An Inconvenient Terrorist by Stephen R. Bailey

An Inconvenient Terrorist, Stephen R. Bailey.  self-published, 2009.  e-book, 423 pps.


An Inconvenient Terrorist takes place in Australia, although with trepidation I quickly realized that this story could have just as easily been told in the United States.  The thing is, Stephen R. Bailey has written a fiction.  The fiction seems believable to me precisely because of our political climate these days.  This could happen to any one of us.  And perhaps already has.

There is a guy and his wife.  They are Muslims, born and raised in Oz.  They have a restaurant.  There are some drunken kids.  One of them accuses the fellow of being a terrorist.  

There is also a Prime Minister singularly lacking in common sense.  He is running on fear and on his dad's name.  Laws are passed.  The laws don't strike me as very different from some of the laws that we now have over here.

There is an arrest.  There are disaffected Muslim youth.  There is a contingent of flaming gayfolk that get involved.  Because folks who are oppressed for being who they are wind up better off being out rather than hiding.  The politicos and the military types and the perps count on shame and silence to keep people under.

The folks in this book are anything but quiet.  At some point, each of them has had to make a life-altering decision. 

sapphoq reviews says: Some of the book was funny.  Some of it was scarey.  All of it was delightful and certainly deserves more attention than it has been getting.  An Inconvenient Terrorist is bound to appeal to folks who like Cory Doctorow, Chuck Palahniuk, and Veronica Roth.  Highly recommended.   

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill:  A Love Story...with Wings, Mark Bittner.  New York:  Harmony Books/ Crown Publishing Group, 2007.  e-book, 263 pps.


I am allergic to birds, or to their feathers or their dander or something.  I've been tested.  It is because of this allergy, or actually the clear symptoms of the allergy, that excused me from helping someone to clean the cage of her lovebirds in a house that I used to work at.  It is because of the allergy that I do not have birds in my home.  So instead, I feed the birds in my yard.  

I did not become a birder because of my allergy to the birds.  I became a birder because I was learning how to live without getting blasted.  Two of my co-workers were birders and they pointed out various birds at their feeder.  They took me along to a bird sanctuary and I was hooked.  The old guy upstairs had a dog.  That dog was my dog's best friend.  Because of him and his dog and my dog, I became an unwilling hiker, day-packer and eventual back-packer, a cross-country skier and a birder.  My unwillingness turned into a passion that remains to this day, several decades later.  My life list had over one hundred species on it when I abandoned it for the pleasure of studying the birds that I spotted.

In the intervening years, I became a traveler and a rambler.  I traveled across country and like the song, I left a piece of my heart in San Francisco in return for retrieving a piece of my scattered soul.  I rambled through many woods, seeking out the quiet places with my various dogs and continue to find much pleasure in nature's healing solitude to this day.  I and the current happy dog can be found walking in various wooded places at least twice a week.  I have learned to identify some birds by their song, flight pattern, and behavior.  The dog has learned to recognize these words: stay back, wait, quiet, squirrel, moo-cow, horsie, frog, pretty, spirit [for dead things], leave it [for dead things and potentially dangerous living things] and birdie.  The words make her a better companion on my rambles.  She is a dog that can be called off a deer, a woods dog in her own right.

Against this backdrop came the book Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.  Mark Bittner was a guy who was down on his luck.  It was a kinder San Francisco that allowed him and other homeless folk to camp out on the rooftop of a building with the knowledge of the tenants and the manager after he was evicted from a friend's VW because someone complained.  Bittner lucked out.  He found free rent in exchange for care-taking duties.  Along with the free rent [and some informal jobs], Bittner found a troop of feral parrots [or conures].  They inserted themselves into his life.  In return for some seeds and feedings up to four times a day, Bittner was given a chance to change his world.

sapphoq reviews says:  If you like parrots or birding or San Francisco, you are sure to love Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.  This is not a feel-good tale.  Rather, the book is a gritty story with a happy ending.  One thing for sure, it is more than just my bird allergy now that has decided me not to ever "own" a conure in a cage.  Mark Bittner took the time to educate me about the abject cruelity inherent in the wild bird trade which is responsible for the two feral flocks of conures which live in San Francisco.  Highly recommended.

 

Stranger Here by Jen Larsen

Stranger Here:  How Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed with My Head, Jen Larsen.  Berkeley: Seal Press/ Avalon Publishing Group, 2013.  e-book, 261 pps.


