#6 All in the Mind, by Alistair Campbell (Arrow)

I’ve got a bit of catching up to do on the review front. Although it might not seem like it, I’m actually bang on schedule for the completion of 100 books in a year, and number nine was finished late last night.

So why have you only reviewed five so far, I hear everyone (well, perhaps one person) demand (well, enquire quizzically)? Not enough time is the answer, and amid a busy week last week, I decided to prioritise reading rather than keeping up to date on these pages.

So let’s dive into All in the Mind, by former Daily Mirror journalist, ex-New Labour head of communications and all-round spin doctoring guru Alistair Campbell. Which isn’t bad at all.

I’m not quite sure why that sentence reads as if it comes as somewhat of a surprise. Obviously, Campbell is a talented wordsmith – to the extent that some would probably argue we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq without him… (woah, bit of politics, as Ben Elton would say).

But All in the Mind, a story of a psychotherapist with depression, and how he interacts with his clients and the world in general, was surprisingly enjoyable, and has an ending that was sufficient to draw tears (although I will happily admit that I am a serial crier, so that might not be too telling).

Critically, Campbell has battled depression himself, which, as with other meditations on the nature of depression carried out by the likes of Stephen Fry, gives him a great grasp of what is involved, and the trauma involved – to those with depression and their families - really comes through to the reader.

So, rating time:

#6 All in the Mind, by Alistair Campbell (Arrow) - 7/10

Next up: Even Money, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Penguin Group)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating