There's a Book for That: Father's Day
Sunday, June 16, is Father’s Day. Like all profound relationships, the one between father and child is complex. To honor the fathers in our lives, as well as reflect that complexity, we’ve gathered the following new and acclaimed books about fatherhood – to read, share, give – for all ages:
The intimate and heartbreaking story of a Black undercover police officer who famously kneeled by the assassinated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr—and a daughter’s quest for the truth about her father.
In the famous photograph of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of Memphis’s Lorraine Motel, one man kneeled down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel. This kneeling man was a member of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he also had another identity: an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of this group, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent. This kneeling man is Leta McCollough Seletzky’s father.
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A poignant memoir of love, trauma, and recovery after a life-changing stroke, twinned to a powerful account of his father’s experience in World War II, by a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A subtle psychological portrait of the author’s relationship with his father during the twentieth-century battle for Palestinian human rights. Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new and searingly personal memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship.
PEN America Literary Award Winner
A daughter’s quest to understand her charismatic and troubled father, an immigrant who crosses borders both real and illusory—between sanity and madness, science and spirituality, life and death.
“The kind of memoir that seems to redefine the genre.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. As this intricately woven memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn’s narrative comes to echo the Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home. Rich with literary and emotional insight, An Odyssey is a renowned author-scholar’s most triumphant entwining yet of personal narrative and literary exploration.
This #1 Italian bestseller, offering a father’s observations of the everyday moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, has struck a chord with readers around the globe.
As Matteo says, “Virginia, Ginevra, and Melania are the lens through which I observe the world. . . . My daughters remind me that being a father means living in that gray area between responsibility and carelessness, strength and softness.” Sleepless Nights and Kisses for Breakfast is an eloquent memoir by a gifted storyteller.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
When Hisham Matar was a nineteen-year-old university student in England, his father went missing under mysterious circumstances. Hisham would never see him again, but he never gave up hope that his father might still be alive. Twenty-two years later, he returned to his native Libya in search of the truth behind his father’s disappearance. The Return is the story of what he found there.
Stories of Fatherhood gathers more than a century of classic short stories about having, becoming, loving, and losing fathers. In these twenty stories, an array of great writers—ranging from Kafka, Joyce, and Nabokov to Raymond Carver, Harold Brodkey, and Andre Dubus—offers a wonderfully varied assortment of fictional takes on paternity.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
A boy with a father in the military reflects on cherished memories of a camping trip with Dad in this warm, reassuring picture book. Acclaimed editor and author Richard Jackson drew from his own experience for this tender story about the lasting impact of quality time with a parent, especially poignant for military families. Caldecott Medalist and Sibert Honoree Brian Floca’s warm, lively illustrations pair perfectly with Jackson’s timeless words.
A poignant coming-of-age story told in two alternating voices: a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture, juxtaposed with her father as an eleven-year-old boat person on a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States.
For more information on these and other excellent books for dad visit Father’s Day 2024
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