A book tag - something the matter with my brains

A book tag from a highly respected Goldfish

1. Take the nearest book and go to page 123.
2. Go to the fifth sentence of the page.
3. Copy down the next three sentences and tag three people.

The nearest book is a three volume set of The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh with Volume III being closest. Page 123 contains a letter written by Vincent to his friend, A.H. Koning, thought to be from January, 1889, only one month after the loss of Vincent's earlobe to a razor.

"I received your postcard in the hospital at Arles, where I had been quartered following an attack of something the matter with my brains, or otherwise fever, which had nearly passed off already.

And as for the causes and consequences of said illness, I think I shall be wise to leave the solving of these problems to the fortuitous discussions of the Dutch catechists, that is to say whether I am mad or not, or whether I have been mad, and am still mad, in some imagination of a purely sculptural nature.

And if not, whether I was already mad before that time; or whether I am so at present, or shall be so in the hereafter."

If you feel mad enough, and you're not all tagged out then I'll point this at Sketches, Library Faerie (if you're looking) and RomanScandle but everyone else is welcome to join in.

Listening to: Pink Floyd, "Speak to Me", from Dark Side of The Moon
Wondering: whether I have a sculptural imagination ...