Books About Dads...

Happy early Father's Day. I didn't bother doing a Mother's Day post this year, because aren't all books about mothers, in the end? But books about dads are harder to come by, so here is a round-up of some dad books (Note: these are books about fatherhood, but not necessarily for fathers}.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- Duh. But Harper Lee has really been on my mind and in the news a lot lately, so it might be time for a revisit of this one, featuring small-town lawyer/civil rights advocate dad Atticus Finch.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman -- Featuring two dads, equally terrible: weirdly Lyra's relationship with her actual father is much better when she believes he's her uncle, and by the time she figures it out, he's abandoned her to go destroy his own (metaphorical) father, God, who is not so great either. Daddy/patriarchal issues run amok all over this series. Also, moms don't fare so well either.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel -- Recent Tony-award winner for Best Musical and a really terrific/depressing graphic memoir about Bechdel's relationship with her father, a closeted-gay man married to a woman, who may or may not have committed suicide. 

Hard Times by Charles Dickens -- A Victorian novel in which a dad tells his kids what to do and basically ruins everything, their lives and his, and then regrets it bitterly. A real big-time bummer in the dad department.

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx -- The story focuses on Quoyle's evolving identity as he moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, but I found his relationship with his two daughters to be the highlight of the book, especially because their names are Bunny and Sunshine.

Absalom, Absalom!  by William Faulkner -- In which weird, incestuous patriarchal issues abound! 

I'm noticing that these are mostlybooks about terrible fathers, which is odd because my dad is really wonderful. If you can think of any books about good dads, feel free to suggest them in the comments section.

The Bookhive List: 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is often classified as YA, but I didn't read it until adulthood, and I remember thinking that any teenager who read it would certainly grow up to be an incredibly emotionally mature adult. Fantasy is not everyone's cup of tea, myself included, but in the case of His Dark Materials, the fictional universe is very elaborately built up to provide a scaffolding upon which Pullman then dismantles the world in which we live -- and he pulls it off so gracefully. There are two points in the trilogy that stick out to me in particular as being the absolute most I have ever cried while reading a book, and this was more than just a few tears -- I finished the series in sobs; it is also one of my favorite love stories.

The series is often compared to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and there are many obvious similarities, including the use of fantasy elements as a kind of stand-in for Christianity. If you found the morality of Narnia to be too simplistic and prefer your religious allegories with heaping doses of cynicism and darkness, then His Dark Materials is more the series for you. The Catholic Church is deeply critical of the series, in part because the characters set out to destroy God; the fact that the human soul exists outside the body in the form of a small animal companion does not help. It is very difficult to read the novels and then accept that you will never have a little "daemon" otter or goldfinch following you wherever you go, and I felt incredibly melancholy after finishing the series because I was so sad to leave this world behind.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

Books to Lean In to the Cold

Some people want to escape the cold this time of year, but I'm one to revel in the changing seasons. In Michigan, you don't have much of a choice anyway. For me, winter is all about lazy weekends on the couch, lots of slowly cooked soups and roasts, and flipping through seed catalogs, dreaming of spring.  The following titles are my suggestions for those who want to enjoy winter while it's here:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis -- It's always winter but never Christmas and kids run around in huge fur coats. If you haven't read this since you were a pre-teen, do yourself a favor and pick it up because it's still a great book.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman -- This series warrants a much longer post and eventually it'll get one, but in the meantime, all you need to know is that there are zeppelins and human souls exist outside the body as cute animals and it mostly takes place in the Arctic. It is also the series to read if you became an Atheist and hate C.S. Lewis now.

Anything by Jack London -- I hated these books when I was a kid, but they get the job done; there are adventures in the snow with huskies, and people falling through ice and death by hypothermia, etc etc.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton - Never has sledding seemed so melancholy. Avoid if you're suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt -- One of the very first books i wrote about for Bookhive, and an excellent read if you like sexy collegiate bacchanalia and long, drawn-out descriptions of Vermont apartments without heat.

The Mysteries of New Venice series by Jean-Christophe Valtat -- A decidedly literary adventure series of the steampunk persuasion that takes place in the Arctic, natch. These books are also great for winter because they're addictive, thrilling reads.