123 meme

Damien at Crime Down Under has tagged me to take part in the latest meme that’s doing the rounds. I haven’t done this one before, so here goes.

Here are the meme rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Unusually for me, I’m reading non-fiction at the moment: an illustrated hardcover book about popular culture in Thailand called Very Thai by Philip Cornwel-Smith with photographs by John Goss (2008 ed). For someone who sets their novels in Thailand, it’s a fantastic resource and a fascinating read.

Page 123 brings us to a chapter called ‘Cute – The subculture of cartoon mascots’. Sentences 6, 7 & 8 read:

Now Thai crafts have gone pop: fruit carving evolved into soap carving, Buddhist rock gardens into table-top fountains with dinky figurines. The shortage of timber forced wood carvings smaller, which suited the booming demand in sourvenirs and knick-knacks for tourists and locals with spare cash. Youngsters cruise markets with friends wanting to buy something, anything, under 200 baht, which invariably ends up being small and cute.

I’m forced to break the meme rules at this point as I just don’t have that many friends with blogs, and I know Sooz has already done this one. So I tag Helen Morgan and Bernard Caleo.