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Father’s Day, 2013
By
Published: Jun 10, 2013
Category:
Beyond Classification
Oh Dad, poor Dad, women are leaning in and you look so bad.
It’s true. Book after book tells us women are shut out from the C-suites (and they are) and they have too much to juggle (and they do).
Whose fault is that?
Your Dad’s.
I mean, who else could it be?
Did your Dad achieve… anything?
Well, because he did, a woman didn’t.
Really glad I know, at last, the truth about my father.
But whadya gonna do? It’s Father’s Day. You loved him when you didn’t know what an oppressor he is. Gotta love him now. It’s a Commandment. And whatever your problems with the New Testament, nobody denies the Old one.
This stuff might help Dad forget what he’s done.
Bad Monkey, by Carl Hiaasen: When it comes to madness in South Florida, Carl Hiaasen is your man. This time, his hero-of-sorts is Andrew Yancy, a disgraced cop now inspecting restaurants. Yancy has a human arm in his freezer. The result of a boating accident — or a murder? That investigation is just one of the balls Hiaasen juggles. How he does it is beyond me — I’m a simple sort, and one subplot completely lost me — but veterans of his bestsellers will find plenty of hilarity. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
Walking with Jack: A Father’s Journey to Become His Son’s Caddie, by Don J. Snyder: I loathe golf. It follows I have zero patience with golf books. So I read “Walking With Jack” as if it were a horror novel. Consider: Don Snyder’s young son is a whiz golfer, but he’s not sure if he’s good enough to make it a career. So Dad, at 58, announces that he’s going to become a caddie — and if the lad gets good enough, Dad will carry his bags. Five years later… well, golfers will weep. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin: The “gentleman burglar” is a French hero. No wonder — for him, stealing from the rich is… sports.
Defending Jacob: Ben Rifkin is killed on his way to school. It’s a high-profile case, so Andy Barber, an assistant district attorney, keeps it for himself. He does this because he’s the highest-ranking ADA, not because his son Jacob was in Ben’s class and might, for all he knows, be a suspect. But Jacob does become a suspect. Andy is taken off the case. And then, when Jacob is arrested for the murder, Andy’s placed on leave. Soon enough, Andy’s working for his son’s defense lawyer, desperate to prove his son’s innocence — just what any father who’s a lawyer would do.
SE115-CL Sound Isolating Earphones: You’ve got an iPhone or iPod, and it’s fantastic — except for the cheesy earphones Apple gives you? If you want to hear the instruments as a unit and as separate elements and the singer performing just for you, trade up to Shure phones, the choice of professionals, The Wall Street Journal and yours truly. For just $69, plus $8 shipping.
The Stories of John Cheever: If Dad likes “Mad Men,” he’s the ideal reader of John Cheever’s stories. Westchester, Connecticut, Nantucket, Beekman Place. Game nights at home, dinners at the club. Adultery. Thwarted dreams. The men wore hats. Everybody drank. Cheever wrote many of these stories in the storage room of his New York apartment. In the morning, he’d dress as if he were going to an office, then ride the elevator to the basement, where he’d hang up his suit pants and start writing. And then, at night, he too would drink.
A Sport and a Pastime: For me, James Salter is the most elegant writer in America. Surgical and swift, he can do more in a sentence than most of us can do in a paragraph. In 1967, he wrote an erotic 192-page novel set in France. It’s about a rich young American and a French shop girl, and you can smell the wood smoke and see the expensive sports car as it turns off the leaf-strewn road into the small French town….
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans: In the early 1960s, Henry Ford II decided to build Ford’s market outside of the United States by kicking ass in European competition. His idea: buy Ferrari. And he had a deal — almost. When it fell apart, he had a rival and a mission: beat Ferrari at Le Mans. The odds against Ford were ridiculous. An American-built car had not won a major European race since 1921. Ford would have to build the most technologically advanced racing car in history. You don’t have to care about cars to love this story of crazy courage and over-the-top commitment.
