The Telegraph tagged eight books every dad should read, including:About a Boy by Nick Hornby (Penguin, 1998)Read about the other entries on the list.
Fatherhood is not a biological given, but a tricky, demanding, sometimes frustrating arrangement that a man forges with a child – that’s the central notion behind Nick Hornby’s wise, funny story about likeable lad-about-town Will and his relationship with his (suicidal) friend’s 12-year-old son, Marcus. It is the latter’s social awkwardness that provides much of the gentle humour in the novel, but the joke, finally, is on Will, who is compelled to confront adulthood and responsibility by an instinctive, growing bond with the boy.
About a Boy is among Jamie Fewery's ten best fictional fathers and Kay S. Hymowitz's five best books on the won't-grow-up modern male.
--Marshal Zeringue
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