Jerry Nelson

Dairy farmer turned newspaper columnist, and the book is a collection of the columns. A few laugh-out-loud moments and a few with "deep thoughts," or homages to farmers/farming life/etc. When it comes to memoirs like this, a bunch of columns from weekly rural newspapers really doesn't compare to my personal gold standard, The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People. I also didn't really care much for all the spouse-bashing he does throughout the book, even though it's mostly mocking himself through her words. Might have been funny to teenagers in the 1960's but really not appropriate in a book published in 2016. It is a fast read though....… (more)

Dear County Agent Guy is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. Being married to a man who grew up on a farm, I read him parts of it and he laughed out loud. Each story stood alone and many of the stories had previously been printed in a syndicated column. Stories about Winter Storms, Labor and Delivery (I loved this one), Calf pullers and others were hilarious, while ones like Uncle Wilmer and That Old House were touching and well written. I also enjoyed all of his references to his Norwegian heritage (Lutefisk anyone?).

Apparently Jerry Nelson has written a syndicated column for various farm magazines for years, which might be why I had not heard of him (I do not read farm magazines) but this is a great way to introduce his wit and life on a farm to others. I will look for more books by this humorist, it might even get my husband to sit down and read a book. This was a highly enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and Jerry Nelson for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.… (more)