So there seems to be a few memes going around to pick a random line or sentence from a nearby book. The first one I came across was on Nick Mamatas' LiveJournal a while back. So here's the 4th line of the 18th page of the three books I have within arm's reach:

... had a girl. It was what you got for following the rule book.

... sticking knives and steels, boning knives, skinning knives and two-handed...

... proprietary, open and secret, from hard data to vicious gossip -- was...

Then today I came across a similar meme at Gwenda Bond's journal. So here's the 5th sentence of the 23rd page of the three books I have within arm's reach:

The firing had eased already into a steady, almost casual, pattern.

'To you, the newcomer, the blue mummer and the slug of summer -- to you the hideuos, and insidious, and appallingly cretinous goat in a house of stenches.'

Otis woke up from a short nap and went in to check on Otho.