The Buzz...About Books

This Sunday, June 15th, is Father's Day.   Not sure what to do after giving Dad his new tie and socks?  How about reading one of these recent memoirs by adult children about their fathers – some they knew well, some they discovered later in life.

For more titles, have a look at Surviving Paren'thood: Father's Day Memoirs, for memoirs about the experience of fatherhood, Life With Father for a list of books about famous fathers and Even After Father's Day for some father-daughter fiction.

Take This Man: A Memoir by Brando Skyhorse
Looking for a better life after being abandoned by Brando's father,  his mother reinvents herself and her young son as American Indians and moves them to Echo Park, California. There Brando and his mother live with his acerbic grandmother and a rotating cast of surrogate fathers. It will be over thirty years before he begins to untangle the truth about his real father.

The Most Dangerous Animal Of All: Searching For My Father… and Finding the Zodiac Killer by Gary L. Stewart and Susan D. Mustafa.   An emotionally powerful  memoir of a man whose ten-year search for his biological father leads to the chilling discovery that his father is one of the most notorious serial killers in the United States.
• Audiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (Restricted to Print Disabled Patrons)

Please Be With Me: A Song For My Father, Duane Allman by Galadrielle Allman
Musician Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of twenty-four, when his daughter, Galadrielle was only two years old.  While she was growing up, friends and family found it too painful to talk about her father, so she listened intently to his music and read articles about him.  Needing to know more, Galadrielle finally  began to ask for stories from family, fellow musicians, and friends.  By this time, they were ready to talk.
• eBook

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and Son by Pat Conroy
Best-selling author Conroy, author of the Great Santini and many other novels, revisits the complicated relationship he had with his father and offers readers the final chapter on his relationship with his paren'ts and his own late-found peace.
• Large Print
• Audiobook
• eBook
• eAudiobook
• Talking Book (Restricted to Print Disabled Patrons)

Confessions of a Fairy's Daugther : Growing Up with A Gay Dad by Alison Wearing
Alison Wearing led a largely carefree childhood in Peterborough, Ontario until she was 12, when her father came out of the closet.  It was a shock to everyone, especially to his wife and three children.   This is the story of Alison's struggle to "come out" as the daughter of a gay father as well as her father's determination to find a way to live both as a gay man and a devoted father.