Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting

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Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting

by Michael Perry (Goodreads Author)

3.84 · rating details · 826 ratings · 247 reviews

In over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, the acclaimed author of "Truck: A Love Story" gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country.

Last seen sleeping off his wedding night in the back of a 1951 International Harvester pickup, Michael Perry is now living in a rickety Wisconsin farmhouse. Faced with thir

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published May 1st 2009 by Harper (first published April 10th 2009)

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Community Reviews

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Feb 06, 2010

jess rated it

Shelves: 2009, growing

I never keep track of where my recommendations come from and my to-read list is, well, I won't finish it in this lifetime. So I have no idea why I picked this book up. It's reasonable to guess, however, that it's because it is a sort of modern back-to-the-land fumbling memoir of the author, his wife, their young daughter and the baby-on-the-way moving out of the city to an old family farm. It's not a how-to book. It's a memoir, and his farming experiences are mostly just context for Perry's mean...moreI never keep track of where my recommendations come from and my to-read list is, well, I won't finish it in this lifetime. So I have no idea why I picked this book up. It's reasonable to guess, however, that it's because it is a sort of modern back-to-the-land fumbling memoir of the author, his wife, their young daughter and the baby-on-the-way moving out of the city to an old family farm. It's not a how-to book. It's a memoir, and his farming experiences are mostly just context for Perry's meander down memory lane. This book is really about family and rural America. It's about the author's experiences in a small town, growing up on a farm himself, being part of a large family, his parents taking on a lengthy parade of special needs foster kids, being raised in a secretive fundamentalist Christian sect (which is weird, but not evil like it sounds), the community that surrounds all those going-on's of life, and balancing work, family, and farm. This book took me way too long to get through. My initial goal was to finish it in a week, but it dragged into two and then two and now it's taken me a full week to write the review.

The slaughter of the pigs and meat birds is less graphic and more poetic than that in Farm City, but the sentiments are the same - pigs are smart, challenging, and funny, but a lot more work than expected and the fresh bacon is unbelievable. I will not raise pigs in my backyard, though! Perry has a lot of guilt about the balance of his career and his farm's workload, and he really struggles with going on the road for a book tour and leaving his wife alone with two kids to care for, homeschooling, and a farm that needs tending. His wife is very capable, a farm girl herself, and manages just fine without him thank you very much. The idea to go back to the farm was a shared dream, the animals were his project, and the crops were almost entirely hers. This was a little disappointing to me, since the end result is that the book has not much about the plants, and plants are the most interesting things to me. The chicken stories, however, are lovely. Raising the chicks into ugly pullets into handsome hens, and his daughter's love for the most "special" chicken, the heartbreak when a laying hen passes away, and all of the love and loss and laughter of having laying hens and their strong personalities around - these are eggs-actly why I read these kinds of books, man.

When I settled down with this book, it was easy to read 100 pages quickly, but I had a hard time getting excited about setting aside the time, and that is the crux of this book for me. It was really good to read, but hard to get fired up about meandering Small Town / Rural Life prose. Perry's writing style is charming and earnest. His anecdotes and meditations are sincere and thoughtful. His love for his daughters touches my secret parenthood nerve. When he talks about his father in those dry, secret ways that only the best kind of man can talk about loving his daddy, my heart clenches up in my throat. There is something about the quiet sentimental emotional life of rural masculinity that I find so charming, and in Coop, it's paired with a modern man's sense of intellectualism and responsibility. (less)

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May 07, 2011

Laura C. rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

Michael Perry, who wrote "Coop" comes from a farm. He's not someone with illusions. So his book didn't bug me from that standpoint. I was prepared to sigh heavily when he talked about his fabulous relationship with his wife's ex-husband, and the home birth of his child. However, he raised pigs and chickens for food, admitted that he procrastinates and is too busy to be a perfect father and husband, and the new baby is a cry-er. Another sign of the authentic: apparently there is jun...more

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Sep 17, 2010

Clytee rated it

Funny, the book I have by Michael Perry is called Coop A family, a Farm and the Pursuit of One Good Egg. I think I like the "year of poultry, pigs and parenting" title better! I found this in an independent book shop in Bemidji, Minnesota. I had heard of the author, but never read anything by him. This one appealed to me because at one (younger) point in my life I thought I wanted to "homestead". I realize now just how much work that would be, and books like this remind...more

