Touching, funny description of life on a Wisconsin farm. Avoids sentimentality by sticking to closely observed details. Listened to the audio version read by the author and which includes one of his latest songs, Tiny Pilot, a tribute to his young nephew.

I have never read a memoir before and sometimes it was pretty random. But I laughed and cried and really enjoyed it!!!

What can I say -- I'm on a farm kick lately, apparently. Perhaps it makes me feel better about my feeble attempts at keeping a small vegetable garden. ;) Anyway, I really enjoyed "Coop." I picked it up on a whim at Busboys and Poets one night, and I'm so glad I did. I loved how Michael Perry entwined his present-day life with his childhood -- it was seamless, and the book was all the better for it.

Love Michael Perry but if you have not read anything by him, read Population 485 instead of this book. Or at least read that one first. Although this was the first book that realistically captures small-time farming. After reading it, I don't think I want to own pigs....and maybe not even chickens.

This is the third book from Michael Perry on life and love in northern Wisconsin. In this installment, we follow as he and his new family move from Main Street in New Auburn (Nobbern to the locals) to the farm where his now pregnant wife grew up. In "Coop", he takes us through their first year on the farm, acquiring pigs and chickens, planting a garden, the birth of their second child. Among the joys and sorrows of raising chickens and being a family, he intersperses his own reminiscences his childhood on the family farm.
Where Perry excels, is his ability to combine self-truths, self-deprecation and goofy humor into stories that not only entertain, but also touch on the struggles that many of us have with modern life. He worries about how to teach his daughter, Amy, strong values of work and family without doing too much "damage" in the process. He hopes that she will remember times spent together as happy, and not as time spent with "Grumpy Old Mike". When their second child is born, Perry is able to convey both deep emotion and tenderness without resorting to syrupy hyperbole. He deals with family tragedy with a deft hand as well, and while he writes with restraint, the grief running below the surface is palpable.
"Coop" is more serious than his previous books, but he has become a husband, father, pig and chicken farmer, and so, for those of us who have become responsible for more than just ourselves, this isn't unexpected. Perry's musings on his own childhood and his reverence for his parents are a great touchstone for those of us who grew up in the days before iPods and cell phones. Perry's unique take on modern self-reliance and thrift is a great tonic when read against the background of today's economy and excesses.
Coop is not without humor. He brings us the story of a chicken named “Little Miss Shake-n-Bake” and lets us in on the inside joke that he secretly hopes his friend, Mills, will finish building the coop without him.
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In Perry's first two autobiographical works Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a time and Truck: A Love Story, we followed his return to his hometown of New Auburn (Nobbern to locals) after an absence of 12 years. He joins the volunteer fire department and relearns his hometown .

In his 2nd book, Truck: A Love Story. We followed Perry through the restoration of his beloved International Harvester pickup and his courtship with the woman (and her child) that would eventually become his wife.

More "makes me miss WI" fodder. This is the 3rd Michael Perry book I've read and probably my second favorite behind Visiting Tom. I appreciate his running dialogue about wanting his daughters to have a life similar to his, then again, maybe not and worrying about if he is being a good father and husband. Have two young ones under the age of 3 this one was sweat, heart-breaking and endearing. Also, for some reason I kept reading the title of the book as Co-op instead of Coop and only realized my mistake after I finished reading the book. Whoops!

I think this pretty much sums it up: "if life was a state fair, i would have a giant shoebox full of green ribbons embossed with the word PARTICIPANT."

My favorite of Perry's so far. Really enjoy his stories!!!

This was SO GOOD. I was really surprised; I was expecting a quiet farmy-type memoir. But this was beautifully written, by turns hilarious and heartrending. The author mixed memories from his childhood with stories of the year he and his wife and stepdaughter moved to a farm, had a new baby, got pigs and chickens. Perry is really good at taking a memory and polishing it and presenting it as JUST RIGHT. If you have even a drop of homesteader in you, you'll love this.