Dad books

Frankly, the usual literary offering specifically aimed at Dads for Father’s Day is confined to books about cars, old planes or antiquated rifles. Or all of those together somehow. We don’t think this is fair on Dads, so we’ve come up with some actually interesting Dad books that will intrigue and enchant. And just so you know, we were very, very close to calling this list ‘Different Strokes for Different Blokes’.

Close to Home, by Michael Magee

This astonishingly good debut has gone straight to the top of Siúbhan’s favourites list. Close to Home is a tender, thoughtful and vivid portrait of working class Belfast, an astute fictional rendering of masculinity and generational trauma (perhaps the best we’ve ever read), and a timely examination of the disillusionment and disenfranchisement of an entire generation in post Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland. 

Boy Friends, by Michael Pedersen

Although the very existence of this book is in no small part due to a huge tragedy, specifically the loss to suicide of the author’s dear friend and artistic collaborator Scott Hutchison, we defy you to read a more empowering and heartening document. Michael Pedersen, a poet of international renown and a wonderfully idiosyncratic style, gently uses his experience to create an assessment of the platonic male relationships in his life, assembling them for us with often-hilarious anecdotal reportage, contextualising them within his own life, wondering just what each one has meant or will mean to his own personality.

Chilean Poet, by Alejandro Zambra

Having happily devoured most of his exquisite backlist (the word “Zambra-naut” has been bandied around), we can say with certainty that Chilean Poet is Alejandro Zambra at the top of his game. Starting as a coming-of-age story for the aspiring (and quite bad) poet, Gonzalo, it ventures into more comings-of-age as the novel progresses: Gonzalo has a coming-of-dad when he reunites with his high school girlfriend and becomes a sort of step-dad to her son, Vicente, who himself has his own boy-to-(failed)poet-to-man arc.

Sweeping in scale yet closely observed in Zambra’s trademark ironic-yet-profound style, this is the perfect balance of literary virtuosity and juicy narrative fiction.

Bewilderment, by Richard Powers

A quietly brilliant book which follows a widowed father trying to raise his socially troubled but empathetic and intelligent son. Richard Powers somehow combines environmentalism, AI, astrobiology, and (although it might sound quite pessimistic) a generous amount of hopefulness. 

Leonard Cohen: On A Wire, by Philippe Girard

If there’s a book that screams “Dad” more loudly than any other book in the shop, I think it’s this one! Drawn & Quarterly are one of our all-time favourite publishers for their beautiful and esoteric graphic novels, and this is no exception: the story of Leonard Cohen’s illustrious life and career told through flashbacks during his final hours in graphic novel form. Who’d have thunk it? But it works perfectly.

They, by Kay Dick

A lost gem of one of our favourite literary genres: classic British science-fiction. FFO of John Wyndham, perhaps, but if he were a lot more subtle. Written in the ‘70s as a series of connected short stories about future British dystopia, They follows a sinister but murkily understood organisation stalking artists, writers, musicians and free-thinkers throughout the British countryside. Abstract, but tightly-written and absolutely terrifying.

Lady Joker, by Kaoru Takamura

A rag-tag bunch of outcasts from Japanese society club together to take revenge on the hyper-capitalist culture of the ‘90s in this meaty heist novel. Apparently a contemporary classic in Japan, but only just translated over here! One for someone who needs a big sprawling crime romp.

The Premonitions Bureau, by Sam Knight

​If your dad is a fan of the narrative investigations of Jon Ronson, Julia Ebner and Patrick Radden Keefe, we’ve found his new favourite book. Sam Knight’s painstakingly researched and beautifully written history of a little known government department which logged reports of premonitions submitted by the general public through the 1960s and beyond hits that perfect intersection of ‘I can’t believe this happened’ and ‘it’s so ludicrous it had to happen’. Tragedies like the Aberfan disaster, plane crashes, assassinations: all predicted if you look at the premonitions from a certain angle, and Knight’s knack for relaying them sensitively, analytically and with a nose for the absurd, gives this book the dynamic feel of a well-plotted thriller.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders

Don’t be immediately put off by this, but reading this book is to experience a truly unique academic lecture. Taking the form of four annotated short stories written by the Russian masters of the form (Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol), this is a truly enlightening insight into the nuts and bolts of writing stories and – at a deeper level – the nature of creativity. George Saunders is a giant of the short story in his own right, and his gentle yet learned approach to these classic works sheds light on the process of their composition, and on the wider rhythms of how stories in their essence are told.

