population:485

for a wonderful story of a small town in wisconsin (new auburn, an hour north of here).

michael perry is a writer who embodies both the guy from the small-town (supposedly "uncultured") with the meditative story-telling, acute observations, and careful language of an artist.

he writes the story from the perspective of a volunteer fire fighter--so you can imagine how he gets into the realities of life and death, even from chapter one.

as a visual artist (who grew up in small-town iowa myself and now call wisconsin home) i really appreciated perry's observations, his humor, and the way he weaves together the characters and events of his hometown to tell the story of his life, and how he found his place in a community.

this is the book we read this year at stout for into the book. the library has a web page on it, too. here


find an excerpt here:
chapter one

an audio excerpt here:
harper collins

& perry's website:
sneezingcow.com