|
"The plot of an Alafair Burke thriller doesn't just rip from the headlines. She's one step ahead of them. 212 scares you and keeps you turning the pages into the wee hours."
|
Blog
Page 69Monday, September 15, 2008Today I am featured in Marshal Zeringue's Page 69 test at the Campaign for the American Reader. If you aren't aware of his college of Page 69 tests, you should be. Taking up someone else's one-time suggestion that a potential reader should pick up a book and use page 69 as the test to determine whether he or she is interested in reading a book, Marshal has asked scores upon scores of writers to discuss their own page 69s. See what I had to say about Page 69 of Angel's Tip here.
posted by Alafair Burke at 10:30 AM
5 Comments:Previous Posts
|
What a funny coincidence.
I just read page 69 about 15 minutes ago. I'm enjoying everything I've read so far but I had particularly liked that description of the meatpacking district.
I had never heard of the page 69 test before .. something to try now. I always pay attention to the way the story was summarized in either the back of the softcover or the inside of the hardback. Some are very generic in their description while some have something that makes what appears to be a run of the mill story somehow different.
I've been very lucky with that system; I found Black Cherry Blues (and entered the Robicheau universe) that way one night in Chicago while having no clue what I wanted to read. Found Strega by Andrew Vacchs the same way (same bookstore, different night) and a few more authors along the way.
Questions: -what and where is NoLita?
-Isn't the K9 a bit heavy on the ankle? That's the complaint I always get about it: great size but heavy for the size.
NoLita stands for North of Little Italy. It's basically east of Soho.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolita
Ellie's use of the K9 hopefully shows she's tough.
North of Little Italy?
I'll admit the abbreviation sounds cooler but, just like SoHo and Tribeca, having a vaguish geographical location as name just puzzles me.
Then again, I liked Hell's Kitchen, so who am I to complain?
No doubt Ellie is tough (as the fight in the alley shows -your editor made a totally minor mistake, Glocks don't have thumb safeties out of the box), the most I could put in an ankle holster was an airweight J Frame and I couldn't stand it (I'm NOT tough). I like that Ellie carries a BUG, I don't read that often enough in crime fiction, then again nowhere near enough actual cops carry one, especially off duty.
I've been reading the rest of your blog and need a clarification: the scene that you wrote while in the Luxembourg Gardens is that for the next book? if not I fear I missed it (not finished with Angel Tip yet).
I was working on the next book in Paris and have now honestly forgotten what scene I wrote in Luxembourg Gardens. Shoot!
Speaking of the trend in renaming New York neighborhoods, do you watch How I Met Your Mother? The couple on that show bought an apartment in the hot new neighborhood, Dowisetrepla, only to discover later that it stood for Downwind of the Sewage Treatment Plant.
Dowisetrepla?!?
ROFL!
I watched the first season and enjoyed it a lot (big kudos to the writer who came up with Barney) but couldn't sustain interest. After a while, most of the characters in NY based sitcoms become irritating neurotics who might as well be auditioning to be Woody Allen's understudy.
Next time in Paris, stop by the Place Des Vosges for lunch or coffee. :-)