I'll start:
This page has the same simplicity and light color scheme as a carpet page, and in fact, some of the individual prophetic books in the volume (Amos, Haggai, Zechariah) will end with a repetition of the motif in whatever space is available after the text.

From: The Art of the St John's Bible - A Reader's Guide to Wisdom Books and Prophets by Susan Sink.

Sounds fun, thyrkas!

One Scots writer recorded a woman's disclosure that she had "earnest longing desires immediately to be Unclothed and to be with Christ."

Out of context that might be offensive to some. Sorry! But I did just as you said, thyrkas: it was the fifth sentence of the CLOSEST book. Should we give the titles? To be safe, it's from The Kingdom of Matthais by Paul E. Johnson & Sean Wilentz.

"Oh, go on with what you're doing" said Agatha.
"The Perfect Paragon" M.C. Beaton

Good advice for us all, perhaps?

Bruno explained the background to the fire and asked Alphonse, as a committed local Green, whether he knew of any militant Ecolos in the area daft enough to do such a thing.

from 'The Dark Vineyard' by Martin Walker, the second of the series Bruno, Chief of Police.

If you are wondering why it is that you tend to break wind after eating a Jerusalem artichoke, it is because its carbohydrates come mostly in the form of insulin, a sugar that can cause flatulence

from 'The Curious Gardener's Almanac' by Niall Edworthy, which my DH received yesterday in a very late Christmas parcel from a US cousin.
A great way to open a conversation when your maiden Aunt and the vicar come calling.

"Tutsis are taller and thinner than their ethnic neighbours, with finer features, and I heard many Congolese cursing them for ´not looking like us´".

From Blood River: A journey to Africa's broken heart by Tim Butcher.

That is indeed curious, vee, since insulin is not a sugar but a hormone, and as such it is a protein. It regulates the storage of sugar (glucose) in the liver in the form of glycogen. Mr. Edworthy maybe should stick to gardening.

Here is mine: This novel delivers a complex character who shows us that old dogs can be taught new tricks.

From "1001 Books for Every Mood" by Hallie Ephron. This is from a review for About Schmidt by Louis Begley.

"You're good."

From "Plainsong" by Kent Haruf

" 'And I agree,' said Joan, to my relief.

(from BRIGHT DAY by J.B.Priestley)

In this manner, he was able to peel back the dead man's face as though it were the skin of a grapefruit or an orange and turn his forehead inside out so that it rested against his nose.

(From Snow Falling on Cedars, a book I'm determined to finish this time.......)

" I grew up in Belgium," says Hilde Leiaghat, owner of the Los Angeles shop Pom Pom Interiors. "Linen has always been part of my life." Pom Pom showcases her line of one hundred percent linen -- glorious, natural fiber wrappings for the bedroom -- as well as decor mixed with vintage and aged furnishings. All things "boudoir" flourish here, from sheets barely kissed with color to Hilde's custom gardenia scent to spritz on pillows or decolletage."

From the January Victoria magazine. Well, you did say the closest reading material!!!

Siobhan, my mistake. The word should have read inulin (I had never heard of it) DH (biochemist) says it is polysaccharide and went on to mention glucose molecules at the end of the chain plus other stuff I didn't understand . . . and then the dreaded word probiotic about which he is very uncomplimentary saying they are a load of rubbish dreamed up by the health freaks.

I learn something new every day.

Here is a link that might be useful: inulin

veer - thanks for the link.
woodnymph - Exactly right! I think that's part of the fun.

This next is from the book under the first one that was close at hand; this stack of books has a theme, I guess. Didn't know I was that organized!!:

"He does it in his spare time and I just wasn't sure he could produce skins in the quantity I needed them."

From "Illuminating the Word - The Making of the St John's Bible" by Christopher Calderhead

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/?gclid=CLzz9_7Fn58CFQgNDQodGzzJNw

"You can easily create a vegetarian version of this soup using vegetable gyozas and broth."

