Raising great readers starts with children seeing their parents read, and that includes both parents reading for pleasure, not just for business or information. Looking over at our bedside table, I can see a good variety of books that Phil and I are interested in, and I thought I’d share them with you. Keep these great books for great dads in mind for Father’s Day, birthdays, and of course, every day is a great time for a book!
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Great Books For Great Dads
For the Traveler
The Land Beyond – Hike 1,000 miles along with Leon McCarron, an adventurer from here in Northern Ireland, through the Middle East as he recounts his tales interwoven with history. Look for my full review on this book in the next few weeks. I attended a talk on this trip last year with Leon and it had me hooked.
The Road Headed West – This is an earlier book by Leon McCarron that I purchased for Phil that rolls through his bicycle journey across the United States as he encounters a wide range of experiences from beautiful sunsets to being chased off land by angry citizens brandishing weapons.
Good Afternoon Vietnam: A Civilian in the Vietnam War – This book by Gary Wilhelm takes a unique perspective as a civilian engineer from the States while working on base in Vietnam in 1968. Imagine having to fly out of the country just to use the telephone! Gary shares short, everyday experiences about his time there with a good dose of humour thrown in for relief. You can read my full review of this book here.
For the Gardener
The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs was written by Peter Wohlleben, the author of The Secret Life of Trees. I am currently reading this book and finding it fascinating (watch for a full review coming shortly). There is a lot of information packed into this small book; from how various types of precipitation occur to how to determine your true local time (not just the one-hour intervals dictated by modern convention). Learn why leaves are green, and how to prevent unwanted critters from your attic.
For the Achievers
How Luck Happens – Do you feel lucky? Could Dad use a little more luck? How Luck Happens will have you looking at luck in a new light using math, science, and circumstance to set yourself up and grab those opportunities to improve your future in work, love, and life! You can read our full review here.
Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie will give you some inspiration and humour as he recounts his journey from flunking out of university to finding his way to a job for Hallmark Cards and as a cartoonist and writer for the Vancouver Sun. This book is part of the recommended reading for a course called Learn To Find Your Creative Self . . . Quickly.
For the Foodie
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eatsby Daniel Stone. The food we eat today is vastly different from the food our grandparents were raised on; foods are now shipped around the world from avocado to grapes, Croatia to Egypt, how did these foods make their way to America and become so popular? Stone follows in David Fairchild’s feet to discover how the intrepid horticulturist’s culinary ambitions transformed our appetites.
A Cook’s Journey To Japan: 100 Homestyle Recipes from Japanese Kitchens – these recipes shared by Sarah Marx are some of Phil’s favourites, and are easy enough for him to make…in fact, some of them are easy enough for children to make for Dad on Father’s Day! You can read our full review here.
For the Movie-Lover
Ghostbuster’s Daughter: Life with My Dad, Harold Ramis by Violet Ramis Stiel. For those of you in the same age bracket as us, you grew up with the comedies Caddyshack, Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters. This humorous memoir was written by Harold’s eldest daughter contains many family photos, hand-written notes, and personally, I can’t wait to find out more about the National Lampoon’s Vacation…certainly some of these exploits have to ring true to more than just us?
Crime Intrigue
True Crime Japan – Japan is one of the safest places in the world and I never one was worried during my two years there on my own. However, crime does happen (as it does everywhere), and this book by Paul Murphy, a crime journalist, recounts some of the cases he’s reported on in Matsumoto. From murders to stealing of fried chicken, this looks like an interesting insight to motives and outcomes and it’s on my wish list this year.
Death by Wall Street: Rampage of the Bulls – This is the first book in the Detective Louis Martelli series by Theodore Jerome Cohen, we have previously reviewed Pepe Builds A Nest by Cohen, but this title is not for children due to the content and language…it’s available in Audiobook version (which I’ve just finished listening to) so Dad can listen on his commute to work. Martelli has to track down a murderer and along the way he’s introduced to the shady stockmarket deals and other unsavoury practices Big Pharma will resort to in order to protect their bottom line – even if it is to the detriment of the human population.
