Father and son relationship is one of the most beautiful and purest bonds ever. But it is indeed one complex relationship as none of the parties are much expressive towards each other, but that’s what makes it even more beautiful. So, singing the beauty of all the father-son relationships, here are a few must-read father-son relationship books.
The bond between a father and his son is unlike any other relationship. A dad is the first hero in his son’s life. A son admires and looks up to his father ever since he is born, brought older with the ambition to one day be like his father. From the moment a boy is born, his father plays an important role in shaping his life. A father always teaches his son good lessons and guides him in the correct direction. He remains his buddy, mentor, and closest comrade.
Literature has a lot to offer regarding stories depicting the special bond between father and son. Some of the works are serious reflections on their connection, while others are amusing comedies about parental mishaps. Some show how important it is to have a new family regardless of the tone or types of characters represented, novels are here to illustrate us that neither is the same for everyone nor is the approach to becoming a father. In reality, there are an endless number of options.
So, without taking stalling any more of your time, I’ll get to the point and share with you the most amazing books out there that I could find.
15 Best Books About Father-Son Relationship One Must Read
These are certain books that I feel everyone should read. Fathers, sons, everyone! I am a daughter and even I’ve read them. So, here we go!
1. Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Full Title: Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Author: Max Porter
Genre: Memoir
Publishing Date: 2015
Description:
This wonderful story is a reflection of sorrow, perseverance, recovery, and adaptation. Following the death of their mother, the two kids and their father struggle to cope with their new world, which is wounded by sadness.
A crow interrupts them, threatening to remain when they no longer require him. The story has elements of a fable, such as talking birds, but it is mostly a quiet study on sorrow and recovery. This remarkable debut novel, full of surprising laughter and heartfelt sincerity, heralds the emergence of a fascinating and important new artist.
2. Not My Father’s Son
Full Title: Not My Father’s Son: A Family Memoir
Author: Alan Cumming
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 7th October 2014
Description:
Dark, traumatic memories can be pushed to the back of the mind and buried. Until they all come flooding back in horrifying details one day. His personal life is discussed in this memoir. When television producers approached Alan Cumming about appearing on a renowned superstar genealogy show, he was hoping to unravel the riddle of his maternal grandfather’s absence, which had hung over his family for years.
But this wasn’t the only riddle Alan had to solve. He discusses his upbringing in Scotland in particular. Under the care of an aggressive and violent father who kept a grave truth hidden from his children. Alan decodes these recently revealed secrets and brings a riveting and devastating story to life in this intriguing and emotional memoir.
3. Rich Dad Poor Dad
Full Title: Rich Dad Poor Dad
Author: Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Genre: Non-fiction
Publishing Date: 1997
Description:
As the author highlights the distinctions between his biological dad and the definitive father figure in his lifetime, our major point is what it means to be a father, among many other things. What makes a father seem like someone whose blood doesn’t flow through your veins?
This non-fiction book discusses the value of a father’s guidance and the bond that develops as a result of it, as well as provides useful financial advice. Rich Dad Poor Dad’s messages, which were attacked and questioned 20 years ago, are more significant, pertinent, and important these days than they were two decades ago.
4. Gilead
Full Title: Gilead
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Genre: Domestic Fiction
Publishing Date: 4th November 2004
Description:
He remembers the tense political connection between his father and grandfather, as well as his good friend and neighbor Jack Boughton and his estranged son. Gilead is a poetic reflection on fathers and sons, ruminating on the place of trust, mercy, and love amid humanity’s fragility.
This is also the story of another astonishing vision, this time of life as a marvelously weird creature, rather than a bodily vision of God. It describes how Ames’ knowledge was created in his spirit during his lonely existence, and how history continues along through centuries, even when deceived and ignored.
5. I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son
Full Title: I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son
Author: Kent Russell
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 10th March 2015
Description:
The author explores the borders of the planet and the boundaries of society in this book in order to fully comprehend himself and his prickly, tough connection with his father. This collection of writings, which is deeply intimate and heartbreaking, paints a fresh picture of manhood and father-son interactions.
He sets up camp among the Juggalos, the Insane Clown Posse’s fans, travels to the other side of the continent to learn how a legendary hockey fighter is prepared for his own death and investigates the Amish fascination with baseball, as well as his own love with terror, blood, and guts.
6. Better Dads, Stronger Sons
Full Title: Better Dads, Stronger Sons: How Fathers Can Guide Boys to Become Men of Character
Author: Rick Johnson
Genre: Christian literature
Publishing Date: May 2006
Description:
This book is about a father’s difficult but lovely relationship with his son. We are all aware that our fathers have a divinely mandated function. He is our family’s protector and bead weaver. He is continually striving to instill in their sons the highest moral principles and life skills in order for them to grow into respectable men.
However, many fathers battle with feelings of failure and inferiority. That is the subject of this book. It will assist you in overcoming your feelings and instilling a sense of worth in your sons. We can encourage your son and be a good role model for him by reading this book.
7. Letters to My Son
Full Title: Letters to My Son: A Father’s Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love
Author: Kent Nerburn
Genre: Self-help book
Publishing Date: 1994
Description:
This book covers a wide range of themes from all areas of life. It’s for fathers and even single moms looking for advice on how to raise their sons. Single mothers seeking assistance in raising a kid, fathers willing to share a voice of truth about life’s most essential challenges, and young men looking for an intellectual, compassionate, and resourceful partner on the road toward respectable masculinity have all praised it.
This book provides fathers with a voice and clarity on some of life’s most significant issues that they have been searching for. It will assist parents in forging a bond with their son and beginning their path into manhood. It’s simply a one-of-a-kind and everlasting book.
