on Feb 22nd, 2008Page 123
One of my favorite bloggers, MusEditions, is a fellow book lover and recently tagged me to take part in a fun little book-related meme. The rules were few: pick up the book nearest me, turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence and post the next three.
In truth, the book nearest me at the time was Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom — she needs no further identification here — but page 123 was nearly the end of the slim volume’s index.
The next-closest book was The Secret Man by Bob Woodward, which I’m re-reading. No, let me put that a different way: I’m reading it in sequence this time. So let’s hop to page 123, sentence 6, where he writes about the film version of All The President’s Men, in which Hal Holbrook played Deep Throat, the secret man this book is about:
Holbrook was the wise actor of the era, cerebral and high-minded. He was the one who seemingly knew the entire story but wouldn’t tell it all. It was a powerful performance, capturing the authoritative and seasoned intensity, cynicism and gruffness of the man in the underground garage.
Even from three sentences you can see why many people, including me, consider Bernstein to be the more elegant writer of that legendary team.
Thanks to MusEditions for a bit of fun!
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Thanks for the kind words, ella! and for playing “meme”. I like your quote. It is a bit bloated and pretentious.
I found the movie fascinating, and the era it portrayed amazing. I may pick up the book, now. in spite of your dire prose alert. 
I’m glad you had fun with this.
I think you’d enjoy the book; after all, he’s the only person on earth who knows the whole story. Just don’t subject the prose to a metronome.
Thanks again!
Feel like a ninny … I was looking to see if you’d answered my post of yesterday (or was it the day before…?), and now can’t find it no wheres, no how … great excuse to just snoop around though!!! (…geez Louise… the FOOD!!!), anyway, I KNOW I should be all up to speed with pings/trackbacks/RSS/ETC, but I ain’t…So, again, justtouching base to let you know I DID return and DID try to find it!
This above idea is amusant. ‘Chain mail’ per se genrally bugs me, but in the spirit of the thing … here’s what I got …from Irving Wallace’s tome, ‘The Prize’, which I haven’t actually started yet, but it’s ON THE PILE at arms’ length … basically the story revolves around six potential recipients of the Nobel Prize (circa 1960’s) and records their trails and tribulations on route to Stockholm where ONE of them will get the famed award …
“Leah had extracted from Craig the night before, the promise that he would not drink, except socially, until the Nobel Ceremony was ended. These gifts, and the excitement, had served to relax Leah’s clenched Slavic face and her inflexible body. Her aspect was more feminine, and her pride in him - in the past he had resented it as a subtle pressure - gave him fleeting pride in himself, briefly, briefly, in the way that Harriet has so often given it to him. (…)
He uses a lot of commas … I’m looking forward to the read.
Cheers. C
What fun.
1st book I picked was the Tao Te Ching. No page numbers.
2nd book I picked was Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” 120 pages.
3rd book I picked was Octavio Paz’s “The Double Flame,” and page 123 has only 3 and one half sentences.
I’ve filed for a future snow day.
Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich
“But where to network? The answer has already come to me in a curious way. At Patrick’s boot camp, I was heading for the bathroom on one of our breaks when I was intercepted by a short man whose head formed a perfect triangle from pointy bald pate to lushly padded jowls.”
I don’t know about you but ever since Nickel and Dimed, I never miss a chance to read this writer. Her posts appear regularly at http://www.alternet.org. Like Ellen Goodman, she gets to the point, tells a story, and makes me laugh. She ain’t to shabby at describing/creating characters either.
I have the feeling from her recent postings that her next book may be going after the one percenters.
@canadada - Is this what you were looking for?
http://foodpluspolitics.com/2008/01/11/blood-orange-pork-roast/#comment-1441
You could use the email notifcation….
That Wallace excerpt is fun. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Yep, lots of commas. There was a piece last year, maybe in Newsweek, about the decline of the comma. It’s in my delicious list I think. If I find it I’ll leave the link on your blog. You might enjoy it.
@Blue Smoke - Oy, a hat trick of uh-ohs! Interesting list and one that doesn’t surprise me.
The final part of that meme was to tag 5 other people but I’m always so reluctant to do that. So now I’ve got three people sharing voluntarily and I hope Muse comes back to see how much we’re having!
Thanks!
@rhbee - What a wonderful excerpt. Thank you. I love her work too — she shows up at Huffington Post from time to time also.
Nickel and Dimed was amazing. Unfortunately, it applies to more people now than when it was published. (thanks,dubya)
Hi again! These are great; and more books for my list. Good, people chose to play along with you! I know many people don’t like to tag or be tagged. I may cut down on it in the future, or put in a disclaimer, like “Only participate if it feels like fun”!
I hadn’t heard of “The Prize” or “Bait and Switch” before. Amazing what one learns doing these things.
MusEditions’s last blog post..We Made a Story!
Me again. I’ve posted over at ‘blood orange pork roast’… and see now what you mean about the CommentLuv ‘link’ at the bottom … thanks. Nice feature. Gettin’ there …
canadada’s last blog post..Philanthropy ? (Another short story)
@Muse - Isn’t it wonderful to hear about interesting books? This was definitely a fun meme.
@canadada - Glad you like it! It’s a nice little thank you. An early blogoversary present.
After thinking some more about my earlier comment about Ehrenreich’s next book, I realized that one aspect of her writing is that she writes from the inside. I don’t know if there is any way someone who isn’t in can get into the one percenters. But serendipity being what it is, JD at [rhbee’s blog - duplicate link removed by ella] pointed me at a new study on economic mobility that could shed some light anyhow.