Roughneck Grace: Farmer Yoga, Creeping Codgerism, Apple Golf, and Other Brief Essays from on and off the Back Forty

by Michael Perry

Overview

New York Times bestselling author, humorist, and newspaper columnist Michael Perry returns with a new collection of bite-sized essays from his Sunday Wisconsin State Journal column, “Roughneck Grace.” Perry’s perspectives on everything from cleaning the chicken coop to sharing a New York City elevator with supermodels will have you snorting with laughter on one page, blinking back tears on the next, and--no matter your zip code--nodding in recognition throughout.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870208133
Publisher:	Wisconsin Historical Society
Publication date:	08/24/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	241
File size:	986 KB

About the Author

Michael Perry is the author of numerous books including Population: 485 and the NewYork Times bestseller Visiting Tom. His live humor recordings include Never Stand behind a Sneezing Cow and The Clodhopper Monologues. He lives in rural Wisconsin with his wife and daughters and is privileged to serve as a first responder with the local fire department. He can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction Home Missing the Pigs Slippers Relativity Turkey in a Deer Stand Subzero Still Life with Tire Swing Brain Freeze White Pine Down Real Winter Spring Melt Making the Most out of Moles Pheasant Love Fixing Up the Coop Easter Deer Reunion Hayseed Bad Luck, Good Laughs Trimming Trees Mower Maintenance Zerk “Okay” Cat- a- Frat Time to Read Road Rolling Along Ducking Fame Model Behavior Up in the Air Country Boy in the City Road Trip On the Road Again Visiting an Old Boss Home Again Spring Color Tour Facts and Fanticies Island Life Creeping Codgerism Selfie Stick Imperfect Cold Character Yoga Branding Orthodontist Dishwasher Doorman Peak Walter Mitty Found It Fixing the Tubeless Tire Tape Measure Story Freelance Sniffer Busted Traffic Rap Old Cop, New Cop Court Date Driverless Cars F. Scott Fitzgerald Test Gotta Go Work Out Not a Logger No Better Angel Pitching a Fit Mudded Up Friends and Relations Keep Your Head Warm Tio Miguel Jed Calling Class Reunion First Responders My Friend Jaime Gone Fishing The Way the Story Goes Mom on Book Tour Resurrecting Grandpa’s Voice Revisiting Tom Old Way out of Town Godfather Getting Laced Fire Call Apple Golf Shooting the Breeze Sledding Party Appreciation The Blind Boys Working with Musicians Remembering Ben Logan Tasting Poetry The Least Rap- Like Cat in the House Meditation Squirrel Montaigne and Me The Septic Tank Guy Prince Robin’s- Egg Blue App- Happy Francis and the Heat Lightning Transcendence from the Discount Bin Sammi on Repeat With Open Ears The Big Blue Tent Baseball, Briefly So Long Summer Going for a Run Out in the Cold The Way Things Are Gratitude Acknowledgments About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Michael Perry is, of course, a treasure. His memoirs, essays, and now fiction ("The Jesus Cow") too, all use his hard-earned perceptiveness and gift for colorful clarity in chronicling modern midwestern life, with its messes and chaos, yes, but its quiet reflections as well.  "Roughneck Grace" collects his newspaper columns of the same name - each a little nugget of thoughtfulness, humor, and the occasional stumble into wisdom.  Mike mines his own incompetence (which runs "rich, wide, and deep" according to one column), but most often you'll be reminded that you'd be lucky to have such a decent fellow as your neighbor or friend, and that Grace, received or given is what matters most." (John Christensen, Arcadia Books, Spring Green,WI)

[Perry’s] essays inspire a lot of collective nodding - like the first time he saw the Packers on a flat-screen - and also many laughs. You can’t help but chuckle when he describes a yoga studio that caters to farmers or misses a deer while hunting because he’s reading Poets & Writers. “Writing is a privilege,” Perry says, and he uses his column “as a mirror to see how I’m measuring up.” Our only grievance: These two-page stories will leave you wanting more.  (Kristine Hansen, Milwaukee Magazine, Oct. 19, 2016)

“The pieces chosen for his new essay collection, Roughneck Grace: Farmer Yoga, Creeping Codgerism, Apple Golf and Other Brief Essays from On and Off the Back Forty (Wisconsin Historical Society Press), serve as a compelling reminder of Perry’s subtle wit, charm and predilection for nature, family and friends. That may sound a bit sappy, but that’s okay. In a world in which 140 characters count as “writing,” Perry’s thoughtful and sensitive prose provides the authentic perspective of a 50-something man with one steel-toed boot planted firmly in nostalgia and the other in an ever-changing present. (Michael Popke, Isthmus, Oct. 6, 2016)

 

From the Publisher