Book reports: Sun dads share their favorite reads
Need a little more guidance of what to get dear old dad this Father's Day? Look no further!
I've taken a (highly) unscientific poll of The Sun's own fatherly contingent, and they were kind enough to share their favorite books.
Reporter Nick Madigan: "Joseph Heller's Catch-22. I read it when I was about 15, and I remember it just made me laugh out loud."
Head of Maryland News David Nitkin: "My favorite book? I can tell you right now. The Great Gatsby. Period."
Reporter Joe Burris: "Five of my favorites, in no particular order: Sports in America: James Michener; Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe; The Pearl: John Steinbeck; Invisible Man: Ralph Ellison; Krik? Krak!: Edwidge Danticat."
Reporter Bob Little: "The Confederacy of Dunces. That's the book, where if I meet someone who hasn't read it, I buy it for them."
Editorial writer Peter Jensen: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, by Mark Twain. It's one of those books that was fun to read before you got old enough for it to become required reading in school. Twain's attack on racial prejudice was ahead of its time."
Deputy opinion editor Michael Cross-Barnet: Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings; Robertson Davies' The Deptford Trilogy; Jonahan Franzen's The Corrections; Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show; and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.
And I'll leave it to Dave to tell us what his favorite book(s) is.
Meanwhile, John wins Freebie Friday, taking home Edward Monkton's The Wonderful Man and Kevin Alan Milne's The Nine Lessons. I hope you (or your dad) enjoys them immensely.
Have you got your own bookish Father's Day gift ideas? Let us know! Father's Day is fast approaching...
(Photo by adassel on stock.xchng)
Comments
Nick has my dad's taste in books: One of my dad's most prized possessions is his first edition of "Catch-22" -- and I should point out that he was a career military officer.
Posted by: Mary | June 17, 2009 12:44 PM
I tend to have favorite authors, rather than books. On that list are John McPhee, Bill Bryson, Calvin Trillin and Roger Angell; new additions are likely to be Jhumpa Lahiri and Marilynne Robinson. So feel free to buy me anthing off that short list, Nancy.
Posted by: Dave | June 17, 2009 3:32 PM
Sorry, puking a little... "The Pearl"? Really? I know it's in bad taste to mock someone's reading tastes but... everyone's got to draw the line somewhere.
To each his own. I'm embarrassed by how many of these I haven't read, such as The Confederacy of Dunces. - NJ
Posted by: Biblibio | June 17, 2009 4:26 PM
If we're talking about Father's Day reads here, I can think of no more moving, and terrifying, testament to fatherly love than Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." As the father of a son who is roughly the same age as the son in the book, I can say that "The Road" made me examine and ultimately cherish more strongly than ever before the love we feel for one another.
Posted by: Ravens | June 17, 2009 10:55 PM
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.
Posted by: John | June 18, 2009 6:41 PM