Author Talk & Signing with NYT Bestselling author Michael Perry

The Hickory Stick Bookshop welcomes Michael Perry, author of Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy (Harper, $25.99) for a talk and signing on Sunday, February 25th at 2pm.

The beloved memoirist and bestselling author of Population: 485 reflects on the lessons he's learned from his unlikely alter ego, French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne.

"The journey began on a gurney," writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps--including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow--Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two, went to college instead of kindergarten, worked for kings, and once had an audience with the Pope. Perry "matriculated as a barn-booted bumpkin who still marks a second-place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee as an intellectual pinnacle . . . and once said hello to Merle Haggard on a golf cart."

Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?) look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a midwestern American writing "in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or feeding chickens, Perry draws on each experience to explore subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.

“Readers will laugh out loud frequently while taking in this very funny memoir, as this reviewer did, yet it’s a profound laughter, the kind that gets you thinking…One couldn’t hope for a better introduction to the work of Perry or Montaigne.” –Library Journal, starred review

“Perry’s refreshing candor, the essence of the personal essay, serves him well… ‘You read Montaigne, you feel like you have a friend,’ writes the author, and so readers are likely to feel about Perry.” –Kirkus

“The two writers are clearly long-lost comrades, separated by centuries. Perry reflects, “The guy would write about anything” – which will remind readers of Perry himself, tackling issues with sincerity and humor, analyzing life, and evolving from self-exploration to self-improvement.” –Booklist

Michael Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population 485, Truck: A Love Story, Coop, and Visiting Tom. His novel The Jesus Cow was published in 2015. Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then wound up writing by happy accident. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Wisconsin, where he serves on the local volunteer fire and rescue service. He hosts the nationally-syndicated “Tent Show Radio,” performs widely as a humorist, and tours with his band The Long Beds. He can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com

This event is free and open to the public.  If you are unable to attend this event, you may reserve a signed copy of Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy by calling The Hickory Stick Bookshop at (860) 868 0525. For further information about this event please visit www.hickorystickbookshop.com or email books@hickorystickbookshop.com

Event date: 
Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 2:00pm
Event address: 
2 Green Hill Road
Washington Depot, CT 06794
Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy By Michael Perry Cover Image
$25.99
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780062230560
Published: Harper - November 7th, 2017

Event Photo: