Discovery

On the radio the other weekend I heard this author talk . . . Michael Perry. It was a re-run and he was talking about his book that came out a few years ago. He was so funny and wonderful, I bought two.

In "Truck, A Love Story" very early in the book, he describes a woman and it struck me so that I needed to record it here:

"As a younger man, I would not have looked twice at Irma Harding. As a younger man, I was a fool. A man learns to tune his sensibilities. Consider the eyes. Your callow swain will be galvanized by coquetry and flash; your full-grown man is taken more by the nature of the gaze. A powerful woman's eyes are charged not by color but by intent. The strong woman does not look at you, the strong woman regards you. Irma's gaze is frank, with a crinkle of humor at the crease of each eye. She knows what she is looking for, and she knows what she is looking at. She has a plan, and should she encounter events for which she lacks a plan, she will change gears without fuss."

Granted, he's describing a drawing of a woman marketing International Harvester refrigerators . . .

But still.

Who is this Michael Perry?