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Jun 10, 2010

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: memoir

Book Overview

Michael Perry grew up in Wisconsin on a sheep and dairy farm so farming was in his blood from a very young age. And although he left Wisconsin to explore the wider world, his heart never really left the area where he grew up. So when he settles down with his wife Anneliese and his 6-year-old stepdaughter Amy to await the arrival of the newest member of their family, it feels right to move into a ramshackle Wisconsin farmhouse that has been in his wife's family for genera...moreBook Overview

Michael Perry grew up in Wisconsin on a sheep and dairy farm so farming was in his blood from a very young age. And although he left Wisconsin to explore the wider world, his heart never really left the area where he grew up. So when he settles down with his wife Anneliese and his 6-year-old stepdaughter Amy to await the arrival of the newest member of their family, it feels right to move into a ramshackle Wisconsin farmhouse that has been in his wife's family for generations. With 37 acres of falling down farm around him, Perry decides to "start small" with some pigs, a few chickens and a patch of land to grow some of their own food.

This book chronicles Perry's adventures into the world of livestock and farming—including the challenge of building his own chicken coop—but it is really about so much more. It is about the challenges of creating a blended family, the stress that happens when your wife tells you she plans on giving birth at home, the joys and tribulations of homeschooling, dealing with the unexpected death of friends and family, and realizing how your childhood informs and affects your life as a grown-up.

Perry came from a family that was far from conventional. Besides being raised in an "obscure fundamentalist Christian sect," Perry's parents cared for more than 60 foster children—many with developmental disabilities. His recollections of family life and the challenges his parents faced to support such a large family while working an oftentimes struggling farm are interwoven throughout Perry's account of his present day life—creating two parallel story lines that describe Perry's childhood and his present-day quest to define himself as a father, husband and man.

My Thoughts

I'm a big fan of memoirs, but I've found the genre dominated by tragic stories of alcoholism, drug addiction or mental illness. Thus, it was a pleasant change to read a memoir in which everyone is well-adjusted and has no substance abuse problems. This doesn't mean the book is all sunshine and moonbeams. Instead, you get a slice of real life, which is often messy, confusing and sometimes tragic. At the midpoint of the book, Perry's family faces a heart-breaking tragedy that comes out of nowhere (like they always seem to do), and the resulting devastation casts a shadow over the rest of the book. Yet Perry manages to write about this event in a way that doesn't feel maudlin. Rather, he faces it head-on—with all the questions such a tragedy raises—and does his best to find his way through and support his family. So many memoirs are filled with stories of families that rip each other apart, so it was uplifting to read about a family dedicated to loving, supporting and helping each other through the worst moments of life.

At the same time, the book is often very amusing. Although Perry grew up on a farm, he isn't necessarily the farmer type. His account of his struggle to build his own chicken coop or the antics of his pigs are simultaneously informative and amusing. (The story of Little Miss Shake-N-Bake, one of their laying chickens, could easily be turned into a delightful children's book ... minus her tragic end, of course.) However, I most related to his experiences as a father—the difficulties of punishing a good kid, the challenges of a newborn, the joys of working side-by-side with your child on a project. Perry does a brilliant job of capturing the ups and downs of parenthood in a way that was always relatable and genuine. One part that particularly stood out for me was when Perry writes about the process of naming their new child as it so closely echoed my own experiences:

There is also the matter of naming the child. We've been waffling for months. While Anneliese does her best to invest the decision with spirituality and ancestral reverence, I am largely concerned with scansion and assonance and the potential for naughty playground rhymes. Furthermore, it has always seemed to me that a child's name should be reducible to one crisp syllable for what I call the "freeze-factor," to be used when you wish to arrest the progress of the child in a precipitous manner, like when he is about to stick his fingers in the fan or she is sneaking out the bedroom window, in which case you want a name you can crack like a whip. "Pollyanna!" for instance, has no freeze factor. It got to be a bedtime game, the name list: Anneliese would read her latest choices, and one by one I would bat them down. Then she would do the same for me. There were some doozies, but I will not reveal the rejected list of monikers, because somewhere out there is someone else who dreams of naming a child Ezekiel Storm. Zeke! (I practiced.) On day five or six of our young child's life it becomes a matter of some embarrassment, and so we take the form the government provides, and—in honor of a family member—write "Jane." Then I try it out: "Jane!" The kid doesn't flinch.

