Tagged : Caught with a Crusie

I have been tagged by Twigs over at Multiply, which gives me yet another reason to drown you all with my brainfart, flooding feeds over there, and here at Blogger, and then at Facebook (because I'm an online-journal-whore that way.)

Anyways:

1) Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2) Open the book to page 123.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences.
5) Tag five people.

Okay. Because I've been, as my fellows like to put it, defragging my bookshelf, everything is everywhere, which means lucky me (and you) got to grab Jennifer Crusie's Bedroom Business. And that's not all folks, because page 123 features:

She sank onto the bed beside him, trying to find the right words, any words, but there was so much heat in her that she couldn't speak. She pushed herself through layers of air with only Zack's warmth to guide her to him, so that she was almost surprised when her lips touched his. It was like finding him underwater or in the dark, she'd had to penetrate so much to get to him.

Alas, the quote needed for this meme ends there. Too bad for you because the Rarrr Scene is immediately right after: She moved her lips... . Ah, yes, I love my trashy books. :)

Ooh, I tag ZoeAnne (because you're my marshmallow), Sandi (because you, like me, have a To-Be-Read list that will haunt us beyond death), Sarj (because it's a belated happy birthday -- I owe you a book!), Sheng (because I miss you na, pare) and Jev (because I have not seen you in sooo long.) Okay? Orayt.

54

A Lover's Discourse
Roland Barthes

Sniffle, sniffle, it's lovely in so many different levels. :) Oh gush, gush, gush. I've read and reread this so many times, memorized passages, copied some to give to other people, and all that jazz. It's perfect. And honest. And accurate in a way that makes you wonder if Barthes, bless his soul, ever lurked around your bakuran to spy on your loving.

Reading List #01

Okay. This summer, if it ain't gonna be happy time and sweetness, it's book-whoring and pseudo-writing. Great.

And because once in a while, I like to think that I'm a sane, organized person, I made a list about this summer's To-Be-Read:

1 - Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken
(because I fell in love with the giant in The Giant's House.)

2 - Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
(because I bought it for a hundred bucks sa National when it still looks like it cost 700.)

3 - Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
( yeah, I know it's a big effin' disappointment after White Oleander but I will try, why nots?)

4 - The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
(because it has been collecting dust in my bookshelf, and because Fall On Your Knees is an earth-shattering piece of literature, hahaw!)

5 - The Empire of Memory by Eric Gamalinda
(because I started reading it for Sir Pulan's class, but never got around to finishing it because Finals week crept up on me.)

6 - But For The Lovers by Wilfrido Nolledo
(yes, shall reread, because it's that booty-ful.)

7 - Swann by Carol Shields

8 - Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
(because a year ago [!] Martin told me that this is Murakami's best novel, better than Sarj's rec, Kafka on the Shore.)

9 - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
(because it's kooky and I like kooky.)

10 - Fault Lines: Stories of Divorce (Anthology)
(because Ann Beattie is here.)

11 - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
(because I feel like an elephant's sitting on my chest whenever I realize I haven't read this thing.)

12 - Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(because these short stories always keep getting set aside for other books.)

51, 52, 53

Pieces of Dreams by Jennifer Blake
Liar's Moon by Kristin Hannah
A Midsummer Day's Dream by Linda Lael Miller

Some run-of-the-mill romances to tide me over. First one involved identical twins. Yum, ahem. Second involves some role-playing. The third involves some time-traveling. Yeah.

God, my brain needs a jolt.

50

One Kiss From You
Christina Dodd

More satisfying than the first part of the Switching Places series, the one about Madeline. Maybe because Eleonor’s a much more compassionate character. Anyway, this is a very good story. Enough to pull me away from the ton of work lying around for me.

49

Duchess in Love
Eloisa James

Me likey very much. It’s a peculiar plot with scandalous characters, and me thinks that’s what makes it so refreshing.

48

Burning House
Ann Beattie

The time and energy supposed to be used for writing a more comprehensible review has been used for constructing an altar for Beattie. Thank you for your understanding.

47

The Lives of the Muses
Francine Prose

Oh gasp. Haha, muses are so romantic, even in their real trappings. Hello, the madness, the depression, the infidelities, the art.

46

A Knight in Shining Armor
Jude Deveraux

I hated it. Abso-fucking-lutely hated it. No, this has nothing to do with the fact that my boyfriend has abandoned me for a fucking artists’ get-together in some god-forsaken mountain in Antipolo. I hated the book because it is far too long. I hated the book because it was so unnecessarily convoluted. I’ve read time-traveling romances before (Karen Marie Moning and her Highlanders come to mind) but I’ve never criticized them on their implausibility. I hate this book because I wanted to whack Dougless repeatedly for her “alcoholic personality” and I hated this book because Nicholas isn’t exactly one of the most loveable heroes I’ve ever come across – he’s too medieval in a bland sort of way. I don’t like the novel, it isn’t at all romantic, what with all the focus on the mission of saving Nicholas’ family. And I really hate the ending. I mean, sure, don’t allow Nicholas to toss away his grand legacy by coming over to live in the twentieth century but hello. I don’t care for that Let our sould find each other bullshit. So what if she meets a twentieth-century guise of Nicholas’ soul? Goddamnit, can you just imagine the emotional turmoil Dougless will have to go through? Jesus Christ on wheels – and Dougless: supposedly this book is how a woman learns to stand for herself, that people won’t walk all over her all the fucking time. But really, with all the sacrifices she made – no matter that she made them willingly, out of love – in the end, wasn’t she the one used? The she, precariously, set her own happiness and sanity on the line to save an earl long-dead, who cares if history thinks he just likes to rut women on tables?

Christ, ano ba. And so what if the last statement is the point of the whole “romance”? Whatever. I abhorred this book, absolutely do not like it. God help me.

45

Blue Angel
Francine Prose

Shall give comments about this book when it's not 4:22 in the freaking morning because it's worth a saner version of my mind. Really.