Title: Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me
Author: Jenny Gardiner
Genre: memoirs, animals

I am an animal lover but after reading this book there is no way I want to get an African gray parrot. Jenny and Scott Gardiner inherited a wild and scared baby parrot after they were already dealing with a dog (who was allergic to the Earth) and a newborn. Grayce never "tamed" and had an irascible personality (imagine a grumpy homicidal teenager in a bird's body). While dealing with their parrot's personality they had to deal with her nasty mess (food slung everywhere; trails of poo if they let her walk freely throughout the house). Add three children, two cats, vacations gone bad, and various illnesses (human and animal) with a hefty dose of humor and you get this enjoyable, yet exhausting read.