Funny Father Fiction for June

"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope"
-Bill Cosby

While fatherhood is serious business, it helps to remember that we are all human and there is a funny side to how fathers relate to their children.  It's almost Father's Day, so in honor of this auspicious occasion, I thought I'd list novels that explore the humorous side of being a Dad.

FATHER/DAUGHTER:

Donorboy by Brendan Halpin
After the deaths of her mother and her lesbian lover in an accident, Rosalind, a troubled teen, finds herself living with Sean, the sperm-donor father she has never met, who takes on the task of caring for a grieving teenager.

Perfect Skin by Nick Earls
When life throws him an unexpected curve, thirty-something laser surgeon and single father Jon Marshall must enter the world of dating in a post-Duran Duran world where he has many misadventures.

Hollywood Dodo by Geoff Nicholson
Accompanying his starry-eyed daughter to Hollywood, self-appointed "moral bodyguard" Dr. Henry Cadwallader watches her ambitions flourish in unexpected ways, a situation that is complicated by a young man's determination to resurrect an extinct bird.

Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis
Taking a break from her career when her mother is diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer, lawyer Emily is disillusioned by her mother's dramatic attention-seeking behaviors and takes an unobtrusive job in her father's law firm.

FATHER/SON:

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Hilarious, energetic, and profoundly touching, a debut novel follows a young writer as he travels to the farmlands of eastern Europe, where he embarks on a quest to find Augustine, the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and, guided by his young Ukrainian translator, he discovers an unexpected past that will resonate far into the future.

Rich Part of Life by Jim Kokoris
Teddy and his brothers find their lives thrown into turmoil by the death of their mother and, soon afterwards, a winning lottery ticket that leaves the family with more money than they ever imagined.

Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
Harry Silver has everything that money can buy, and everything it can't. He's a successful TV producer, with a beautiful wife and an adorable young son. Yet something is niggling Harry. He's about to turn 30, and the end of his youth seems to be looming.

Book Against God by James Wood
His marriage and academic career falling apart, philosophy doctoral student and chronic liar Thomas Bunting secretly writes an atheistic manuscript he hope will be his opus and returns to the side of his ailing parish priest father.

Meely LaBauve by Ken Wells
Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve comes of age in the Catahoula Bayou, where he struggles to have a relationship with his father, a drunk and an alligator hunter, and survive in a tough neighborhood.

Handling Sin by Michael Malone
Raleigh Hayes has barely finished lunch when he receives news that his eccentric father, Earley Hayes, has checked himself out of the hospital, drained his bank accounts, and left town in a yellow Cadillac convertible in the company of a mysterious, young black woman who, rumor has it, the elder Hayes intends to marry.

So there you have a walk on the lighter side.  Hope you have a Happy Father's Day full of fun and memories with your fathers!