Sunday, August 20, 2006
Monica Bloom
"It was my last year of school, our last year that began in the house on the hill at Hamilton, and it did not become the year any of us had expected."So begins Monica Bloom, Nick Earls' latest, which I finished this morning. It's another of Earls' coming-of-age-in-Brisbane 'young adult' tales, so it's an easy read that only takes a few hours. I love Earls' books as much for the home town references as for the shot of nostalgia for the awkward years.
How do you judge books in stores? Will you always buy the latest from a favoured author? Cover design? Blurb? I like the first sentence test and I think Monica Bloom's opener intrigues enough to encourage you to read on. Some people put a lot of expectations on a novel's first sentence. Some discuss opening lines at length. There's been at least one book written about them too.
technorati tags: NickEarls, Fiction, Brisbane, Australia
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