MotherReader

From Chicken Spaghetti (who, incidently has someone interesting running for office in her town), and being passed along alllll through the book-loving world:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig around for that “cool” or “intellectual” book on your shelves. (I know you were thinking about it.) Just pick up whatever is closest.

Joanne had gotten married, had a son, lived within two miles of my house, and liked being a housewife because she could smoke all day and watch TV. My rival had also gotten married, moved to Ventura, gotten divorced, hated her job as a special-ed high school teacher, and had to borrow a cotton floral number to wear to the occasion. Her life was still “really great,” though. She also had some girlie freak-out idea that she and I were soul sisters during high school. The only reason I might have liked her then was because she had a butt bigger than mine, and, standing next to her, I was a dish.

From a very funny book, The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club, by Laurie Notaro. I had wanted to read this book after reading a later book of hers, I Love Everybody (And Other Atrocious Lies), but my library didn’t have this title. I put it on my Amazon wish list, but no one bought it for me. Then one day, it showed up in our library’s book sale. Hurray! I bought it, brought it downstairs for my mom to look at on her visit, and never finished it. But what I did read, and have read before from Ms. Notaro, is hilarious.