Culture / Gift Guide

A booklist for gifting this Father’s Day

While our dads may tell us they don't want for much (how could they, when they have a child like us?) we know better than to turn up to Father's Day empty handed. If you've sifted through our Father's Day Gift Guides and are still left where you started (that is, without said gift), then it might be time to do some sleuthing. Books are the best kind of presents. Almost every person lives in proximity to a bookstore or can order online; they're affordable, small-ish, you can imbue them with as much sentiment as you like, and they nail the balance between physical gifts and an experience. Unlike random Keep Cups or well-meaning but blankly received gardening supplies, books offer something for everyone – whether your father figure gets through one read a year on holiday or burns through books with the appetite of a labrador.

That being said, a book that works for one dad might sit on a shelf gathering dust for another. There's also a history of "dad books" being tied to political biographies and hefty historical non fiction, but we suggest avoiding all six volumes of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire if you can help it. So if you're considering beefing up your dad's bookshelf for Father's Day, then these are the titles we'd suggest. Below, a curated list of books for every kind of father, below.

 

The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

This House of Grief, Helen Garner

 

Field Work, Seamus Heaney

 

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann

 

Oaxaca Journal, Oliver Sacks

 

This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay

 

The Shape of Dust, Lamisse Hamouda

 

One Hundred Years of Dirt, Rick Morton

father's day books

 

In the Country of Men, Hisham Matar

father's day books

Calypso, David Sedaris

father's day books

 

All About Love, bell hooks

father's day books

 

Holding the Note, David Remnick

father's day books

 

A A Gill is Away, A.A Gill

father's day books

 

Sunbathing, Isobel Beech

father's day books

 

The Fight, Norman Mailer

father's day books

 

The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan

father's day books

 

How Music Works, David Byrne

father's day books

 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carre

father's day books

 


After more recommendations ahead of Father's Day? Start here with our selection of Father's Day gift guides.

Stay inspired, follow us.

  • RUSSH TikTok icon
  • RUSSH X icon

Image: Pinterest