I just had to take a quick break from The Eyre Affair to share this great idea with you, which I heard from M. According to Marshall McLuhan, a great way to predict whether you will like a book is to read page 69. That’s it. M tried it, although as she pointed out, her sample was a bit skewed because the books whose page 69s she read were books that had already made it to her TBR list for one reason or another.
I happen to have a book right here next to me that just arrived via BookMooch this morning. It’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which I mooched only because my book group (not me) picked it for next month. I have never read it (obviously) and I know almost nothing about it. Like, why is it called an autobiography if it’s not written by Alice B. Toklas? I have no idea.
So, let’s take a look at page 69… Oh my word… heh heh… !!!
Luckily this is a small paperback and there isn’t a lot on page 69. It’s the beginning of a chapter, and it ends in a complete paragraph, so I will give it to you here in its entirety, with original typography and punctuation intact.
Chapter 4. GERTRUDE STEIN BEFORE SHE CAME TO PARIS
Once more I have come to Paris and now I am one of the habitués of the rue de Fleurus. Gertrude Stein was writing The Making of Americans and she had just commenced correcting the proofs of Three Lives. I helped her correct them.
Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. As I am an ardent californian and as she spent her youth there I have often begged her to be born in California but she has always remained firmly born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. She left it when she was six months old and has never seen it again and now it no longer exists being all of it Pittsburgh. She used however to delight in being born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania when during the war, in connection with war work, we used to have papers made out and they always immediately wanted to know one’s birth-place. She used to say if she had been really born in California as I wanted her to have been she would never have had the pleasure of seeing the various french officials try to write, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
Well, hey, if Marshall McLuhan is right, I’m in for a ride on this one! I can hardly wait!
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Anyone else want to test The Page 69 Theory?
10 Comments
Glad to see you tested the theory! I’ve never read The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, but I have to say, I’m intrigued by its page 69 as well. :)
P.S. I just wandered over to your About page and was delighted to see that you live in Ann Arbor. I went to U of M for college (just a couple years ago) and have fond memories of Ann Arbor. Great place! :)
If you enjoy fiction written abt real people, look up this: The Book of Salt: A Novel by Monique Truong. I was wanting to read Salt: A World History (Mark Kulansky) but somehow I brought the Truong book home with me. It couldn’t have been more different! but I enjoyed it very much since I didn’t have much knowledge of Stein… Both Salt books are good, actually!
Interesting test, re: page 69. It reminds me of what my hub says about basketball games: The first team to hit 69 points usually wins…
Okay, I’m loving the idea of the “69 Test.” Can we come up with a different name, though? I can just imagine the looks I’ll get if I use that name. Did someone just randomly come up with page 69 or is that a statistically important number? I might come up with an eerily similar “72 Test.” What do you think?
I imagine p. 69 gets you past most or all of the exposition (setting, characters, relationships, etc.) and gives you a bit of the story (assuming there is one) but not so much that it would ruin a surprise. I bet p. 72 would work as well. Interesting idea!
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was assigned for a course I took in college (American fiction between the World Wars, I believe). I think the major point we were supposed to note was Stein’s stylistic influence on Hemingway. His Moveable Feast was written at about the same time and about the same people.
I read Alice B. Toklas years ago and loved it… Enjoy! :)
What an interesting theory! I wonder how she arrived at that page in particular? I usually choose one at random, but will have to remember this for next time I’m looking for a good read.
I’ve come across this in John Sutherland’s writing as well, although he may have been quoting McLuhan, I don’t have a copy here to check with. I haven’t given it a go, but must do I suppose. It would never work for m friend Peter who has to be grabbed by page 50 or he won’t go on. He says that at 72 if a book hasn’t got him hooked by then it isn’t worth spending time with. He’d see page 69 as an irrelevance!
Great idea! I tried this idea with five books in my recent post. I don’t know what to pick yet :)
I’ll have to test out that theory! It’s fascinating :)
Re: The Eyre Affair. It was really the 2nd book in the series before I was completely hooked.
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