Book recs for dads and daughters

[trinityofone]

My dad is impossible to shop for, and as always happens around this time of year, I’m faced with the one-two punch of Father’s Day and his birthday, which are only about two weeks apart. I’ve been wracking my brain for gift ideas, but haven’t come up with much beyond getting him some books to read on the road, as he’s got about a billion business trips scheduled this summer. (Just the other day he was at the Canadian Consulate in Detroit interviewing Mounties. Dude! SO CLOSE!) He doesn’t read too many novels, but I think he would enjoy a break from Serious Books About Serious Issues. Still, I’m not really sure what to get him.

My original idea was to buy him Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson, as my dad’s a political junkie and would, I think, enjoy those aspects; however, I think the science would make his eyes glaze over, and since, as I said, he rarely reads fiction, I don’t think the first book of a trilogy’s such a good idea. So, my question for you is: what are some other books he might like? Well-written novels that would make good plane reading and deal with some of his interests:

*Politics
*History (though mostly American history and/or the histories of indigenous peoples in Mexico/South America)
*Religion
*Jazz

Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated!

…And while I’m soliciting book recs, I might as well ask for some myself. I’ve lately been very disappointed with pretty much everything I’ve read. There are a number of reasons for this, but chief among them is the fact that everything I’ve been choosing has turned out to have only the most shallowly developed characters. Do you have any recs for books with really awesome, fucked up, wonderful characters? I’m looking for an experience like when I first started reading the Lymond Chronicles. I’m not feeling too picky about genre; I just want someone I can fall in love with. Be my literary matchmaker, please!

Comments

[reginagiraffe]

Have you read "Touchstone" by Laurie R. King? It's not part of her Holmes/Russell series and it's quite good.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I haven't! There were lots of things I liked about King's writing in the first Russell book, but some of the "bad fanfic" elements really bothered me. It might be a good idea to try something that's less likely to carry those problems. Thanks!

[whiskeypants.livejournal.com]

Richard K. Morgan: Altered Carbon (first in series)
Same Author: Market Forces (standalone)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I've actually read Altered Carbon; I had mixed feeling about it, but have been meaning to read the next book in the series. Maybe I'll give Market Forces a chance, too.

I assume you mean these for me and not my dad; I think his head would explode. ;-)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

My dad might be put off by the fact that I'm pretty sure he has no idea who Clarkson is. ;-) But it's a thought!

I love Douglas Coupland, though jPod wasn't among my favorites of his. Have you read any of his other books?

I need to read more Scalzi!

[polaris-starz.livejournal.com]

Our dads sound a lot alike in both the timing and interest ways! My dad's birthday is the first week in July, so I'm looking for things for now and then.

History-wise, he might like Lies My Teachers Told Me or anything by David McCullough, assuming he hasn't read that stuff already; Team of Rivals is also good.

[polaris-starz.livejournal.com]

Oh, also: Isaac's Storm and Devil in the White City, both by Erik Larson.

Have you read World War Z or any Emma Bull?

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

There's a seriously cheeky book about British history that was in a prominent place *in every bookstore* when I was in London two weeks ago - it is called "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2000 Years of Upper-class Idiots in Charge" by John O'Farrell. I don't know how good it is, some of the amazon.co.uk reviews suggest it's not that well researched on the historic aspects. Not fiction, but certainly not Srs Bzns, either.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Pooh, that's not available in the U.S. yet. FAIL, AMERICA!

*wishlists it on BookMooch for self anyway*

[tahariel.livejournal.com]

Try Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy - first person urban fantasy, with a very strong voice and well-developed (I thought) main character.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks!

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

homg, _Stern Men_ by Elizabeth Gilbert. It took me a little while to get into the rhythm of how she's written the book, but I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. The characters were *awesome*. And so fucked up! And cray and funny! And the central protagonist is a woman who defies just about all womanly ideas in fiction ever, even while doing things that women often do. LOVED this book.

Did you read _Peace Like a River_ by Leif Enger? If not, HIE thee to a bookstore pronto. It is glorious. He has a new book out - um . . . So Brave, something and Handsome? (Clearly 'something' is not in the title). I did not like it so well as Peace Like a River, but if it's characterization you're looking for, you'll love the men he conjures up, since that was my favorite part of it.

I just finished Honor Moore's tangled up memoir of herself and her dad - he was the Episcopal Bishop of New York for a long time, and ends up, he was gay, as well as being married and having nine children. It's called _The Bishop's Daughter_ and I loved it - made me very thinky. Beautifully written. Her dad was at the forefront of addressing civil rights, gay rights, and women's rights in the Episcopal Church, so it's a commentary on America changing as much as anything else.

_Mayflower_ by Nathaniel Philbrick (I think that's the right name) is a good look at the first settlers in New England - severe lack of women's history in that book, but I still enjoyed the detail he went into.

One of my favorite favorite FAVORITE books ever is _1831: Year of Eclipse_ by Louis P. Masur. He tells the history of just that one year from a variety of perspectives (it's American History) and it's *fascinating*. Absolutely amazing and a good read - not a dry, academic tome.

