Mutated Book Meme

Incoming Signals, a blog I happened to surf by today and liked enough that I've added it to the sidebar, presents an interesting variant on the "page 23" book meme. Instead of one book, grab several, take the fifth sentence on pg. 23 from each of them, and arrange them to make a story. I didn't actually use the books nearest to me, as, given the arrangement of my shelves, that would have yielded nothing but reference books and Star Trek novels. But I went to the bookshelves directly opposite where I'm sitting, grabbed the first book off the first five shelves, and ended up with something strangely sensicle. (Well, shouldn't "sensicle" be the opposite of "nonsensical?")

The result:

Normally, he was a laid-back guy. But even his most ardent detractors had to admit that he knew his work. Their faces were not entirely serene, but D'Artagnan admired their look of ease, mingled with both dignity and deference. "You notice that, Joe?" I said. John glanced at Jenny, who nodded slightly.

The books (ordered as the sentences above):

The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book Two: Ghost Roads, Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder
Quozl, Alan Dean Foster
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
The First Omni Book of Science Fiction (from the first story, Isaac Asimov's "Found!")
Dragonshadow, Barbara Hambly

I make no claim as to whether those books are actually representative of my reading tastes or not.