I was sending an e-mail to my sister regarding a recipe in this book called "Cooking with all things Trader Joe's" it was the closest book to me!

thyrkas, last night I saw only your initial post before I typed mine. When I read your second post today and then reread mine, I thought: oh no, what a juxtaposition! But I guess, in a way, that's part of the point of the game: the non sequitur and the it-could-almost-follow. This is fun.

Following your example, thyrkas, here's one from the book under my other:
Thou must erelong go to the bottomless pit.
-- Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau

Such disparate books but both of mine seem to have many biblical references.

"Nor did it explain the abrupt terminations that marked the end of each glaciation."

From Fixing Climate, W. Broecker & R. Kunzig.

I had just finished this book on the commuter train ride home this evening, and had it next to my chair for entry into my reading log.

friedag - The variety is great to see, I think. Might be a fun way to learn about new books, too!

"There seemed to be a deathlike stillness about me."

The Day Lincoln Was Shot Jim Bishop

"Because if you got a problem with it, we could always take it off."
From "Believe Me" by Nina Killham.

The first book I picked up had a chapter break with no words on page 56. :(

"His confessor was unduly harsh."

From James Martin, SJ My Life With the Saints

The chapter is about Thomas Merton.

They're beyond thought.

from The Private Patient by P.D. James

This tool consists of a hard wooden or plastic handle with a steel rod that terminates in a broad, forked prong.
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander

The hours of night passed on-never so slowly, Mr Dillett thought.

The Haunted Doll's House - M.R. James

"In a very short time he found it: a shark Sonic hedgehog gene."

From Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin.

I think what interests me is the different "nearest books" we have. My nearest bookshelf, just over my computer, happens to contain all my maths/science/technology books.

"This is when we hunters rely on the chikhwapu, a giant deadly whip--or a kind of slingshot trap without the stone."

William Kamkwamba The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Martin, my 'nearest book' was on the dining/work table next to my laptop. I had unpacked the shopping there and left that book to read after I drank morning coffee and read emails. Being a mystery it was quite representative of my reading.

In "Red Ranger Came Calling", cartoonist Berkeley Breathed (of Bloom County comics fame) tells the story of the time his father met Santa Claus, way back in 9139, on Vashon Island, off the coast of Seattle.

Page 56, Book Lust by Nancy Pearl.... I'm at work so this is all I had handy... home would be a different story...

It's a toss up which is the nearest book as there's a pile to the left of the keyboard and a pile to the right. So I'll do the top book from each pile:
RHS- New Larousse Gastronomique: "Clarification of aspic jelly - To clarify 5 litres (4 1/2 quarts, 5 1/2 quarts) jelly stock, add 3 egg whites and 500g (1 lb) lean minced beef."
LHS- Vietnamese (a phrase book): "That's not mine. Cai do khong phai cua toi." couldn't add the proper accents, sorry :-)

My computer is a laptop which I schlep around from spot to spot, but it is most often located on the dining room table.

colleenzoz, using your RHS/LHS technique puts a completely different set of books under consideration! Previous books were LHS selections - closer to the computer by a couple of feet. Here is the RHS selection:

"Fallen logs and aquatic vegetation near shore are places that fish often hide out." From the article "Make Your Own Fishing Pole" found in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, May-June 2009

Oh my - I am longing for the warmth of May and June days now, with or without a fishing pole.

"The BOP covers only signs attached to the building itself, the optional coverage applies to signs located on other parts of the premises."

From Insuring Your Business by Sean Mooney (an insurance reference book from my prior career -- I forgot I even had it).

Ah, Mr. Edworthy is exonerated. Good thing, too. I might never take his gardening advice otherwise.

"Very difficult to distinguish from White-faced Ibis; note adults dark blue-black face with pale borders, compared with red iris and facial skin of White-faced."

From The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North American by David Allen Sibley; a description of a glossy ibis.

