We may be biased, but we think that books make the best gift for any dad, grandpa, or father figure. Whether you're searching for a gift for an outdoorsman, a spiritual seeker, or a movie lover, we have book recommendations perfect for the men in your life.
Click these links to jump to the section you need, or keep scrolling to explore the full list:
- Explore Books for the Movie Lover
- Explore Books for the Spiritual Seeker
- Explore Books for the Reflective Dad
- Explore Books for the Naturalist Dad
Books for the Outdoorsman
Explore How Birdwatching Shapes Our Souls
Birdwatching is a delight, a deepening. It puts us in touch with the ineffable, and it draws us toward self-denial for the sake of love. Birding brings us close to hope, abundance, and joy. In fact, it looks a lot like prayer. In Watch and Wonder, naturalist, birder, and Episcopal priest Ragan Sutterfield delves into how birdwatching shapes our souls. Whether you are a serious birder with an extensive life list or a casual observer of hawks along the highway, this book is an invitation to wonder and awe.
Find Hope at the Water's Edge
Fishing is an exercise in hope. In a world where every answer is at our fingertips, fishing is transformative for its sheer unpredictability. Priest and fisherman Pete Nunnally loves to teach people how to fish for fish and, through that, how to fish for what their soul is yearning for: to come alive. In Catching Hope, he takes his readers fishing with him. Along the way you'll learn how fishing connects the human condition to the divine presence in all things. And even if you never go fishing, this book will open your heart to the hidden wisdom and beauty found at the water's edge.
Books for the Movie Lover
Find Wonder in Your Daily Life
Lost & Found in the Cathedral of Cinema
Growing up in a bubble of churches and Christian schools, Jeffrey Overstreet was taught by example to condemn "worldly" art and culture as predatory and poisonous. Yet, the flicker of light from cinema screens proved a temptation too powerful to resist. And what he found there was quite the opposite of what he'd been told: He found God at play in ten thousand theaters. Lost & Found in the Cathedral of Cinema is an invitation to escape from fear-based religion into richer experiences of imagination, beauty, community, and faith.
Books for the Spiritual Seeker
Reflect on Simplicity, Connection, and Repair
Sojourners Magazine (Volume Editor)
For five decades, Sojourners magazine has been deeply engaged with the world while calling its readers to a new kind of life and faith rooted in justice and peace. Light for the Way is a powerful, yet meditative collection of pieces from the last fifty years of Sojourners magazine, exploring how contemplative practices, rest, simplicity, environmental engagement, and communal care are essential for sustaining our resistance and repairing our world.
Pray Alongside the Saints and Mystics
Pray and meditate along with saints through this luminous collection of one hundred block prints by artist Kreg Yingst, curator of the Instagram account @psalmprayers. Mystics like Teresa of Ávila, Howard Thurman, Black Elk, and Fannie Lou Hamer come alive. Everything Could Be a Prayer is a rich resource for private prayer and communal reflection.
Books for the Reflective Dad
Reflect on Your Experience with Fathers and Fatherhood
What is it about fathers and father figures that looms so large in the lives of so many? So wonders Patton Dodd in this intimate reflection and memoir in which he wrestles with a dad-sized hole, the gap between the father he yearned to have and the father he got—an absent-while-present alcoholic whose unreliability caused chaos for everyone around him. A lyrical, emotional meditation on the failures and glories of dadhood, The Father You Get resonates for anyone who struggles with the fathers they got, the fathers they wish they had—and anyone struggling to become the parent they hope to be.
Reconnect with Sacred Earth
What does it mean to become rooted in the land? Randy Woodley, an activist, author, scholar, and Cherokee descendant, recognized by the Keetoowah Band, guides us on a one-hundred-day journey to reconnect with the Earth. In Becoming Rooted, he invites us to come away from the American dream—otherwise known as an Indigenous nightmare—and get in touch with the water, land, plants, and creatures around us, with the people who lived on that land for thousands of years prior to Europeans' arrival, and with ourselves. In walking toward the harmony way, we honor balance, wholeness, and connection.
Books for the Naturalist Dad
Revel in the Beauty and Wisdom of Trees
Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees
There is great wisdom to learn from trees, and when we connect intimately with them, we can deepen our spiritual lives and grow in the understanding that all beings are part of the fabric of the holy. Trees have much to offer as soul friends, and their millennia of growth and loss provide deep wisdom, if we know how to pay attention. Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees encourages us to revel in the beauty and wonder of trees as they increase our capacity to bear witness to loss and grief. Integrating science and spirituality, coauthors Beth Norcross and Leah Rampy explore the knowledge held within the living world of trees and planted within each of us.
Discover the Divine in the Natural World
Throughout millennia and across the monotheistic religions, the natural was often revered as a sacred text. As we grapple to make sense of today's tumultuous world, one where nature is at once a damaged and damaging source of disaster, as well as a place of refuge and retreat, we are called again to examine how generously it awaits our attention and devotion, standing ready to be read by all. Weaving together the astonishments of science; the profound wisdom and literary gems of thinkers, poets, and observers who have come before us; and her own spiritual practice and gentle observation, Barbara Mahany reintroduces us to The Book of Nature. We needn't look farther for the divine.
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