Any changes in bodily function or within the body itself can certainly mess with body image.  Stranger Here is one story coming out of the ranks of people who opted for bariatric surgery after experiencing repetitive failure to lose weight and keep the weight off with dieting and exercise.  Jen Larsen does not glorify the process.  She lets the reader into her psyche.  Every uncertainty is cataloged.  Every misstep is recorded.  There are successes too.  And the ultimate success-- the success of gaining or regaining physical health-- is a promise that keeps Larsen going through the fear and the mess.

sapphoq reviews says:  I have had my own long-term struggles with my weight finally resulting in a sustained weight loss.  And my back-up plan was [and is] weight-loss surgery should I gain the weight back plus some.  Obesity deserves treatment.  Folks are way too quick to blame those of us who grapple with achieving a healthy relationship with food.  Dieting and exercise alone-- or coupled with psychotherapy of some sort-- do not always work for a certain percentage of the population.  Stranger Here is readable and raw.  Larsen lets us in on what can be expected and what may or may not happen anyway afterwards.  Recommended to anyone considering any sort of weight-loss surgery. 

The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux

The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean, Paul Theroux.  New York: Ballantine Books/ The Random House Publishing Group, 1995.  e-book, 491 pps.


I am a fan of Paul Theroux.  We have two things in common.  I love to travel and I love trains.  Theroux has logged many more miles than I have in many more places than I've been.  There is something to settling in on a comfy chair or beach towel with a Paul Theroux in hand and several hours devoted just to reading.  A few critics will tell you that Paul Theroux dares to criticize the people and places that he haps upon.  I myself much prefer his honesty to the sugar-coated guidebooks that always endeavor to organize narratives into grand unrealistic symphonies.  Because life isn't really like that.  There will always be petty people, rip-off artists, wars, squalor, and dirt.  Tucked away behind the glittering hotels and the slick brochures are glimpses into meanness.  Certainly, the tourists at Gibralter assaulting the primates there are forgetful that we all share a common ancestor.  There is a certain messiness to travel and for depicting the messes, I've become fond of Theroux's writing.

The Pillars of Hercules is about traveling in the Mediterranean.  I liked the grit.  It was refreshing to read about the litter on the beaches in the winter, the wastelands that are the souvenirs of wartime, and the crappy food on the Turkish cruise ship.  I also liked the way that Theroux painted the various fellow travelers that he happened upon along the way-- the Turks on that same ship making music, the fellow who worried that he would never find a woman to settle down with, the train passengers who might have been pleasant to spend time with or not so pleasant.  All of it engaged me.  

sapphoq reviews says:  If you like travel writing with a difference and you don't mind longish books, there is something in The Pillars of Hercules for you.  A bit of political commentary and a lot of literary references await you.  It was through Paul Theroux that I've discovered other great works of literature imbued with a sense of place.  The Pillars of Hercules is not for those who prefer their travel writing to be typical and devoid of the author's commentary.  Highly recommended for folks who enjoy some intellectual along with their travel narratives.   

The Broken Places by Ace Atkins

The Broken Places: A Quinn Colson Novel, Ace Atkins.  New York: Penguin Group, 2013.  e-book, 291 pps.

How to sum this one up:  A fast-paced action crime novel and characters who have great depth.  Yet, there is more to The Broken Places than just that.  There are prisoners and at least one guard on the take.  There's a governor who pardons, a few politicos on the take, a crooked sheriff, a couple of attractive women, and a convict turned humble Jesus preacher, sprinkled with a few family members and a tornado.  The characters were believable, the dialogue was believable, the action was believable.  This is not a novel that stops in the middle.  I read The Broken Places in one sitting.  It was that good.  And yeah, the places described were just the way I remembered them some years back when passing through.  Ace Atkins is at his finest with this one.  His ability to tell a story is clearly illustrated within the pages of The Broken Places.

sapphoq reviews says:  The Broken Places is an excellent story with bits of psychology and some blood and guts woven through it.  I loved it.  From the trailer park to the titty bar, from the remote hunting lodge to the tiny downtown, the sense of place instilled into Ace Atkins' work is integral to the action rather than just another random backdrop.  Ace Atkins captures perfectly societal and familial conflicts while avoiding any sort of preachiness.  I liked this one and will be reading more.  Definitely recommended.