I'll think of some others!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Whee, thanks so much for all the recs! I just added a bunch of stuff to my BookMooch wishlist. You're definitely not the first person I've heard mention Peace Like a River (or perhaps I've heard you mention it before?) so I'll be keeping an eye out.

Elizabeth Gilbert...the same one who wrote Eat, Pray, Love, right? It's probably bad that I had a totally snobby "I hate popular books!" reaction to that, isn't it?

[(Anonymous)]

Claire Tomalin writes terrific biographies. Try Hardy for yourself and Pepys for your dad?

Also this series - http://www.philrickman.co.uk/page6.html
Proper characters who change as the series goes on and a wonderfully strong sense of place in the Welsh borders.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oooh, a mystery series! *wishlists* Thanks!

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

I don't think I can make a suggestion for your dad, but for you, my favorite contemporary author is Margaret Drabble, and my favorite Drabble is her trilogy starting with The Radiant Way (http://www.amazon.com/Radiant-Way-Margaret-Drabble/dp/0804103658). I love those characters so much; I feel as though they are old friends. Next is Natural Curiosity, and the last one is Gates of Ivory. Highly, highly recommended.

Hmm. I am reading Blackwater (http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Rise-Worlds-Powerful-Mercenary/dp/1560259795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213206632&sr=1-1) right now; if you're dad is interested in politics, he might like it -- though "like" wouldn't be the right word. I can only read a few pages at a time before my brain begins to boil with rage. So maybe I can't help.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Margaret Drabble is one of my mom's favorite authors; she's been trying to get me to read Realms of Gold for years. So I could stand to make both of us very happy. :)

I think my dad's read Blackwater, or at least I've seen it lying around their apartment. Brain-melting rage has certainly been a common theme of the last few years (or really, the last decade. God!) for all of us. :\

[neery.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read Elizabeth Bear's Science Fiction trilogy? The first one is called Hammered. I really liked her characters.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I've had Bear's Blood and Iron on my TBR for a while, but I've never read her. I guess I should bump that one up, too! :)

[elbomac.livejournal.com]

For your dad - has he read any Jon Krakauer? I just finished Under the Banner of Heaven and it was really interesting.

Have you read Wally Lamb? I love his books - talk about fucked up, awesome characters to fall in love with!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure my dad's read some Krakauer, though possibly not that one. I'm really trying to distract him with some light fiction—it's hard, though!

I've read She's Come Undone, and I remember liking it. Never quite felt like I had the stamina to crack I Know This Much Is True. Has he written anything else?

[lilac-way.livejournal.com]

I'm currently reading "American Pharaoh," a biography of Richard J Daley, last "democratic machine" mayor of Chicago. He was a horribly racist man, yet at the same time, he saved the city from becoming another midwestern rustbelt casualty. Given that Obama spent his early years doing community work in Chicago, this book is kind of a good illumination of where he was coming from and what he was battling when he started out! It's a great book.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I may want to check that out for myself. Thanks for the heads-up!

[dancinbutterfly.livejournal.com]

World War Z - Max Brooks

To say that it's eaten my brain is a total understatement. The history of a fictional zombie war told through interviews with survivors. Sounds crazy, and it is in the best way. It's evocative and heartbreaking and stirring and I've read it twice since I bought it two weeks ago. Gah. Love

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

To say that it's eaten my brain is a total understatement.

Pun intended? *g*

I really should read this. It's sitting on my shelf! I'll try to get to it within the next week or so.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

1 hand typing

naybe you just read too much too fast don t you think that might be reason for it all sucking? or if the past oes were recs too maybe not read recs g

maybe father like the three science-of-discworld books, looks at history and science in an irreverent, liberal and critical way, bith terry pratchett bits inbetween

[dancinguniverse.livejournal.com]

Well, it falls under religion, sci-fi, and fucked up characters, I think, but "The Sparrow," by Mary Doria Russel, is one of my favorite books of all time. It's a sci-fi book on the surface, since there are aliens and space ships, but I don't think of it as sci-fi at all in the telling. It's a lot about people, and religion, and I have rarely fallen in love with a protagonist as much as I fell in love with Emilio.

And she wrote "A Thread of Grace," an historical fiction about Italy at the end of WW2, and various people's stories: Jews hiding in Italy, Italians hiding Jews, and the thing that I loved about it was how it's not about, 'It's WW2: everyone dies,' so much as it is, 'History is always made by people, and people are sometimes breathtakingly awesome.'

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

The Sparrow is actually the last novel I got him to read! He enjoyed it a lot, I think. So you're definitely thinking in the right direction! Please let me know if anything else springs to mind. :)

[lillian13.livejournal.com]

My dad loved the Horatio Hornblower novels--history with plot! Also any of the "Stephen Bury" novels (by Neil Stephenson and his father-in-law)--very good political thriller/near future stuff. Heck, he might even like "Zodiac".

I third(?) the World War Z book. I've been giving really-fucked-up protagonists a pass, lately, but I am re-enjoying the "Sookie Stackhouse" series. Though her Shakespeare series was just re-released, and that lead is messed up, and does grow over the series (mysteries).