My only real quibble with the book is that I had a difficult time adapting to its rhythms at first. Perry's writing style is a bit meandering. He moves back and forth between his childhood and his present-day life with little transition. At first, I found this a bit off-putting. But once I got further into the book, I settled in to the narrative flow and just ambled along with Perry wherever he decided to go. He has as pleasant, conversational writing style, and it begins to feel like you're taking a walk with a friend who has lots of stories to tell. At one point, he'll be telling you about how the progress of his chicken coop, but that will remind him of trips to the feed store with his dad when he was young. Or the news that an old friend passed away will lead to reminisces of the times they spent together growing up. My suggestion is just to settle in and enjoy this ramble throughout Perry's life because you'll find moments both big and small that will warm your heart or make it ache.

My Final Recommendation

As far as memoirs go, it was a pleasure to read one that wasn't about a messed-up family. Perry is delightfully well-adjusted and genuine, and he strikes me as someone I'd enjoy hanging out with. Although Perry tends to ramble a little, it is a pleasant rambling, and I rather began to enjoy this meandering style. I imagine that if you were raised on a farm or have a few chickens or pigs of your own, you might get even more out of this book than I did. It was also inspiring to read about the lifestyle that Perry's parents chose. To me, they seem like the true example of what a Christian acts like. It was both humbling and inspiring to read about Perry's childhood, and reading about their love for these children who no one else wanted makes you want to be a better person.
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Mar 29, 2010

Suzka rated it

Recommends it for: Louisa, Tammy, Miranda, Tanya and Brynn, particularly

Recommended to Suzka by: a storefront window in Montpelier, Vermont

I couldn't decide between four and five stars, so I flipped a coin, which landed on its edge. This is at least a 4.5 star read. Coop was one of those books which unfolds itself quietly but solidly. Though it was not a compelling page-turner, it held me kinda how thoughtful reflecting on my own life holds me. (Note: you do not need to have embarked upon a chicken-raising journey to appreciate this, though it certainly does not hurt.) The world in which this author lives (as it is a memoir, ...moreI couldn't decide between four and five stars, so I flipped a coin, which landed on its edge. This is at least a 4.5 star read. Coop was one of those books which unfolds itself quietly but solidly. Though it was not a compelling page-turner, it held me kinda how thoughtful reflecting on my own life holds me. (Note: you do not need to have embarked upon a chicken-raising journey to appreciate this, though it certainly does not hurt.) The world in which this author lives (as it is a memoir, not fiction) is the antithesis of faaaaaabulousness, which I thoroughly appreciate. It often felt like I was sneaking peeks into his beautifully written personal journal. That his children will have such a full account of this slice of their lives is a treat; that the rest of us get to share it is icing on the cake.

I started out with a three small Post-it notes marking pages which held passages that particularly sang. (I'm getting tired of forgetting where those tasty nuggets are when I read.) As I progressed to the end, I found myself tearing them into smaller and smaller strips of Post-it to mark my favorite snippets. Here are a few. One might be somewhat of a spoiler, but not squarely so:

"But what really keeps circling my head was the phrase Leah used to describe the landmarks of our child: the constellation of baby. What a gorgeous image - the unborn infant afloat in the universe of mother, identifiable but unknowable." (p. 39)

"I got religion in the third grade, and jeepers, did I need it. The devil was in me, and Hardy Biesterveld wasn't helping." (p. 51)

"[The pheasant who frequents the yard:] sports a glorious set of head feathers: blood-splash eye patch, bottle-green Batman cowl, a pristine white collar. The colors startle the eye, bright in the brown weeds like scraps of birthday balloon." (p. 113)

"Today a dog bit me grievously upon the ass. I apologize for the salty talk, but it was a galvanic moment. I was wrestling a pig at the time. So - two firsts in one day." (p. 183)