8. Dear Son
Full Title: Dear Son: Life Lessons from a Father
Author: Sandeep Sahni
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publishing Date: 29 April 2021
Description:
A father provides his 21-year-old son with life lessons in this book. It is organized into 21 chapters that are simple to read and understand. All of these chapters include essential advice and lessons for any child on the verge of becoming an adult.
It covers a wide range of topics, including relationships, money, love, ambitions, and desires, among others. You are about to go on an amazing voyage with limitless possibilities, and you are considering how to be ready for it, handle it, and prioritize your chores. Every parent should read this book.
9. Sh*t My Dad Says
Full Title: Sh*t My Dad Says
Author: Justin Halpern
Genre: Biography
Publishing Date: 4th May 2010
Description:
Soon after the beginning of this book, comic writer Justin Halpern proposed marriage to his then-girlfriend. But first, he sought his father’s counsel, which was extremely basic and that is to just think about it for a day. It’s a mix of his father’s quotes and longer writings akin to David Sedaris and Chelsea Handler.
It’s a humorous, unforgettable narrative of a one-of-a-kind father-son bond and the filthy wisdom that distinguished it. This is the account of that voyage down the memory lane, a spine-tinglingly honest pilgrim’s journey through adolescent relationships, intimacy, and love by one of today’s most hilarious writers.
10. Hollywood Park
Full Title: Hollywood Park
Author: Mikel Jollett
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 26th May 2020
Description:
The author’s journey begins in a California experimental commune that subsequently became the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most notorious and destructive cults. All children, including Jollett and his older brother, were taken from their families at the age of six months and given over to the sect’s “School,” as per the leader’s directive.
Mikel with his mother and elder brother fled the cult one morning after having spent years in what amounted to an orphanage. But, in so many ways, life from beyond Synanon was even more difficult and unpredictable.
Jollett describes a childhood marked by severe poverty, pain, emotional abuse, disobedience, and the allure of alcohol and drugs in his honest, poetic, and compelling voice.
11. The Pale-Faced Lie
Full Title: The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story
Author: David Crow
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 7th May 2019
Description:
David Crow and his brothers adored his father, a self-taught Cherokee who loved to brag to his kids about his World War II exploits when they were growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation.
With time, David discovered Thurston Crow’s darker side, the ex-con by his own ethical code that condoned cruelty, violence, deception, and even murder. Thurston forced his son towards doing his illegal bidding by abusing him with beatings. David’s mother was unable to protect him because she was too psychologically ill to care for the child.
David was able to get into college and attain professional success through sheer determination and the assistance of these few angels along the way. When he eventually summoned the strength to defy his father’s unlawful requirements, he unknowingly set in motion a conspiracy of vengeance that would pit him against Thurston Crow in a lethal battle.
12. A Lot Like Me
Full Title: A Lot Like Me: A Father and Son’s Journey to Reconciliation
Author: Larry Elder
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 7th May 2018
Description:
Elder and his father went ten years without speaking to one another. When they eventually met, they had an eight-hour chat about Elder’s father’s path from Jim Crow South through Marine Corps duty to establishing a company in Southern California.
Elder arose not only united with his father but also admiring him and understanding that he’s never completely known or comprehended him. This book, first released as Dear Father, Dear Son, is a profoundly emotional memoir that is heartfelt, wonderfully written, and obsessively engaging.
13. Between the World and Me
Full Title: Between the World and Me
Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 14 July 2015
Description:
What is it like to occupy a black body and find a way to live within it? is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ attempt to address some questions in a letter to his teenage son. And how can we all come to terms with this tumultuous past and release ourselves from its weight?
From Howard University to Civil War fields of battle, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his family’s house to the living area of moms whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder, Coates shares with his son, and readers, the story of his ascension to the reality about his position in the world through a sequence of prophetic perceptions.
14. Dreams from My Father
Full Title: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Author: Barack Obama
Genre: Memoir
Publishing Date: 18th July 1995
Description:
The son of a black African dad and a white American mom look for a functional purpose to his life as a black American in this poetic, dispassionate, and powerful memoir. It starts in New York, with Barack Obama learning that his father, a person he remembers more as a legend than a man, had died in a car crash.
This untimely death sets him off on an emotional roller coaster, first to a small town in Kansas, where he retraces his mother’s family’s migration to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he met his African side of the family, and confronted the harsh truth of his father’s life, and finally reconciled his partitioned inherited wealth.
15. Pops
Full Title: Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces
Author: Michael Chabon
Genre: Autobiography
Publishing Date: 15 May 2018
Description:
Michael Chabon wrote an essay on going to Paris Men’s Fashion Week with his son Abraham Chabon, who was thirteen at the time. Chabon Sr., whose taste in fashion stops at second-hand stores for antique western shirts or Hermès neckties, sat quietly by, battling the want to yawn and think the whole thing was a gigantic waste of time, while Abe, who has a precocious sense of style, was in his element conversing with designers he loved and casting a discerning lens to the freshest runway designs of the season, was in his element.
Despite his own apathy, Chabon gradually developed a profound appreciation for his son’s devotion as he chauffeured him to and from design events. The video went viral in a matter of days.
Conclusion
So, what do you think? Heart-warming, wasn’t it? It should be noted that the father-son connections were evolving from a lack of affection and dedication to a close fondness and respect.
It’s difficult to conceive greater deep and loving emotions between the boy and the father than there were between them. It’s important to note that the more difficult life became, the closer the dad and son came.
Such a circumstance is simple to explain because when people find themselves in difficult situations, they need someone to encourage them. During difficult times, the father and his kid were capable of supporting one another. That’s what these books depict and I feel wholehearted about it.
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