Walking with Sam
By Andrew McCarthy
As a young man, actor Andrew McCarthy completed an extraordinary adventure: the 500-mile trek across Spain’s Camino de Santiago. This legendary pilgrimage, rich in medieval history, leads travelers to a cathedral in the Galicia region of northwest Spain. From the moment Andrew’s son was born, he dreamed they could accomplish this journey together. At 19, Sam was finally ready. Stick in hand, the father-son duo set out on the quiet, arduous task of walking. Essentially off the grid and weighed down with heavy packs, they fell into a nomadic rhythm of hiking, eating and sleeping in small villages with bare necessities. The weeks of open road ahead were filled with conversations ranging from the zombie apocalypse to music to painful memories of divorce. Connecting with adult children is a challenge many of us face. Accepting they are independent while encouraging them to be brave and confident can be the hardest job in the world. Andrew’s memoir of his walk with Sam is filled with love, lessons, patience, blisters and disagreements. It’s the perfect book to celebrate our fathers.
All the Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
Werner is a boy growing up in a German orphanage, caring for his younger sister, Jutta, in a grim mining town during the Nazi invasion. Their only distraction is the world of radios and transmissions. Jutta listens to the world she cannot reach, while Werner discovers a natural gift for repairing and building electronics; his decisions and sense of duty are deeply affected by the loss of their father. Marie-Laure is an imaginative girl in France, blind and skillfully attuned to the smells and sounds around her. When her father, Daniel, a master locksmith at the National Museum, is arrested, her great uncle Etienne, a genius suffering from agoraphobia, becomes her protector and mentor. Etienne nourishes Marie-Laure’s love of science and stories. A boy and a girl, leading two very different lives, are brought together through the pain and suffering of loneliness, desire and the destruction of beauty during wartime. The novel intricately explores fatherhood through its central characters as protectors, educators and sources of inspiration. This story, also an incredible Netflix series, showcases both the nurturing and desperate sacrifices of fatherhood against the backdrop of war.
Look For Me There
By Luke Russert
In 2008, when Tim Russert passed away, America mourned a beloved journalist who,
for many, was the best television political moderator they had ever seen. Luke Russert
lost his dad, a man he loved and admired more than anyone in the world. He also lost
confidence in his future and what it represented. His mother, Maureen Orth, also a
journalist, encouraged him to explore the world. Her early Peace Corps experiences and
deep religious beliefs shaped her views and aspirations. She hoped it would do the
same for her son. As Luke’s journey challenged him, it went on for much too long, according to his mother. Luke became desperately lonely and fell into an abyss of grief.
Without his father there to cheer him on, experiences felt pointless. Luke tries his best
to really “see” people, like his dad always did, but cannot find his inner voice. At first, this
memoir reads like a travel journal or diary, but it transforms as Luke learns more about
his parents’ lives, and he begins to grow in ways he never imagined. Facing fears, living
with loss and finding faith. Three lessons we all must learn.
WorthWatching: ‘Old Dads’ on Netflix
Three lifelong friends become fathers later in life and find themselves up against yuppie school principals, hip young CEOs, organic parents and virtually everything created after 1987. Laugh-out-loud Father’s Day fun!