"Remember that electric fence I hooked up for the pigpen? I did the whole thing exactly right - spaced and sank three grounding rods instead of settling for just one, linked them together, and clamped (rather than just wrapping) the wire as indicated...a month passed before I went to open the shed door and discovered that I had run the ground wire in such a way that the door couldn't slide on its rails without cutting the wire in two. If life was a state fair, I'd have a giant shoe box full of green ribbons embossed with the word PARTICIPANT." (p. 203)

[At a funeral:] "there are a lot of old farmers who can't bear to look in the casket, and you see these sunburned old dogs approach my brother and break down weeping as they take his hand or wrap him in their bearish arms, and maybe they are wearing big belt buckles or unmodish jeans or have their sparse hair Brylcreemed in the style of a '60s trucker, but it strikes me again how much we miss if we rely wholly on poets to parse the tender center of the human heart." (p. 273)

That last one, and the image of the birthday balloon in the weeds, are my favorite.(less)

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May 03, 2009

Jackie rated it

Recommended to Jackie by: May IndieNext list

Shelves: nonfiction, work-review-related-reading, 5-star

Michael Perry has made a name for himself writing about small town life: "Population:485" about being a volunteer fire fighter, "Truck: A Love Story" (and an Indie hit) about meeting his wife, etc. "Coop" picks up where he left off as he, his wife, his "given" daughter (he hates the word 'step') and a soon to be born addition to the family move onto a farm formerly owned by his in-laws. The book covers about a year in the family's life and his filled wit...more

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Aug 24, 2011

Sarahb rated it

I loved this book from the first page. It was the conversational style of writing that drew me in and the wit and humor that kept me there. I picked up the book because my son was interested in keeping chickens and I walked into the Paper Store and there it was - like a potential chicken keeping almanac. It was so much more - parenting, childhood reminiscing, farming, music - I'm in a community chorus myself and enjoyed the description of his father's experience from his son's eyes. The dynamics...more

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Jun 28, 2011

Bethany rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: biographical-type-stuff

Oh Michael Perry ... the writer of Population 485 and Truck: A Love Story comes back with the next chapter of his life - fatherhood and farming. It's a little less straightforward than that description might imply, as Perry at his best uses daily moments to explore his past, his philosophy, and his present motivations. A searing and honest stream-of-conscious look at life, Perry is as wry and well-spoken as ever, moves the reader to laughter at his description of getting bitten in the butt by a...more

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Nov 05, 2009

Melody rated it

This review is going to be more about my failure as a reader than it is about Perry's success as a writer. He's warm and honest and loving and straight-laced and, well, annoying in his rectitude. He comes from a family that took in numberless foster children, many of whom died agonizing deaths. He hearkens back to his childhood with love and reverence, and he strives to raise his own children properly. He apologizes in advance for profanity (which at its worst, comprises "ass" for butt...more

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May 18, 2009

Renee rated it

First time I've read Michael Perry and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more about him. As I started this book, I thought "Karima would really like this" but that's just a guess. Coop is an honest portrayal of a man, his wife, and children and his struggle to put down roots, real down on the farm roots for his family. At times it is laugh out loud funny and at those times; Coop is more about a semi hapless neophyte navigating the pitfalls of the farming life. There were chapte...more

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Jun 21, 2010

Melissa rated it

Shelves: tbr-pile-at-home

Michael Perry writes about life on his farm with his family in this humorous, yet grounded memoir. I found myself laughing at his antics in building his chicken coop with a friend, how he raises two pigs from bite on the behind to butcher, and the funny things he thinks (and does!) while parenting his stepdaughter. His writing is very clever, vivid, and several times I caught myself laughing out loud even!

