Give Dad a good read

Booksellers offer titles for Father's Day

OK, you think a book would be a nice Father's Day gift, but you don't know what to get the man in your life.

Don't worry.

We asked local booksellers -- men only -- to offer suggestions. Their choices ranged from race to race cars, to thrillers and grilling, to family and history.

First up, Peter Mock, a bookseller at McIntyre's Fine Books in Pittsboro. He suggests "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope" by Jonathan Alter. (Simon & Schuster, $29.95) It's the story of the first 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

"It is amazing. This is a superb work. It was during a really dark period of our history during the (Great) Depression. Banks were failing. Nobody had much confidence in him but he effected amazing changes. He rallied the country around him. This is a man who knew what compassion means," Mock says.

Next on his list, "The King of Lies" by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur, $22.95), a mystery set in Salisbury, N.C., about a young lawyer whose father goes missing for a year.

"It's one of the best debut novels I have read in years. I was totally enthralled. It sucks you in and you don't want to put it down."

His third pick is "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke (Bloomsbury USA, $13.95). The book tells the story of a young Englishman who goes to Paris to work for a company that is opening up a chain of English tea rooms in France. He knows nothing about French culture, can't speak French and is thrown into French society.

Mock says the character is constantly committing social faux pas. "I was laughing at least three times per page. It's one of the funniest books I have read in years."

Going global

Over at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, co-owner Tom Campbell thinks a lot of fathers are going to be watching soccer this summer. So he offers a couple of books that break down the sport. "These are two great books that help introduce soccer to those of us who didn't grow up with it," he says.

The first one is "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization" by Franklin Foer (Harper Perennial, $13.95). Each chapter, Campbell says, deals with soccer in a different country, addressing the style of the game, the politics of the country, the fans and how important soccer is to the culture. "It makes the people cheering for the Hurricanes look incredibly tame. It's great stuff."

His next soccer book, "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup" edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey (Harper Perennial, $14.95), features articles by various journalists and other writers exploring soccer's impact on society and culture, he says. In addition, the book includes statistics and other interesting facts about the sport and the players.

"These articles are about the country and the teams," Campbell says. "It's a great reference for watching the matches."

If you are a gardener, Campbell likes "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost his Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden" by William Alexander (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $22.95).

"It's a great book about a guy who gets obsessed with growing the perfect garden. He figures out he spent $64 to grow a tomato. It's a great story, very funny and true."

"Now if Dad is too busy to watch the World Cup or grow a garden, he needs this book," Campbell says. He's referring to "CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD" by Dr. Edward Hallowell. (Ballantine Books, $24.95) The book includes exercises to help readers get their hectic lives in order.