I am humbled and honoured by this posting from Catherine Brown in Australia.
Just finished reading “Geckos and Guns” by a Canadian author, Sharon Bazant. It is a real page turner and beautifully written. For anyone that has lived in Islamabad, travelled through Pakistan, either as an ex-pat, tourist, missionary, or on a diplomatic posting, I thoroughly recommend reading this memoir. Sharon Bazant captures the life, the culture, the difficulties of living in and adjusting and accepting the cross-cultural aspects of living in a foreign country. Some aspects take a bit of getting used to warts and all, until they are accepted as part of living in this part of the world. I have lived on and off in Islamabad for 11 years over three decades. Early 70’s, early 80’s and last time in the 90’s. Over the years I have read widely on living and travelling in this scenically beautiful country, I have never read a better book than this.
It captures it all, the sights, the sounds, the aromas mingling in the bazaars of cooking smells, heat and dust and yes even dung, with perhaps marijuana growing like weeds everywhere, evaporating the pungent smell into the heady, hot, atmosphere. This book captures it all through the eyes of a family on their first foreign assignment and leaving their comfortable lives behind in Alberta, Canada.
The book is available through Amazon, and several other on line distributors.
The book is published by BookLocker.com, Inc., St.Petersburg, Florida.
This is Sharon’s second book. Her first memoir “Nine Years in Bangkok: Lessons Learned”, which followed her time living in Thailand.
The Bazant Blog 