Yet, at the same time, he shows the tender side of himself when he discusses ...more

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Jul 02, 2011

Suzy Grindrod rated it

Maybe I overdosed on Michael Perry, maybe I should have taken a break after reading Truck … I didn't enjoy this one as much, although it was still a compelling and moving read. I did find the story of his parents and the church in which he grew up fascinating, and really like hearing about his siblings as well. I'll admit that, as a staunch supporter of public education I found myself put off by the fact that he and his wife have chosen to homeschool their daughter; he doesn't give much of an ex...more

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Dec 28, 2011

Kathryn Otto rated it

What a lovely surprise to find a signed copy of this book on my mom's shelf. (Please note she has NO idea where it came from or why she has a signed copy.) Not having read Perry's previous books, I had no preconceptions of the writing style, but I was intrigued by the topic. In the realm of books about place, Coop earns a spot on the same shelf as Ben Logan's The Land Remembers. Perry evokes the sights, sounds, smells, and moral ethos of current place/life and his childhood. I also laughed many ...more

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Apr 29, 2010

Steve Duong rated it

Somewhere in between a journal and autobiography, you get Coop- A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting.
When Michael sells his city home to buy 37 acres of farmland in the middle of Iowa and invites his new wife (who is by the way, conveniently pregnant) and 9 year old child, with only a vague idea as to the kind of life he is ready to live; your bound to have some problems. Understated is the rough end commitment to this rural living, which suits the book fine. This account of Michael Per...more

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Jun 25, 2010

DH rated it

Shelves: gr-str, 2010

Have you ever read a book and thought there’s no way you could write a review that would do it justice? That’s how I’m feeling about this book. It was moving, touching, entertaining, witty, and everything else you could ever ask for from a book, and yet I’m having so much trouble expressing that into words. Maybe it’s because Perry’s writing is so beautiful and wonderful that my writing just can’t convey how amazing his book was. His writing had a strange effect on me. I felt like I was going th...more

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Aug 20, 2009

Dennis added it

One of my favorite--and local--writers, this is off to an excellent start, with people, places, and situations that are part of our lives here in northwest Wisconsin. Perry has a great flair for unique metaphor, although chortling readers can be a distraction to others in the room.

Having finished Coop, it is hard to separate the close parallels to our lifestyle here from the book. I think it will be interesting to see where Perry goes with writing from here. There is a lot of competi...more

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Feb 02, 2011

Rorrer rated it

Just finished this one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perry's style is easy, comfortable, and engaging. For me, it helps that I live in a large city and don't particularly want to. It helps that I aspire to have chickens in my life. It helps that I have a rich redneck heritage. It helps that I have a weakness for old cars.

I can certainly relate to Perry's musings on small-town life, and it takes me back to the small towns along my own zigzag path ... Mount Airy, North Carolina. Princeto...more

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Jul 25, 2009

Patti rated it

What a fantastic book. Each time I read a book by Michael Perry I swear it is better than the last one. The really ironic thing is I despise chickens, not just despise, but am actually afraid of them. (Long story involving a rooster) Oddly enough, by the time I was a quarter of the way through this book, I was asking my husband what he thought of getting some chickens. This book is more than a chicken buying guide and that is what has always endeared Michael Perry to me. His thoughts on his fami...more

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Mar 10, 2011

Tamara Taylor rated it

Shelves: read-in-2011, food, how-to-farm

I was disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book more than I did but in all fairness I believe my expecatations were quite high. Parenting, poultry, pigs...that is right up my alley! Humour, even better! I was excited to delve into this novel and was disappointed when it didn't deliver. While Perry has a whimsical way of describing his day to day life as father, husband, writer and fledgling farmer, I found his experience unremarkable and his writing style not "enough" to overcome that...more

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Jul 21, 2009

Ali rated it

Heather Colby introduced me to this author. I really enjoy his writing-- musings on life in rural midwestern America and what it means to be a husband and father. Some of his one-liners still float into my consciousness every now and again. This work starts strong but begins to feel a bit self-indulgent about a third of the way through the book when we get too many glimpses of his daily routine-- too many unrelated and unimportant details and there is not enough of a story to it. It begins t...more

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Jun 11, 2009

Lisa rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

An earnest, surprisingly philosophical memoir of farming and family that doesn't get preachy or romanticize living off the land. Perry describes his wife's home birth of their daughter, construction of various chicken containment units and the care and feeding of pigs with a sweetly self-deprecating sense of humor. He also describes his childhood filled with foster and adopted siblings and his upbringing in a small, non-mainstream Christian sect, looking back with an adult respect for the solid ...more

