The Page 56 Meme

Starting the new blog off with the page 56 meme. (You know the drill - the fifth full sentence on p. 56.) It's supposed to be for whatever book is nearest you, but I like to do every book I'm in the middle of, since there tends to be a lot of them.

"He had spoken as he had because he knew, and she knew, that every call, in and out of the building, was listened to or recorded."

"Harvey himself proposed the syndication, but he implied that greater circulation was his only concern, not how much money it made."

"Without even grabbing a coat, she ran to a neighbor's field and tore a strip of cloth from her petticoat with which to fashion a hackamore halter for one of his horses."

"Following the loss of the transport, he decided to descend on that position with his entire force in order to eliminate the threat to the Union line of communications on the Mississippi River."

"True, they have repeatedly stated that they wish to produce geographical knowledge in the very form that the US state/military needs it; they have gathered at Fort Leavenworth for stratetic meetings; they express pride in their military funding (Herlihy 2010, at 35:30)."

"Turning to ward leader Matthew Keany for help, Fitzgerald obtained a post in the Boston Customs House."

"There was terror and agitation in the castles of twenty petty kings."

"Moreover, anyone who defaced a whale by 'cutting, stabbing, or lancing' it before the inspector could investigate would lose the right to the whale and be fined ten pounds, payable to the colony."

"'You're certain it's exactly one hundred dollars?' Mason inquired again."

(1. Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love; 2. Mark Twain, The Autobiography of Mark Twain [from the introduction]; 3. Lisa Alther, Blood Feud; 4. William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg Is the Key; 5. Joel Wainwright, Geopiracy; 6. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, Vol. 8; 7. Lord Macaulay, A History of England, Vol. 3; 8. Eric Jay Dolin, Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America; 9. Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason Solves the Case of the Worried Waitress.)