Another Good Collection from Michael Perry | Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator:...

Story-Telling | Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator: Essays | Michael Perry

books:


	• Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator: Essays Michael Perry Harper Perennial, 2005 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Off Main Street

Great book, Michael Perry just keeps getting better with every book he writes. A fun read.

Another Good Collection from Michael Perry

This collection of essays is a bit more eclectic than Population 485 but it showcases Perry's descriptive writing and thought-provoking observations well. Individual pieces were published between 1995 and 2004, and Perry has often updated the information through brief introductions or final notes. This approach reminds us that his stories are about real people whose lives go on even after the snapshot of a single essay or article. It is that intense personalization, along with his flair for unique description ("rawboned frame was swept by a list and sway, as if he were a cattail bumped by a breeze ") that leaves the reader ready for yet another collection of Michael Perry's work. The pieces are not arranged chronologically, but it is easy to see the development in the author's writing skills from some of the earliest pieces to the most recent--a good reference for any would-be essayist to study to see how even a good writer can improve his craft over time.

for more information click here

Story-Telling

Let me start by saying that Michael Perry could describe my toilet paper and I would probably love it. That said, Off Main Street is an extension of his musings about life from a perspective of small-town rural living. His essays are snippets of life as so many of us long for, or remember or just wish we could have today. His honest observations resonate on more levels than just his experiences as an EMT or Fireman. His truth is our truth and we wish we had said it, because, of course we have thought it. Michael Perry is the kind of author whose books you just have to pass on to your friends and family and then you go out and buy another copy because you just can't part with the wisdom and humor in the stories. It is hard to tell a reader which book to start with, because it really doesn't matter, they all have individual merit. Read this book, you won't be sorry!

for more information click here

Another vim and vigor gem

There is really never a dull moment in a Michael Perry book.
From humor to sincerity to common observation, Mike can have you laughing or contemplating the cosmos.

Whether he's talking about folks with the "look at me houses"; our obsession with Big Things; iconic water towers; participating in the Rolling Thunder Motorcade to Washington with a couple hundred thousand Harleys to support POW's and MIA's; interviews with Ramblin' Jack Elliot, "Gatemouth" Brown, attending a Steve Earle concert in England, busing around with country artist Sara Evans; going bald; etc. etc., it is all honest journalism.

The last chapter had a particularly heavy quote when he is correlating branding calves on a Wyoming ranch to putting a brand on religion.
"When I had peace, I didn't need it; now that I do, I can't find it. And yes, I've gone back for a look, but it's not where I left it."

for more information click here

Great book ..

How does he do it? Michael writes about his every day rural life. That should boring ... but it's not. He sucks you in and actually makes you feel part of his community and life! He must be a master!

Whether he's fighting fires, passing a kidney stone, hammering down I-80 in an 18-wheeler, or meditating on the relationship between cowboys and God, Michael Perry draws on his rural roots and footloose past to write from a perspective that merges the local with the global.

Ranging across subjects as diverse as lot lizards, Klan wizards, and small-town funerals, Perry's writing in this wise and witty collection of essays balances earthiness with poetry, kinetics with contemplation, and is regularly salted with his unique brand of humor.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

hot