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

Tony Hillerman's Navajo revervation police procedural/mystery books. They include lots of cool cultural background and history along with good mysteries and great characterization.

There are a lot of them, too, so if he does like them, you are set for present buying for years to come!

:)

Book for Dad?

[duckyjane.livejournal.com]

It's certainly not light fiction, but it does involve some history of Mexican/South American aboriginals - the best book I've ever encountered about Latin America is called Born in Blood and Fire, by Chasteen. Works as a class text because it's comprehensive, but so entertaining and full of broad scope history AND the great anecdotal and weird stories that make the scope mean something, and hits just about every Latin American nation really well (although Paraguay is sadly neglected).

Maybe not right for this birthday, but next time he's ready for another thinky one? It's not too heavy (metaphorically or literally) for travelling, though ... I took it with me on my last trip (South America) and read it on trains, buses, and in the park.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

*delurks* because I cannot resist giving book suggestions.

Unhelpfully, I can't recall the names of the books relating to religion and politics that my brother and I gave my father over the past few years.


But Catherynne Valente's orphan's Tales is well worth reading. And I've been enjoying Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds.

[idiasm.livejournal.com]

Georgette Heyer! Can't remember if you've posted about reading her before but if you haven't, you should try it. (Also, fyi, one of my dad's favorite authors and also my grandfather loves her, so maybe your dad might?)

[trie-squid.livejournal.com]

How about Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books? My dad really enjoyed them and he's fussy about books. Detective story. Easy to follow, but not shallow. Very Sherlock Holmes in the 30s/40s At least, that's my experience with them. I am told that they extend into the 50s and 60s too, but I haven't read them.

Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour. Basically, if Rodney were a New York chef, he'd be Bourdain. Cranky, cynical, and snarky. It's his account of traveling around the world searching for the "perfect meal". More for you than your dad, but ya never know.

Julian Barnes' England, England. Bizarre and strange and preoccupied with memory and how memory functions. Really, really interesting.

Anything by A.S. Byatt (Possession, Little Black Book of Stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, there's more, but those are the only ones I'm familiar with). She's post-postmodernist in concept and nearly Victorian in style. She's both a writer and a critic so these interests overlap each other.

There was something else, but I lost it. I'm fairly perverse in my reading and have a tendency to read books that have been made into movies to see how they differ, how they're similiar, and how they are reinterpreted. In that vein, I have enjoyed Chocolat, Practical Magic, Under the Tuscan Sun, and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Don't let the movies fool you, the books are, duh, better, but they're also very interesting.

Good luck with the dad!

rec for you, good luck with your dad.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lemon_lyman_/]

my younger sister (17) and I are both really enjoying a kidlit series we started years back when she was actually a kid. They fall into the kidspies! genre, but seem to mostly give the kids realistic personalities and limitations which is where the other books of the type seem to always go wrong. Anyway (rambling a bit there), they're the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore, I think the first is called The Recruit. Plus, they aren't too long, so you won't waste a tonne of time if you hate them (they aren't the best written books, but they are fun and interesting).

[elikiros]

If I may suggest...one of Matilde Asensi's books...they're quite good..like "The Last Cato", an internationally bestselling novel about the search for the secret location of the actual Holy Cross used to crucify Jesus. I liked it.

[mercurydraconix.livejournal.com]

For you dad, I've heard very good things about Salt and Cod, both by Mark Kurlansky. Obviously, they have a very tight focus, but they're also both fairly short, which would make them ideal for short trips.

Both my dad (science professor) and my mom (high school graduate) liked Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything - I wasn't that impressed, but deeply approved of the cover. (I have a thing for covers.) They went on to enjoy A Walk In the Woods too.

My dad's had Guns, Germs and Steel sitting in a prominent place on his bookshelf for years now, but I confess that I don't know whether that's because it's awesome or because he couldn't be bothered to finish it.

I enjoyed parts of Freakonomics, which is econ-lite - information from a real economist, but written by somebody at the New Yorker or similar magazine. (I also deeply approved of the orange/apple cover, but ... not everybody cares.)

For you... The Golden Apples of the Sun, and other stories by Ray Bradbury. It's not horror or anything, but he certainly brings the creepy. (Yes, oldschool recommendation, but I avoided him for a long time. I'm not into all his stuff, in fact, I hated F. 451 and couldn't finish Martian Chronicles, but I really loved this.) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is probably my favorite Heinlein, and while I haven't read him for a while, I remember Charles de Lint with affection. (But I find sometimes that my standards have risen and a book I used to love is actually ... crap. So if you hate de Lint, I'm sorry.)

[soho-iced.livejournal.com]

For a gloriously messed up protagonist, try Warchild by Karin Lowachee. Pretty good science fiction as well (unsurprisingly of the military/space opera kind) but it's the protagonist who is the best bit - other two in the trilogy are good as well.

And on the Lymond subject, if you feel like a challenge, can I put in a word for Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver trilogy? yes they are ridiculously long (c 900 pages each) but I haven't fallen so hard for a series since I first read Dunnet more than 10 years ago. The three main characters are nowhere near as twisted as Lymond but I love them all passionately anyway.