Never judge a book by its cover ...

... instead, judge it by the opening page.Yup, that's how I decide whether I like a book or not. Not by the cover (though it helps, I am attracted by bright shiny things), but by just how much the opening few lines grab my attention. You can tell a lot from first impressions when you're meeting new people, and according to that article above, that first impression is made within the first few seconds. For me, same goes for a book - if I like the opening page, then chances are I'll like the rest of the book. One notable exception - 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man', which has an opening page of such eye-wateringly low quality (to me, so keep your opinions to yourself) that it took years of my wife begging me to read it. So, eventually (happy wife, happy life and all that) I gave it a go, and after retching through the first page (I might even have skipped it, it's been a while) it was actually not a bad book. No Dubliners, or Ulysses, but a good read nevertheless. Anyway.…