The Tender Bar: J.R. Moehringer’s father, a noted disc jockey, was out of his mother’s life before J.R. was old enough to remember that he was ever around. ("My father was a man of many talents, but his one true genius was disappearing.") His mother, suddenly poor, moves into her family’s house in Manhasset, Long Island. In that house: J.R.’s mother, grandmother, aunt and five female cousins. Also in that house: Uncle Charlie, a bartender at Dickens, a Manhasset establishment beloved by locals who appreciate liquor in quantity— "every third drink free" — and strong opinions, served with a twist. A boy needs a father. If he doesn’t have one, he needs some kind of man in his life. Or men, because it can indeed take a village…
Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas: In Johnny Unitas, we are talking about a genuine hero — and not just because he is regarded, almost universally, as the greatest football player of the first half of the twentieth century. Unitas is thrilling to read about, and to think about, because his struggle took place in the open, in real time, with the outcome uncertain and physical pain guaranteed. Unitas never complained. He never made apologies. He had a job to do, and it was his responsibility to get it done.
The Unit: A team of warriors who are better trained than any soldiers on the planet. Coordination so slick they seem to be reading each other’s minds. Brutal efficiency with every kind of weapon. And when the killing’s done? Poof. They vanish. No medals. Not even any identifying marks on their uniform. To buy it, click here.
Ready, Steady, Shoot: The Guide to Great Home Video: Dad is never in home videos because he’s the one behind the camera. So maybe he should get better at it? What Roger Sherman has done here is conduct a kindergarten class. (Don’t feel patronized — remember: everything you need to know, you learn in kindergarten.) And these basics read as much like guides to life as to video.
Churchill: This short book is not about not Churchill the God, but Churchill the extremely interesting man. Johnson piles on the detail. Yes, Churchill drank whiskey or brandy all day — “heavily diluted with water or soda.” Yes, he stayed in bed as much as possible, for as he told Paul Johnson (who interviewed him at the tender age of 17), the secret of life is “conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down."
Buck: Buck Brannaman specializes in the improbable. Got a skittish, poorly trained horse? A bucking bronco? A steed who seems not to care about anything? Bring that uncooperative beast to one of Buck’s clinics. Very quickly — often in a matter of minutes — he gets your horse ready to ride. No whips are involved, no threats are made. Buck’s methods call for a little stroking with a flag, a steady gaze, a gentle tone. Small point” This is NOT a movie and a book about horses.
J.J. Cale: After Eric Clapton’s recording of “After Midnight,” Cale’s pal, producer Audie Ashworth, phoned Cale and said, ‘It might be time for you to make your move. Do an album. So get your songs together.’ He said, ‘I’ll do a single.’ I said, ‘It’s an album market.’ He said, ‘I don’t have that many songs,’ so I said, ‘Write some.’ Three or four months later he called me. He said, ‘I got the songs.’ He drove in. He was driving a Volkswagen this time. He came in with his dog. He played me all those songs." And every one is funky but laid-back Oklahoma magic. How great is Cale? Look at Eric Clapton — he’s awed to be on the same stage.
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: The best book I’ve ever read about great leadership and effective management is by Colonel Harold Moore, who led the 7th Cavalry in Ia Drang, site of the first battle between U.S. troops and the Vietcong. In four days of fighting — with the enemy sometimes as close as 75 feet to the American line — 234 Americans died. When it was over and it was time for Moore to turn over command, he requested a full battalion formation. One soldier recalls, "We stood in formation, with some units hardly having enough men to form up. Colonel Moore spoke to us and he cried. At that moment, he could have led us back into the Ia Drang."
C.C. Adcock: This CD is just plain lewd. It’s got a boogie beat, atmosphere goopier than Louisiana fog, production that emphasizes the beat, molasses-thick lyrics that don’t aspire to profundity — it’s the good times music you’ve been looking for. Late-night transport to a sexy mystery. A worthy successor to Dr. John and John Fogerty.
