for the undead.

choochoo said...

hehe. I'd try this out, but I'm currently obsessed with my ereader,which makes it a bit tricksy. Oh well.

g-man said...

Meesh...Zombie Haiku?
Still waters run deep with you..
Trini Brain Eater!!!

Mimi Lenox said...

Ha! That is one heck of a first paragraph. I might be inclined to read that imaginary book. Your bibliography looks intriguing as well. Thanks for sharing!

P.S. You have escaped the dungeon yet again.