Book Review #200 - Mickey O: Determination. Hardwork. And a Little bit of Magic by Michael O'Loughlin

When Michael O'Loughlin was drafted by the Sydney Swans at just 17 years of age, he was the no. 40 selection and the last player picked. Back then he could not have imagined the extraordinary future that awaited him: the numerous awards and accolades, the respect and admiration of fellow players, a huge number of personal supporters, and a record-breaking 303 games in the red and white. This is the inspiring story of Michael's life from the childhood lessons of hard work and self-belief imparted to him by his mother, Muriel, to the discovery of the stunning sporting ability which would take him into the elite legions of AFL. By 2009, Michael had broken the Swans' games record. He had kicked more goals for the club than anyone except the legendary Bob Pratt. He played more finals for the Swans than any other, and became one of just three Indigenous players in the history of the sport to reach 300 games. MICKY O is the extraordinary story of a kid who combined his talent with sheer determination to become one of the greatest AFL players of all time.

 

 

 

My Rating: 2.5/5

 

 

This is the first autobiography I have read where I didn't have a personal interest in the subject. I read this book as part of the 2012 50 Books You Can't Put Down list.

 

 

What I did like about this book was that is was primarily about his football career. Although I'm not a Swans fan I found this interesting as I had watched most of the games he described.

 

 

The main problem I had with this book was the editing. I found that there were alot of times where the wrong grammatical tense was used.

 

 

Whilst reading, I felt like there were missing pieces and felt like it was too jumbled at times.

Book Review #193 - January (Conspiracy 365 #1) by Gabrielle Lord

On New Year's Eve, 15-year-old Callum Ormond is chased down the street by a staggering, sick man with a deadly warning, "They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days". Hurled into a life on the run, with a price on his head, the fugitive is isolated and alone. Hunted by the law and ruthless criminals, Cal must somehow uncover the truth about his father's mysterious death and a history-changing secret.

 

 

 

My Rating: 4/5

 

 

I had put off reading this series since I first heard about it because of the hype. It now has its own TV show here in Australia. I eventually caved in and decided to read it when I was gifted the first book.

 

 

This book is extremely fast paced, which makes it really unrealistic. How much can happen in five minutes?

 

 

An aspect of the book that I really enjoyed and have never seen before was the page numbers. They counted down, so that page 1 was the last page in the book.

 

 

The main problem I had with this book was that I found it hard to connect with the book. When anything happened to Callum, I didn't feel anything. I think this is because of the pacing of the book.

 

 

Overall, this was a very thrilling fast read and I am interested to see where it goes but I think it lacks depth.