A year of self-congratulation
This one slipped through the net for Father’s Day coverage but is still worth mentioning as it’s silly, fun and so delightfully random that it would be a waste to ignore it.
In his introduction, the author freely admits that he’s taken the format of the 365 range of books (a piece of text on a given subject for each day of the year) and forced it to fit his agenda. He also freely admits he can’t actually think of 365 separate reasons to be proud to be a dad.
What he does do is offer a wide range of jokes, facts and tangential stories (‘tenuous is such an ugly word’ he admits in his introduction) that riff on the subject of fatherhood. From famous fathers to bizarre historical events, it’s a scattershot affair that nonetheless rewards often enough to be recommended. Maybe buy a copy for your dad anyway, just to show you don’t need a special occasion to get him a gift. Either that or force your child to buy it for you as a sign of their continued adoration.
Pavilion Books, available now.
