Eight gift ideas for Father's Day
Father’s Day is on Sunday 4 September! Here are eight gift ideas for all kinds of fathers.
On any single day, Cleaver Greene is described as many things. Whilst his ex-wife may call him unreliable, his son will call him a mate. To his learned friends at the bar table he is a real wag, to his jurors he is hilarious, and to most judges he is an outrage. To the Tax Office, he is a defendant; to a certain brothel owner a legend, and to his former cocaine dealer, a tragic loss.
You can now buy the first four seasons of blackly funny Australian TV series Rake in a single box-set.
For the father who dreams of one day escaping modern society…
Some people’s lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks’ isn’t. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. In The Shepherd’s Life, Rebanks takes us through a shepherd’s year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost.
For the father who’s been ready for the cricket season for months now…
Selection Day is the new novel from Booker Prize winning author Aravind Adiga, and it has a cricket-obsessed family at the heart of it. Manju is fourteen. He knows he is good at cricket, if not as good as his elder brother Radha. He knows that he hates his domineering father, admires his brilliantly talented brother and is fascinated by CSI and curious and interesting scientific facts. But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that he doesn’t know – at least, not yet.
For the father who’s celebrating his first Father’s Day…
Kate Beaton has created a very, very funny (slightly terrifying) picture book that is perfect for new parents: King Baby is a laugh-out-loud take on the joy (and exhaustion) of having a new lovable little tyrant in your life. You can find lots of other ideas for picture books to give as gifts on Father’s Day here.
And for first-time grandfathers, there’s the charming Grandpa’s Big Adventure.
For the father who’s looking to get hooked on a new fantasy series…
Nevernight is a wonderful new epic fantasy set in the dark heart of an academy for assassins. Mia has many names: The Pale Daughter, The Crow, or Kingmaker; she is the killer of killers and destroyer of empires. Her story begins when she is only ten years old and forced to watch her father hang as a traitor… As our reviewer writes, ‘This is not a book for the faint of heart’.
For the father who enjoys the psychedelic sound of the 70s…
Running The Voodoo Down: Explorations In PsychRockFunkSoulJazz 1967-80 looks at a time when African-American music was exploring myriad new directions against a backdrop of incredible and explosive social change. The album features the likes of Funkadelic, James Brown, Miles Davis, Lightning Rod & Jimi Hendrix, Keith Jarrett, Buddy Miles, The Meters, The Chambers Brothers, Swamp Dogg – and much more.
For the father who loves talking business…
For most of its history, Norway eked out a marginal existence from fishing, forestry and shipping. But things changed in 1969, when the country found one of the world’s biggest offshore oilfields. As the revenue started to flow, Norway began to create the world’s best system for developing mineral resources – and for extracting the maximum possible share of the profits. Unlike many other countries, Norway has taken a non-renewable resource and turned it into a financial asset that can last for generations to come. Trillion Dollar Baby is the story of how the Norwegians did it.
For the father who’s a huge crime reader…
Camilla Way’s Watching Edie is a compelling psychological thriller that will have your father gripped from the first page. Edie is the friend that Heather has always craved – until the night when everything goes terrifyingly wrong. What started as an innocent friendship ends in two lives being destroyed. 16 years later, Edie is still working to rebuild her own life but Heather isn’t ready to let her forget so easily. It’s no coincidence that she’s shown up right when Edie needs her most.