Dawn, by Octavia E Butler

Dawn is a science-fiction novel which is nothing short of mind-blowing. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because I went into this one totally cold – and all the better for it! The blurb won’t spoil too much, but I said just dive in!

Here’s a few things: we’ve rarely read anything that confronted the divide between human and non-human so vividly; we’ve rarely read anything that had such a profound moral dilemma at its core. Octavia Butler tackles colossal themes with seeming ease. Even if you’ve read some of her more famous novels, you’ve got no idea what’s coming for you in this baby!

Brown Baby, by Nikesh Shukla

A chronicle of modern fatherhood, charged by societal inequalities, racism and the deep observational experiences of walking a baby to sleep in the early hours of the morning, Shukla’s memoir is stunningly good at balance: he is angry but warm, irritable but supportive, addicted to his phone but unstoppably in the moment. Brown Baby is a love-letter to his own daughter and to his own mother, and the joys and griefs associated. Rich, funny and connected.

Tower, by Bae Myung-Hoon

Tower ticks all the thinking-dad boxes: a collection of interconnected science fiction short stories, translated from Korean, all set in the fictional sovereign nation of Beanstalk, a 700-storey mega-skyscraper. It is slapstick, and farcical, and really funny but comes with a good dollop of political commentary. Perfecto!

Monolithic Undertow, by Harry Sword

Does your dad reminisce about listening to deeply heavy and cosmic music in his youth? Monolithic Undertow will have him reaching for the expensive headphones and the easy chair (if he ever left it), a history and celebration of all things drone-related, from the subterranean rumblings in below-ground churches to the days-long ‘happenings’ of the New York scene, right up to the punishing, face-melting assault of the modern drone scene.

The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker

Dads are the ultimate pedants, and we guarantee every dad will find a little bit of themselves in the narrator of this heavily footnoted novelette that hilariously chronicles a single lunch hour: including bonus digressions on staplers, shoelaces, milk spout design and communal toilet etiquette.

A Little Devil In America, by Hanif Abdurraqib

The poet and essayist is fairly peerless when it comes to topics of race and culture in modern America, but where this collection of essays shines brightest is when Abdurraqib’s unbidden enthusiasm for this subjects comes through: so that means Lando Calrissian, the recorded output of Whitney Houston and the power of a good game of spades. Indispensible, angry when necessary, brutally entertaining.

Dreyer’s English, by Benjamin Dreyer

An obscenely satisfying book of absolute grammatical and verbal correctness that will make your dad feel even more vindicated when he tells you for the ten thousandth time that it’s FEWER, not LESS.

Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan

Washington Black is a textbook banger. An action-packed, continent-spanning novel about two unlikely companions that perfectly balances big themes with rip-roaring adventure. Endorsed by us… but also recently endorsed by one of our very own dads!

Notes From An Apocalypse, by Mark O’Connell

Dryly humorous and compelling humane dispatches from the people who are trying to safeguard themselves from the end of the world, from doomsday preppers to tech billionaires buying up huge chunks of New Zealand to ride out the apocalypse in comfort.

My Dad, by Susan Quinn & Marina Ruiz

My Dad by Susan Quinn and Marina Ruiz 

One of the genuinely sweetest (and I don’t mean sickly sweet) picture books we have in the shop. A celebration of the things dads do – not necessarily super-heroic or astronautic – like baking our favourite cookies, growing carrots, or just doing the grocery shopping together.

Papa Penguin, by Lindsay Camp & Momoko Abe

Hey, we know that kids like to buy their dads a book too, and this is a recent favourite – a beautifully illustrated and lyrically written bedtime story that will teach you a lot about both dads AND penguins, which is always a bonus.

My Dad Used to Be So Cool, by Keith Negley

The picture book equivalent of Grandpa Simpson’s classic “I used to be with it. Then they changed what ‘it’ was” moment. This is a lovely little picture book about dads and their professed coolness from the perspective of a child who wonders why their dad gave up the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Fun to read together, if just to tease their music taste.

Peck Peck Peck, by Lucy Cousins

Madcap, bold, colourful board book featuring a lovely Dad woodpecker teaching his progeny how to peck. More importantly, an absolute hit with the babies. (Trust us, we know from experience). Great fun to read as the book slowly becomes more and more covered in holes…

Buy every book on this list and save 10%!