Thursday, April 24, 2008

Attack of the meme-

Tam and Robb have self tagged themselves with this meme. Since I wanna be one of the cool kidz as well, I'm tagging myself with it. [addendum: I'm never, ever live blogging one of these again. This blog is Not Safe For Work as a result].

Here is how it works:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the first five sentences.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

1. Caliphate by Tom Kratman.
2. done
3. done (oh dear)
4. yikes!


"Some girls were not so lucky. Each of the new girls was then assigned to an experienced, older houri for training."

I am so not posting the next sentence here. It will be in the comments, as I do not know how to do a 'below the fold' post. The book is not porn. Not by any stretch. But the next sentence states just how truly awful the situation the POV character (Petra, a twelve year old German girl) is in. It was hard for me to read it this past Monday.

I am never liveblogging again. Not ever. Unless I get really really drunk. So I might be liveblogging come Election Day.



11 comments:

mousestalker said...

Ok, here is the last sentence in full.

"There was something about the idea of a line of a bakers' dozen kneeling twelve-year-olds, practicing fellatio in cadence, under the supervision of a washed-up whore, that offended even Latif's atrophied sensibilities."

So very much not doing this again.

staghounds said...

"even" just makes that sentence, doesn't it?

Get ready for the Tamalanche...

Anonymous said...

I'm reasonably good at what I do, at least most of the the time, yes, Stag.

Sadly, the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung has neglected to do the expected scathing review, so sales lag in Germany.

mousestalker said...

Welcome to the blog. I enjoyed the book quite a lot. I just which the line had been a little less.....

Anonymous said...

...disgusting?

mousestalker said...

Yeah, that's a good word for it. I don't want anyone to have the wrong idea, you see. I'm very much against kiddy porn, your book isn't kiddy porn and go figure Murphy's law hits the one passage that could imply that it might be.

Anonymous said...

Actually there are at least two passages. Recall Petra's rape. I really wanted to slap people with, "This is what you're letting your daughters and grandaughters in for."

mousestalker said...

You succeeded. I wish I could say your portrayal of that society was unfair was unfair. But I can not.

Are the euros really that complacent?

Anonymous said...

Tough question. Some Euros are not but they, frankly, tend to be a) fascists and b) (probably fortunately) a tiny minority. There are some others, Oriana Fallaci was one and an American ex-pat author named Claire Berlinski (whose book on the subject I heartily recommend...she never got enough credit) is another, who are (were, in Oriana's case) both non-fascistic and in strong favor of reducing the Islamic threat in one form or another. I think, in general, I pegged the Euros pretty accurately. Here's an excerpt from some fan mail I got today from a German lawyer:

"Caliphate just seemed not up to those standarts, but maybe it touched some fear deep inside. Living in germany and as a lawyer ( Yes I´m a lawyer too)you see and hear things which make your dark picture of an Europe in Moslem hands, well possible. And that would be something i wouldn´t like for my grandchildren.
Also i was not able to see my germany of today in the book, like it was with watch at the Rhine."

I read that as being a case of "too awful and painful to look at or think about," and this man is not notably liberal.

Anonymous said...

See, if you had reached my lifestage and were re-reading all the classics you read when you were WAY too young to appreciate them, it might have turned out differently:

"So powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me, and the livid brand which streaked it, that for the first few moments I hardly noted that not a little of this overbearing grimness was owing to the barbaric white leg upon which he partly stood."

"It had previously come to me that this ivory leg had at sea been fashioned from the polished bone of the sperm whale's jaw."

"Aye, he was dismasted off Japan," said the Old Gay-Head Indian once; "but like his dismasted craft, he shipped another mast without coming home for it. He has a quiver of 'em."

Have a great evening!...mrb

Anonymous said...

If Ahab appears in any of my writing his name's "Carrera."