Review: The Clint Malarchuk Story

A friend of mine recommended this book, saying that it not only was a wonderful insight into this famous hockey player's professional life, but also a look into the world of mental illness.
This book is exactly that.

Clint Malarchuk is a brave man in my opinion, he opens up completely not only about the life he had in the NHL, but also the personal battles that started in his childhood. He speaks openly about his anxieties, his OCD, depression, eventual alcoholism... it's such a powerful book and I admire him greatly for telling his story.  Nothing was sugar coated, or made light of. It was the raw feelings and emotions, the turmoil as well as the successes.

I admire Malarchuk for speaking of his struggles with mental illness especially when there is such a stigma around it. I hope that this will help fight the stigma, show that anyone, even a famous successful NHL player can suffer from mental illness, and give others the courage to also tell their story.

One Book Down.... 74 To Go...

Today I finished reading what turned out to be a frustrating read, Shopaholic To The Stars by Sophie Kinsella. Okay, frustrating because the ending left me wanting more. (But that's what authors are supposed to do, right?) I do love the whole Shopaholic franchise, Becky is such a funny character whose whims always keep her poor family and best friend Suze on their toes. And she was even more in her glory in this book.  Something that Kinsella did differently in this book (don't worry I won't give anything away) is weaved a bit of a mystery into the story that does in fact intrigue and make you do a 'wait a minute, what?' near the end of the story. Is, found myself going back over in my mind the other stories in the series to see if there were any clues at all to this interesting turn... and I could find none hmmm...
Anyway, this left me wanting more after the story abruptly ended (to me) I sat here thinking 'Wait, noooooo I get there's closure for the story but no you can't end there, what happens, where do they go? Noooo!' I think I actually shouted NO outloud haha

So, book 1 for my 2015 challenge is done and I'm already on to  book two which is "Dire Threads" by Janet Bolin. This is another of my favourite genres the Cozy Mystery.

I have a few books lined up already to go for my next few as well, a few by Beth Harbison (author of the 'Shoe Addict' books) and one that a friend recommended to me called "The Crazy Game: How I Survived The Crease And Beyond by Clint Malarchuk' I've also requested from my library the latest Stephen King (this will be the first novel I've read that he wrote since his accident long ago) and The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald.

So, I've got a variety of books ready on my list, let's see how quickly I can progress through. 74 to go... and according to my goodreads counter, I am right on track!

I must go, my books are calling me...