"A few minutes later the road dipped slightly and I lost them from my field of vision."

John Robert Colombo, True Canadian Ghost Stories

A gardening book nearby is representative of my reading in January and February. A library book at that, because my own books are currently packed away just now. I've recently moved back to Tennessee and I'm trying to discover how to garden in hard clay soil.

Alas, I so want to discover a narrative in our sentences, but fail to do so.

How about my nearest one at work?

"Also, note that some versions of who am i prepend the name of the local host to the username and don't include the remote host at all in their output."

From Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition by Powers, Peek, O'Reilly and Loukides.

Martin-I should introduce you to my new son-in-law. Those are the sort of books he asked for as Christmas gifts.

The book I referenced above was sitting on the dining room table next to my laptop, having been left there by DS. A little light Christmas college break reading.

Today the nearest book is An English Murder by Louise Doughty

"The longer it went on, the more concerned they were becoming for young Gemma's safety."

Oh! Just realised I have a new "nearest book"! As I brought it in and put it down next to the PC while I type.
" "Mum----" Samuel began, but he was immediately cut off."
John Connolly, "The Gates, a strange novel for strange young people". It's quite amusing, very Pratcheresque, to coin a new word :-)

"He saw a vital opportunity to accelerate the modernisation programme and thus strengthen the Soviet Union's capacity to defend its borders."

from "Leningrad: State of Siege" by Michael Jones.

"The dark-faced servants tripped without noise over the vast and polished floor; now and then a girl's laugh would be heard, as innocent and empty as her mind, or, in a sudden hush of crockery, a few words in an affected drawl from some wit embroidering for the benefit of a grinning tableful the last funny story of shipboard scandal."

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. It was on top of a pile of books put down to await sorting from my recent move. That sentence reminds me why I didn't like the book in the first place, but it's part of a set of "classics" with pretty green leather-like bindings.

This is sad....
"Excel calculates a time's serial value in units of 1/60th of a second."

(Just finished studying for statistics class.)

Beth

"There seems to be no blood, but Crozier can see the Marine's brains sparkling in the lantern light - sparkling, the captain realizes, because there is already a sheen of ice crystals on the pulped grey matter."

From The Terror by Dan Simmons, which I picked up because of the thread here at RP and can now hardly put down.

She glanced in the driving mirror at Charlotte who sat sucking her thumb and gazing stolidly at the passing countryside. from-First Friends, by Marcia Willett

Ok ..... you asked for it. Page 56, fifth sentence (in this case it's the fourth complete sentence but it's the last one on the page) says:

Declaration issuance -- Where, on application in prescribed form to the Commissioner by the holder of a license granted under section 39 in respect of a medicine to which this section applies and after providing the patentee to which the license relates with a reasonable opportunity to be heard, the Commissioner finds that the patentee is not, after the seven years referred to in paragraph (3)(a) and at the time the application is being considered, making the medicine in Canada for the purposes of completely or substantially supplying the Canadian market for that medicine, the Commissioner shall forthwith, by order, declare that, effective on the coming into force of the order, any holder of a license granted under section 39 to make that medicine may under that license make that medicine.

From: Patent Legislation and Commentary by Roger T. Hughes 2005 Edition (it's section 39.16(4) of the pre-1989 Patent Act)

Top THAT for dryness! :-)

"It may surprise you to learn that you can dry most flowers successfully in one way or another."

Gardening with Perennials edited by Fern Marshall Bradley (ha ha -- a book about perennials by someone named Fern).

The closest book was on the shelves nearby that hold all of my gardening books.

"Juvenile and adult female give resonant trumpeting or honking; adult male gives weak, plaintive whistles; both calls slightly deeper than the Brown Booby."

from The Sibley Guide to Birds..David Sibley

Many of my quilting books are on a shelf right above my computer but the field guide was the first book on the shelf so there it is... all some of you ever wanted to know and then some about a Blue-Footed Booby!!!!!!