What makes a book "good" - Part 3 - Alliteration

Originality is a vital element to good writing, and we have looked at prose and similes thus far. Let's turn our attention to alliteration. I really enjoy alliteration, but in small to moderate doses--too much and it becomes annoying. There is a line in Martin Luther King Jr.'s essay, "Letter From Birmingham Jail" that I really love - I share it with my students every time we cover the essay, and see a mixture of expressions on their faces, from awe to boredom! As Dr. King writes about his disappointment with the inaction of the white church during the Civil Rights movement, he notes that while some Christian leaders have joined the cause, others have been
       "more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of
         stained-glass windows." 
The repeated "s" and "c" sounds combine to make this an auditory feast. It borders on being too much, and ends up being just right.

I offer here a few more alliterations from books I have recently read:

     "Everything else depended on largeness of spirit and liveliness of the intellect, he said when
      anyone complained of the cramped quarters or unpretentiousness" (Allende, Of Love and 
      Shadows, 26).

     "We were sitting down for luncheon, the sun spilling into the dining room as the gramophone 
      played Vivaldi. I heard the front door open, then the slump of my mother's body as she hit the 
      floor, the sunshine streaming in, unaware" (Ryan, The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, 4-5).
There is not a lot of alliteration here, but enough to make it interesting, and her description evokes a real sense of time and place.

       "Emma enjoyed herself extremely," (Austen, Emma, 95).
A Jane Austen quote is an absolute necessity!

And Will...
    "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes; a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life," 
     (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet).  Enough said!

     "He'd stand at the cooker, simmering tomatoes with fresh herbs, reducing them to a rich sauce,
      slick and slippery with a sheen of olive oil," (Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, 21). This is a new book, and a great read. Just don't believe the blurb. I'll write about book blurbs in my next post.

Please share your own alliteration "finds" - the ones you enjoy reading, and those that drive you nuts!

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