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improvisatrice asked: I've been a follower for a while, but I can't recall if you've ever done book recommendations. I"m sure you have so here goes. Father-in-law's birthday - Likes: Marine corps, ornamental grass, WWII, gardening, Tom Clancy, and cooking; Dislikes: lazy people and Democrats. He's a pretty cool man, and he's read a lot war books so I was kind of hoping to find something new for him.

Hmmm, this is a good one! Everyone else, feel free to chime in with ideas, too.

  • As Sarah McNally noted on NPR this morning, everyone will love The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. I feel like especially dads, probably, because baseball, though it’s beyond baseball. One of the best novels I’ve read in the last few years. Although there are Democrats in it but maybe he can hate them.
  • Someone just recommended Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand to me. I feel like dads might like that too. It’s about WWII and everyone I know who has read it has loved it.
  • The Game of Thrones books are actually pretty good. Totally dad-friendly for cool dads and I would bet Tom Clancy approved.
  • If he likes gardening and cooking he would be into The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. I still talk about the origin of apples all the time because of that book. It’s fascinating and so very well written, another book I seriously think everyone would like.
  • One of the best war (but more than that, of course) books I’ve ever read, if you do decided to go that way, is Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War. Filkins is a NY Times correspondent, but this is a more personal account of his time covering Afghanistan and Iraq. There’s this amazing thread of how he perceives the changes in Baghdad through his daily runs (yes, through Baghdad, so a desert war zone). It’s a book every person ever should read, dads included.

What is ornamental grass?

Also, Tumblr, I LOVE giving book recommendations, ask any time.

  1. improvisatrice said: Thanks so much. A couple of those sound perfect for him. Oh, and what I’ve gleamed from him is that ornamental grass is just decorative grass for landscaping or something.
  2. housingworksbookstore posted this

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