…table with supreme balance.”
Is there a better line from a book in the English culture-verse?

” Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us”

Inspiring stuff..

Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino

Doesn’t scan – isn’t there an “as” missing from that sentence? Culture-verse fail?

this gives me an idea…

Was world book day a few weeks ago. You were supposed to grab the book closest to you right now. Open to page 56 and choose the 5th sentence and publish it as your Arsebook status, I dint get around to it then so lets see what we get now.

Don’t choose. PICK UP the CLOSEST book. Don’t say what book it is.

Mine:

Somehow, the oneness of this shared experience, the coalescing of millions of minds, had affected the randomising function of these machines, organising their outputs and bringing order from chaos.

‘placed’ and not ‘place’ as well, surely?

and the ‘with supreme balance’ bit sounds a bit OTT for a bloke arrying a couple of espresso’s?

Is there a better line from a book in the English culture-verse?

Yes…many

He’s American so I guess it doesn’t count for this thread but this is my favourite line from any book

“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.”

— Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast)

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.

And I don’t even like Oysters but it makes me want some….

Que ? Thats not even proper English.

Opening lines from novels are great. Must require so much effort from the author – how do you start ? I always aspire to “in media res” like the epic poets in my writing you might as well aim high.

But I would give the award to Dickens:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

Last time I tried that page 56 thing the closed book to me was a Tinga Tinga Tales board book of Meg’s.

This time the sentence is ‘Die Pfirsche?’

Genuinely thought it was a line of random text generated to avoid a spam filter.

p56, 5th sentence:

“Simply put, refactoring is a formal and mechanical process whereby you improve an existing code base.”

Shakespeare, eat your heart out!

Dave

(Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform)

The OP is referring to one Jacqueline Howett, an “author” who a) can’t accept criticism, and b) appears oblivious to her complete inability to form sentences.

http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

P.56 line 5,
“El que calla, sereno, cuando hablo”

Dammit Cougar! I was going to post some more…

p.56, 5th sentence:

“Since each class variable must be part of a class and must be referred to with its class name, each has a unique name.”.

Cougar – I thought it sounded familiar – I read that thread ysterday – has she reappered to insult some more people?

Dammit Cougar! I was going to post some more…

Oh, sorry! I didn’t know it was a secret. I spotted the original yesterday.

has she reappered to insult some more people?

Last thing she posted was the f-bomb (twice), far as I’m aware.

ah, I won’t trawl through it all again then 🙂

OP that’s a great line.. worrying that some people’s grasp of english is such that they feel able to criticise..

Nearest book (The Scottish Clans and their Tartans, 1928), p.55, 5th line;

“We had it from a lady of rank who has still in her possesion a silk scarf (or plaid) of it, which was manufactured in 1712 for a lady who was a most zealous Jacobite”

Oh Crapola! Wrong page 😀

In fact there are two mistakes we can make: a Type I and a Type II error.

P56, line 5:

‘You cannot save the land apart from the people or the people apart from the land.’

(Was quoting from that very page in an article yesterday.)

My book was Teach Yourself German btw.

I didn’t include the Kindle 🙂

Oh I’ve just read her rant on the link that’s funny…. sorry but it is

“In Walcott’s time, the slate of Precambrian life was absolutely blank.”

p 56, 5th sentence:

Examples of printouts for three microcomputer statistical packages are presented: JMP, SPSS and SYSTAT.

Thrilling stuff!

“So now we’ve briefly covered the gory details of how Lucene works…”

Gory? Not even the slightest hint of blood, nary a severed limb to be seen! Even Ms. Howett could do better!

yunki – Member
OP that’s a great line.. worrying that some people’s grasp of english is such that they feel able to criticise..

I do hope you’re kidding. It’s absolutely awful.

I’ve had to order the Howett womans book…

from the examples people have cited in the link I can only conclude that I enjoy her turn of phrase.. and though not compatible with GCSE english exams or Mills and Boon novels it’s refreshing and interesting and valid and a change from the hackneyed and archaic trite we are often served..

I hope her book becomes a bestseller and she achieves rockstar status..

Simply as I know it will stick in the throats of all those people that left comments wishing ill of her career.. based purely on her lack of professonalism..
There’s nothing worse than the demand for professional conduct and practice for sensoring and stifling the creative community..

uptight (and with reference to the examples provided.. extraordinarily ill-educated) nerds..

I’m a bit dubious though as her angry ranting was full of spelling mistakes.. 😕

P.56, fifth sentence:

“Switch Tour – Jan”

North, Ourmaninthe – Workbook 2 December 2010 to Date.

organic355 – Member
this gives me an idea…

Was world book day a few weeks ago. You were supposed to grab the book closest to you right now. Open to page 56 and choose the 5th sentence and publish it as your Arsebook status, I dint get around to it then so lets see what we get now.

Don’t choose. PICK UP the CLOSEST book. Don’t say what book it is.

That was months ago, I thought. My quote still is my status cos I think that was the last time I used Facebook!

Portugal does not currently operate a wealth tax.

That’s what the closest book to me says on page 56 5th sentence

I’m a bit dubious though as her angry ranting was full of spelling mistakes.

Check out her blog, her ranting is a faithful representation of her writing style:

I give it 5 Stars. Love of a Stonemason by Christa Polkinhorn is a wonderful book, I highly recommend. Being a bit of a traveler and artist myself, I could really relate to the world of culture, which I really found enjoyably described, and a refreshing change. I especially liked how the heroine’s thoughts were conveyed through her brushstrokes on canvass as an artist, giving the story depth. The Stonemason, the artist meets, known for his tombstone’s, is also semi famous, creating shiny sculptures that are placed in the nearby towns.

Having skimmed some of the stuff available on Ms Howett online, I have concluded that she is the proof-reader of around 90% of the posts on this site. Or possibly the author of them.

In fact, I suspect she may in fact be the product of all the drivel posted online.

P56, 5 line down.
PANTONE DE112-5 C

Kinda guessing the page number but that’s about right.

As your baby passes down the vagina he goes under the pubic bone and through the opening in the pelvic floor muscles.

Your Pregnancy Bible.

The lesson is to find what you like and let it kill you, as Walter discovers.