MY BOOKSHELF: THE STUDY

I can't blog about what I want to blog about today, because it would get me into trouble. It's work related and it's making me grumpy.

So, instead, I browsed around and found under the title An Almost Meme over on Nik's Blog, writer Nik Perring posts pictures of his bookshelf.

He encourages others to do the same. You're not allowed to tidy your shelf and, as my camera is on my desk, and my shelf is a foot away, I just turned and snapped.

And I made a discovery: The missing Garden State DVD is there. Yay! Viewing fodder for Saturday night. (Moral: never send a man to find an AWOL DVD...)

When I saw that, it struck me how little I look at - never mind choose things to read from - this particular shelf. The tub of red glitter gets more use than some of the books, I reckon. Hearteningly, though, I have actually read most of the books at some point. So, it'd be mostly a case of re-reading. Click on the pic to see the titles more clearly, if you wish.

Tagged - a book meme

Tania Hershman tagged me with a meme. I haven't done one before and I don't think I'll pass on the tag because a) I don't personally know too many bloggers, and b) I don't really want to be tagged back. It's too time consuming! Here it is anyway:

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.

OK, so here goes:
1. Nearest book is Eithne Strong's Patterns, a short story collection which I dug out of a box of books abandoned in a press, when I was shortlisted for the Strong Award.

2. Page 123 is in the middle of a story called 'The Requiem'.

She wondered had she, hoped she had, wounded him. And almost at once was sorry also. She leaned over him, bending her head down to his but she could not see his face.

Eithne's sentences are short and punchy, aren't they? What's interesting is that it makes you see every word a writer writes when you re-write their sentence. Apparently a lot of wannabe writers re-wrote favourite writers' work 'to see how they do it'. I heard Joseph O'Connor say that at a reading. Also C.K. Williams said he did that when younger to feel like the original poet. Sort of mad but possibly informative?