Murder by Death

Task 1:  Bibliomancy: Grab one of your larger books and flip to the indicated page and line number to answer the following questions - then post those answers for us.

I'm going to take a page from TA and play both ends against the middle.  I'm going to pit logic and reason against faith.  After all the definition of Bibliomancy is  foretelling the future by interpreting a randomly chosen passage from a book, especially the Bible.

But as a person of faith that values rationality and logic, I need balance, and if the Bible is an ultimate example of a work of faith, than the ultimate example of reason and logic has to be Sherlock Holmes.  Surprise. 

I was tempted to use my new Illustrated and Annotated 2 volume Sherlock Holmes but the annotations make figuring out what part of the line to use problematic (it's a two column layout).  So I'm going with my edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle.  For the bible, I'm using the Douay Rheims translation.

Here we go:

• Will I read all the books on my TBR?  (page 378, line 29)

Bible:  "With zeal have I been zealous for..."  (3 Kings ch. 19 verse 14)

Sherlock:  "yourself useful"  (The Stockbroker's Clerk)

Well, I think we have to go with no, though apparently it won't be for lack of zeal.

• Will any of my 2019 reads be 5 stars? (page 227, line 31)

Bible:  "Now the priests that carried..."  (Josue ch. 4 verse 10)

Sherlock:  "in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight nor precautions can..."   (The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips)

Hmmm... the Bible is less helpful here but Sherlock feels strongly my reading year won't be stellar.  Either that or he's sharing his feelings about being dragged into bibliomancy...

• Will I discover a new favorite book / author / series? (page 309, line 23)

Bible:  "against me and there is no one to inform..."  (1 Kings ch. 22 verse 8)

Sherlock:  "to while away these bleak autumnal evenings."   (The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor)

I feel like this might be a draw; the Bible seems to ... maybe ... say no? Or that I'll find one and won't have anybody to tell?  Sounds bleak, either way, but Sherlock's comment seems to say, yes, and soon after the new year starts.

• Will I discover that a major twist (hopefully, for the [even] better) has occurred in one of my favorite series? (page 459, line 16)

Bible:  "My father laid upon you a heavy yoke..."  (2 Paralipomenon* ch. 10 verse 14)

Sherlock:  "...washed their hands of the matter. The brother, on his arrival in England, had imprudently..."   (The Greek Interpreter)

Well, it seems both faith and reason are in agreement here.  No major plot twists for me in any of my series.

* I'm a lousy Catholic. I have never heard of the book of Paralipomenon.

• Will I finish all of my reading challenges in 2019? (page 69, line 7)

Bible:  "And the frogs shall come into thee, and to they people, and to all thy servants."  (Exodus ch. 8 verse 4)

Sherlock:  "...appearance, but armed with a pair of gigantic horns.  The big-horn–for so it is called–..."   (A Study in Scarlet)

I'm not sure faith and reason are in agreement on the No, but they both agree that whatever the answer is, it's going to involve animals.  Probably frogs, armed with pairs of gigantic horns.  Let's hope they're party horns...

• Will I stay within my book budget in 2019? (page 98, line 5)

Bible:  "And I will send an angel before thee."  (Exodus ch. 33 verse 2)

Sherlock:  "...plunged away at a furious pace through the foggy streets."   (The Sign of the Four)

Well.  Sounds like faith and reason both think my book budget is screwed.  I hope the angel brings bookcases...