While our dads may tell us they don't want for much (how could they, when they have a child like us?) we know better than to turn up to Father's Day empty handed. If you've sifted through our Father's Day Gift Guides and are still left where you started (that is, without said gift), then it might be time to do some sleuthing. Books are the best kind of presents. Almost every person lives in proximity to a bookstore or can order online; they're affordable, small-ish, you can imbue them with as much sentiment as you like, and they nail the balance between physical gifts and an experience. Unlike random Keep Cups or well-meaning but blankly received gardening supplies, books offer something for everyone – whether your father figure gets through one read a year on holiday or burns through books with the appetite of a labrador.
That being said, a book that works for one dad might sit on a shelf gathering dust for another. There's also a history of "dad books" being tied to political biographies and hefty historical non fiction, but we suggest avoiding all six volumes of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire if you can help it. So if you're considering beefing up your dad's bookshelf for Father's Day, then these are the titles we'd suggest. Below, a curated list of books for every kind of father, below.
The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
This House of Grief, Helen Garner
Field Work, Seamus Heaney
Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
Oaxaca Journal, Oliver Sacks
This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay
The Shape of Dust, Lamisse Hamouda
One Hundred Years of Dirt, Rick Morton
In the Country of Men, Hisham Matar
Calypso, David Sedaris
All About Love, bell hooks
Holding the Note, David Remnick
A A Gill is Away, A.A Gill
Sunbathing, Isobel Beech
The Fight, Norman Mailer
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
How Music Works, David Byrne
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carre
After more recommendations ahead of Father's Day? Start here with our selection of Father's Day gift guides.
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