Who’s Your (Lit) Daddy?
Article by staff
Where would we be without fathers? Literally, we would not be alive. But beyond that, these figures—sometimes loving, sometimes flawed—create so much of our sense of who we are, frustrating as that may sometimes be.
The same thing can happen with the authors we read when we’re young. So to celebrate Father’s Day, we asked the Brazos staff to pick its literary father figures.
Who’s your (lit) daddy?
Augusta Bartis, Inventory Manager
“Oliver Sacks. He’s a bearded teddy bear…and he’s smart…and he’s cool….He’s just my daddy, okay? Why do I have to explain it to you?”
Favorite Work: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Mark Haber, Store Manager
“Saul Bellow. Why? Maury Povich did DNA testing—Bellow is literally my father.”
Favorite Work: Humboldt’s Gift
Ülrika Moats, Gift Buyer
“William S. Burroughs—because I found a connection with him in my early twenties that has carried through my adulthood.”
Favorite Work: Junky
Keaton Patterson, Book Buyer
“Papa Hemingway. He’s the big, unruly, imperfect father figure of all twentieth century literature.”
Favorite Work: The Sun Also Rises
Benjamin Rybeck, Marketing Director
“David Foster Wallace. Even though I now understand how flawed and troubled he was, I still want to be him.”
Favorite Work: Oblivion
Liz Wright, Children’s Specialist
“Easy: Billy Shakes—not only because his stories are completely adaptable and universal, but also because…sorry, I’m trying to think of something funny to say, but I can’t. He legit means that much to me.”
Favorite Work: “Sonnet 23”
Jeremy Ellis, General Manager
"Franzen, because he's well meaning, even if he's maybe, slightly out of touch. And he can write a dysfunctional family relationship like no one else."
Favorite Work: The Corrections
Who’s YOUR literary father figure? Tweet/Instagram yours @BrazosBookstore!
