Coop by Michael Perry 4* but only because it's not his *very* best

[Cheryl]

I've loved everything else that this author has written. This memoir/autobiography is one of the few I've not read until now because I've been saving it for a treat.

Michael Perry is a tiny bit like a Wisconsin Garrison Keillor, with less of an ego. In fact, by the time he wrote his most recent book, Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy, he realized he needed to address his addiction to self-deprecation. But that's only one bit of that work, his most mature and thoughtful to date.

In this book, Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg, I expect to see plenty of warmth, anxiety, love, slapstick, philosophy, and maybe a tiny bit of righteousness as he navigates a new adventure in his life, with his new wife and her daughter, his "given daughter."

... Well, I finished, and enjoyed it just about as much as I thought I would. I won't diss ppl who consider it unfocused or too poetical, but I love Mike's rambles and his variety of ideas, and his language.

Some things I love are direct from his family. For example, his given daughter, Amy, has been moved around several times. On a visit to one of her previous houses, she "looks up cheerily and says, 'This is one of my hometowns!'"

"Spinning a living from typing and talking and traveling is all well and good, but I can tell you the project does not bear up under scrutiny at 2:00 a.m. and ten below. Especially if you've just burned six hours and two pots of coffee tweaking a sentence fragment that holds together like cheese crumbles. Calvin Coolidge notwithstanding, sometimes persistence is just a batty cat slapping at a mirror."

New word: scub. As in, "I'll scub the pigpen together as best I can."

New picturebook to check out: Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs!.

[Book Concierge]

I consider Perry the poet laureate of Wisconsin. I never miss his author events at my local indie bookseller. He's a riot in person!

[Cheryl]

Oh, I wish I could see him. But I don't get back home very often, and don't time it right when I do.

[Book Concierge]

You should subscribe to his newsletter - Sneezing Cow News .... and you'll have some idea of his appearance schedule. Not that making a trip home just for an author event is a high priority ... or maybe it is.

[Cheryl]

I do subscribe... and, yes, there have been times that I've been tempted!

[JoLene]

Hello Cheryl -- we don't normally post in this folder until you've actually read the book, but it's great that you are so excited about it :-D.

Can I ask that when you complete the book, that you put the review in this thread and not create a new one because otherwise, you will get double points.

If you are excited about book, we normally have the "Announcing the March tag" thread where people continue to discuss books for the tag through the month OR you can always start a thread in footnotes section.

[Cheryl]

Ok, no problem. And yes, certainly I will put the review here. And next month when I'm here for the announcement, I'll participate by protocol. It's awkward being a new member, but fun anyway!

[JoLene]

No worries, we love the new members and the enthusiasm!

You can edit your top post to add the review if you want. At the bottom left corner, you can hit edit for any post that you’ve written.

You can also add your star rating in the title of the thread. There is a tiny edit like next to the title as well.