A book meme: page 56, sentence 5.

Snagged from century_eyes and merrycalliope and maybe a few others besides: A book meme.

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

She watched his looks with anxious affection, and their expression was always faithfully reflected in her own.
—The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe

Of the four books equidistant to me (it was a library day, shush), none of them have good lines at that specific location. Disappointing? A little.

A couple request/questions/memes—is it comment whoring when it's this purposeful (and obvious)?

I have a couple oh-help-me-flist questions—and a few bonus memes—that I keep meaning to get around to, so here I go shoving them all into one post for your commenting pleasure.

Can anyone recommend a Clive Barker book to me? I put out a request here but who knows, you might have missed it after the wall of text. Recommendations for a (standalone, good, preferably more than simply bloody) Barker novel would be much appreciated, before I give up on him.

Dear Simmers: I'm thinking of going back to The Sims 3 and would love to know if you recommend World Adventures—or the first stuff pack, or if you have your eyes set on Ambitions, or if there's something big and glaring that I'm unaware of because I've been long out of the loop. As I tackle the Herculean task of getting the game running again, these would be good things for me to keep in mind.

And then a pair of tell-me-what-to-write memes:

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on alfalfa*, favorite type of underwear, graphic techniques, etc.

Repost in your own journal—if you want to—so that we can all learn more about each other.

Alternately:

What kind of topics/entries would you like to see me posting about? Any particular questions you've always wanted to ask me but have resisted because the answer would be a huge essay? Ever want to wind me up and watch me go on a particular topic? Anything you've heard me say, "I should write that entry about XYZ I've been meaning to write" and have been patiently waiting for**?

* What's crazy is that as a guinea pig owner, I actually have thoughts on alfalfa.

** It pains me to end a sentence with a preposition. Yes, even when I didn't write the sentence. Yes, I know I'm outdated. Yes, I know I'm strange.