As usual, I’m so grateful to TLC Book Tours for giving me reason to update my blog!  And this time, it’s to take a look at ONE BIRD’S CHOICE, a memoir from “an overeducated, underemployed twenty-something, living in the big city in a bug-filled basement apartment and struggling to make ends meet” who ends up moving home to live with his parents – a topic to which so many of us can relate in this economy.

Even though I’m not typically a memoir reader, I was excited to read Iain’s story because it very easily could have been my own.  A couple years ago, I was happily residing in Chicago with my two best friends from college, living in an amazing apartment, enjoying wonderful people and a great city and toiling away at an advertising agency.  Did I love my job? No. Was it terrible? Absolutely not.  It was all I knew a couple years out of college.  When the economy tanked, many advertising dollars (and accounts) were pulled – thus leaving me (and many wonderful co-workers) laid off in the new year (hello, 2009).   So…. I job hunted. And I free lanced. And I volunteered at literary organizations.  And I tried a couple trial gym memberships. My days were so busy I had trouble understanding how I ever worked those long 50+ hour weeks.

So could I sympathize with Iain’s predicament? Definitely. Was I baffled by his actions (or lack there of)? Definitely.

Iain and I had similarities: My parents also lived in a small town and are very supportive.  My siblings were also off successfully living their lives.  But Iain seemed content to essentially take a year off from life.  He enjoyed lots of sleep, ate wonderful meals cooked by his parents, drank beer alone, and helped out with the animals; I’m thinking there was personal growth in there or a lesson in humility, but that didn’t come through for me.

The one story that really resounded was when his Dad coerced him to hit the gym one day, and he was in shock at the elderly men standing around nude in the locker room.  Well, those free gym trials I mentioned I enjoyed during my unemployment were often used during the day and my favorite (aka only) class was “low impact jazzercise” so you can imagine who I was hanging out with in the locker room.

If you’re a reader of memoirs and a lover of animals (and Canada – some of the scenery descriptions are beautiful) then pick up ONE BIRD’S CHOICE.  It’s an enjoyable read, just try not to over analyze the characters (I admit this is a fault of mine).  In the meantime, I suggest you meet the fabulous animals in the ONE BIRD’S CHOICE book trailer:

Also, check out the entire tour available on the TLC website here.