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May 16, 2009

Jessica rated it

Recommends it for: would-be farmers

Shelves: farming

Michael Perry grew up on a dairy farm, so farming has always been in his blood. When he and his family have the chance they buy a small farm not too far from the one Perry grew up on. Perry "real job" is working as a free-lance writer and author, but he is also trying to build up his farm as well. Coop follows Perry and his growing family over the course of a year in their new farm. During that year they grow vegetables, raise chickens and pigs and have a new baby themselves as wel...more

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Jan 30, 2011

Lyz rated it

In the third book in the series (if you are aiming to read them in order, which I did not), Perry has a new wife... who wants to give birth at home. As an EMT, this leads to a bit of internal emotional struggle. Perry's descriptions of Midwestern farming instantly brought me back to my dad's childhood farm, while Perry's attempts at fixing up the old farm sound like the semi-successful home improvement experiments in which I have found myself entrenched... The kind where you look at the chaos...more

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Jan 10, 2011

Greg rated it

Michael Perry is an excellent writer. Had he not been, I think I would have gotten bored with this book right away. Who else could write a memoir on country life like this and make it this good. I could totally relate to the author in so many ways and that probably added to me really liking this book. It's pretty light reading, which is just what I was looking for. By the end of the book you feel like the author is an old friend. In fact I kind of wish I knew this guy personally. I bet we...more

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Nov 03, 2010

wally rated it

Shelves: perry

not quite done, but i came across a great line:

...but it strikes me again how much we miss if we rely wholly on poets to parse the tender center of the human heart....

and a bit later, though related...what does a child sense, that he would address the universe in a whisper

this memoir...[gay talese, in the summer 2009 issue of the paris review has an interview where he talks about non-fiction and...to paraphrase...their ranking among the story-tellers...low on the to...more

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Dec 20, 2009

Jennifer rated it

All three of Michael perry"s books are seasoned with bits of philosophy. My favorite is still population 485 which tells the story of his small town, in addition you learn about the volunteer fire department and many savory characters.
Truck, his second book has a theme of restoring his beloved international, falling in love, and more stories of the town.
Coop continues in the same style (I don't want to give the story away). What I love about this author is the style of writing, ...more

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Apr 19, 2010

Nicole rated it

I really liked Mike Perry's two earlier memoirs. Each time he briefly mentioned his childhood and his parents, I wondered when he would write about them in detail. Apparently, he was waiting for Coop to do so. I recommend reading these three books in order so that you have the context for who is who and what each person means to Mike's overall story. He is a great writer and though I don't share his dream of farming off my land, I enjoyed reading about his highs and lows as he raised and gr...more

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Oct 03, 2011

John Eich rated it

This book was really captivating to read. Michael Perry has really honed his writing craft since Population 485, and smoothed out many of the bumps and ruts that marred a great story. Where he bounced back and forth between Sensitive Poet and Good Old Boy paragraph by paragraph, he's now settled into a consistent hybrid, as someone more comfortable in his own skin. I was grateful for the steady hand on the wheel. He also does an excellent job laying his narrative out on a chronological struct...more

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Jan 19, 2012

Carrie rated it

· review of another edition

Coop was alternately hilarious, poignant, thought-provoking...and occasionally really, really boring. The first few chapters were entirely charming, and the last few as well, but there's a long time in the middle when it seems like nothing happens. Some parts were so good that I wanted to read them aloud to someone, and then a few pages later I'd find myself skimming ahead, looking for some action. So I definitely recommend it, with the exception of chapters four through eight.

