We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir by Brian Buckbee with Carol Ann Fitzgerald is a lovely memoir about chronic illness and pain, and the connection between one man and the pigeon he rehabilitates to death...the pigeon that soon becomes many pigeons.
Buckbee writes using dictation due to his paralyzingly painful migraines. Disabled after a mysterious illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, took over his life years ago while he was on vacation trying to grieve a lost relationship, Buckbee's life has become startlingly isolated. When he finds a hurt pigeon, who he names Two-Step, he's surprised when their bond quickly starts to grow. Before he knows it, his home has become a refuge to a bird that too many humans constantly malign.
While it feels scattered at first, it comes together beautifully, and contains many poetic meditations on care, grief, and what it means to heal to someone who will never "get better." While not solely a chronic illness memoir, chronically ill readers will relate to his journey, and animal lovers and general readers will enjoy the story of how this man and Two-Step came together.
Content warnings for ableism, animal death, chronic illness, suicidal ideation, child death.