Jenny tagged me for this book meme ages ago, and I finally have the teeny bit of leftover brainpower to do it.

Here are the rules:

1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.
4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.

The book I’m midway through reading is Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century, by Beth Kohl. I read about this book over at my location-doppelganger Mel’s a week or two ago, when it was being reviewed by the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. Here’s an interview with fellow Badger Beth, and links to lots of other reviews.

I’m not done with the book yet, but so far, I think it’s a fantastic read, deftly bridging the gap between personal memoir about the experience of infertility and both failed and successful IVF, and well-researched cultural critique.

Here’s the meme quotation from Embryo Culture:

Weekend well spent, we’ll drive home, and for the next ten days I’ll go about my business knowing intuitively that I am with child. Examining packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, ordering books of stamps, I’ll be focused inward, even as my glow emanates out to the world. On the eleventh day I’ll administer a home pregnancy test. The result window will immediately turn hot, hot pink, setting all sorts of records for the quickest and most undeniably positive result, which of course I won’t realize, knowing only that it works just like they say it will on TV.

I’ll bake chocolate souffles and nestle the test stick inside Gary’s serving, spooning extra whipped cream on top.

I’m going to tag Mel (do you play internet memes, Mel?), Cindy, Clare, Lesbian Dad, and because talking to them unexpectedly was the absolute high point of my week, Levi’s Moms. (Either or both, but I imagine Mama Mindy is more likely to play. Especially if she’s not done writing whatever it was she was not writing when she called.)

Anyone who would rather not play on her own blog is welcome to play in the comments here, and anyone I didn’t tag who thinks it sounds like fun, please pretend I tagged you.