I tho...more

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Dec 08, 2011

Pete rated it

Shelves: reviewed

Michael Perry has a way of taking whatever's going on in his life and relating it to another, smaller event in such a way that you can understand what he's talking about without him going overboard in pointing it out.
For example, in Truck: a Love Story he talks a great deal about rebuilding an old International, but the real story is more about his impending marriage to his new wife, his brother's upcoming marriage, and the ways in which rebuilding a rusty old truck are similar to a guy w...moreMichael Perry has a way of taking whatever's going on in his life and relating it to another, smaller event in such a way that you can understand what he's talking about without him going overboard in pointing it out.
For example, in Truck: a Love Story he talks a great deal about rebuilding an old International, but the real story is more about his impending marriage to his new wife, his brother's upcoming marriage, and the ways in which rebuilding a rusty old truck are similar to a guy who's maybe a little rusty himself trying to build a love life.
In Coop, he talks a lot about raising pigs and chickens, but more than anything it's a reflection on the life one lives while raising a family and how one's upbringing looks different when you're thinking back on it instead of living it in the moment.
There are three things I always love about Perry's books:
1. He has a very easy style. This is not to be confused for a book that's a quick read because it's all plot and dialogue. There's a lot in there, and Perry uses his writerly skills to bring the magic to the reader, making it seem like everything just happened when in reality it must take a tremendous amount of work to get these sorts of stories down on paper and have them read so easily.
2. He's self-deprecating. I know that might not sound like a big deal, but if you read a lot of memoirs, it really is. It's a tough skill to master in life, tougher in writing. Actually, that might be true of almost everything. It's tough to master a skill like small talk in real life, but it's even harder to make it palatable in writing.
3. He never gets too pointed about the over-arching metaphor. Even though it's clearly there, he never has to point it out, and I think you could enjoy the books without even considering them that way.
Coop, though not my favorite of his simply because it talks a great deal about two subjects that aren't really my thing, religion and family, still shows off his aw shucks skill as a writer. It's good for the world to have writers like him around, and maybe he said it best as he described the grief of farmers filing past a casket one afternoon:

...you see these sunburned old dogs approach my brother and break down weepingas they take his hand or wrap him in their bearish arms, and maybe they are wearing big belt buckles or unmodish jeans or have their sparce hair Brylcreemed in the style of a 60's trucker, but it strikes me again how much we miss if we rely wholly on poets to parse the tender center of the human heart. At times like this I am grateful I was not raised to be sleek.(less)

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About Michael Perry

Michael Perry is a humorist and author of the bestselling memoir Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, and the essay collection Off Main Street. Perry has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Backpacker, Orion and Salon.com, and is a contributing editor to Men’s Health. His essays have been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered and he has performed and ...moreMichael Perry is a humorist and author of the bestselling memoir Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, and the essay collection Off Main Street. Perry has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Backpacker, Orion and Salon.com, and is a contributing editor to Men’s Health. His essays have been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered and he has performed and produced two live audience recordings (I Got It From the Cows and Never Stand Behind a Sneezing Cow). Perry lives in rural Wisconsin , where he remains active as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical responder. He can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com

Raised on a small dairy farm, Perry equates his writing career to cleaning calf pens – just keep shoveling, and eventually you’ve got a pile so big, someone will notice. Perry further prepared for the writing life by reading every Louis L’Amour cowboy book he could get his hands on – most of them twice. He then worked for five summers on a real ranch in Wyoming , a career cut short by his fear of horses and an incident in which he almost avoided a charging bull. Based on a series of informal conversations held around the ol’ branding fire, Perry still holds the record for being the only cowboy in all of Wyoming who was simultaneously attending nursing school, from which he graduated in 1987 after giving the commencement address in a hairdo combining mousse spikes on top, a mullet in back, and a moustache up front – otherwise known as the bad hair trifecta. Recently Perry has begun to lose his hair, and although his current classification varies depending on the lighting, he is definitely Bald Man Walking.

Perry has run a forklift, operated a backhoe, driven truck, worked as a proofreader and physical therapy aide and has distinguished himself as a licensed cycle rider by careening into a concrete bridge completely unassisted. He has worked for a surgeon, answered a suicide hotline, picked rock in the rain with an alcoholic transvestite, was a country music roadie in Switzerland , and once worked as a roller-skating Snoopy. He can run a pitchfork, milk a cow in the dark, and say “I don’t understand” in French, Greek and Norwegian. He has never been bucked off a horse, and contends that falling off doesn’t count. He is utterly unable to polka.(less)

More about Michael Perry...

Books by Michael Perry

Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time

Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets, and Gatemouth's Gator: Essays

Why They Killed Big Boy: And Other Stories

Big Rigs, Elvis & the Grand Dragon Wayne

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title link	preview: Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting
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