Canada Reads: King Leary

I've finished reading the third book for my version of Canada Reads. I made a personal challenge. I will read all the books listed for the CBC's Canada Reads challenge. I don't have a time line, let's face it reading thirty five books may take a while, especially when I tend to be very moody reader.

King Leary by Paul Quarrington, was selected and won Canada Reads 2008. The book was championed by Dave Bidini.

This was my first time reading Paul Quarrington. He's one of those authors that I've known about but never got around to reading.

Here's the blurb for King Leary (taken from Canada Reads):

Tracked down by a young advertising executive, King Leary is invited to Toronto to record a ginger ale commercial alongside the NHL’s newest hockey sensation.

Leary travels to the big city with his roommate and a slightly off-kilter male nurse, but he’s also accompanied by his ghosts: Clay Clinton, his one-time best friend and former hockey manager; Manny Oz, Leary’s challenger for the crown; and the hockey-playing monks of Bowmanville Reformatory, where Leary’s career began.

The trip is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching odyssey that reveals the truths of Leary’s not-always-illustrious life.

It took me so long to read this book. Usually I can read a book in a few days, but this it took me over two weeks. Mind you, I was reading other books along the way, but I wouldn't be looking for others if this one kept my interest.

I did not dislike the book, I found it good, but there were areas that I struggled with. I found Percy Leary to be egotistical, lonely and mean spirited towards his children, but I enjoyed his memories, mainly the ones at the Bowmanville Boys' reformatory. Also I really liked how the book ends. I found that it was a fitting end for a hockey player.

King Leary by Paul Quarrington (3/5) General Fiction; Published: Doubleday Canada (1988); New Author; Canada Reads; 100 + Reading Challenge (18); Library book;