So, today is Father’s Day, a day to
celebrate Dad’s everywhere and with that in mind, and because I feel like this
blog should perhaps maybe be a little bit more than all the reviews all time,
I’m going to talk about Dads with daughters because I’m a daughter who
genuinely honestly 100% believes her Dad is the best man she ever met and a
million times better actually than any
on this list. It was a fun list to compile actually because there’s a lot of
them and some are good and some are bad and some are downright nuts and it made
me happy. & also made me want to do some serious re-reading. & I know
you want to know who made the cut, so sit down ,grab a cup of coffee and take a
look and then drop me a comment and let me know who your favourite bookish Dads
are. I WANT TO KNOW.
Ooooh, actually let's make a list. I love a list.
1. Mr March from Little Women.
Seriously though, somebody hold me.
This here is a Dad that has the whole art of Dadness totally figured out. He
loves his Little Women so much and
they dote on him so hard and yak, I want to be a March sister so much, still.
2. Father from The Railway
Children. (What's his name though, anyone?) I have nothing to say to you here other than Daddy, my Daddy. I’m not crying, you’re crying. I just happen to
have a branch in my eye.
3. Can you even have a list of Father/Daughter stuffs
without Atticus Finch circa To Kill A Mockingbird? I think not. He’s
the greatest, isn’t he, Atticus with his morals and his wisdom and the depth of
his love for Scout (and Jem). He’s pretty much all you ever want in a Dad. He’s
firm but fair, he’s honest, he’s never ever
condescending and he has a sense of right and wrong that puts the whole
rest of the world ever to shame. If I had to choose a literary Dad I’d choose
Atticus for sure.
4. King Lear because again, what is a Father/Daughter list without
this idiot on it. I mean seriously, what an asshat he was: Oh hai daughters IF
YOU WANT THE THINGS YOU MUST PROVE WHO LOVES ME THE MOST ME BECAUSE I AM A WEAK
AND VAIN OLD MAN AND I NEED ALL THE
VALIDATION. Ha. This play though: Idiot Dad, two out of three idiot daughters.
Shakespeare was good at his shit. It’s a bit of a Cinderella story this one,
sans happy ending (not so much happy ever after here guys, keep on walking)
although it’s actually one of my fave Shakespeare plays. Mostly because I can
spend the majority of it rolling my eyes and hating everyone. BECAUSE I HAVE
EYES TO ROLL BECAUSE I AM NOT A CHARACTER IN KING LEAR. Soz Gloucester.
5. Humbert Humbert who is absolutely not what a good (step) father is
supposed to be and why are more people not creeped out by Lolita please. That book, it’s s problematic and it makes me so
angry and I give zero fucks how well
written it is because.. actually you know what, another soapbox; another
day. Anyway, he gets a mention even though my skin is crawling because I am not
only mentioning the good guys. I’m actually mentioning the worst guys apparently
because parenting DOES NOT GET WORSE THAN THIS. & people will hate me and judge me because
everyone thinks Lolita is amazing but
I care not a jot. I do not think it is amazing. At all. I hate it.
6. Hans and Liesel from
The Book Thief. I don’t think I will ever be over The Book Thief. Ever. That book, though. And Hans Hubermann. He has
courage in his convictions even though it could get him killed, he paints and
he plays the accordion and he couldn’t have loved Liesel any harder had he
actually been her actual Dad. & he taught her to read. Love him. Love them.
7. Raymond
and Cecile from Bonjour Tristesse because again with not only mentioning the
good guys. Not that Cecile’s Dad is bad per
se, just a little self-centred and misguided. Have you read Bonjour Tristesse? I loved it when I was a teenager. LOVED IT.
Mostly because it seemed so decadent, Cecile’s lifestyle her freedom. She’s
actually a bit of a brat though, truth be told and her hedonistic womanising
Dad is certainly no Atticus Finch. Theirs is a fun story to read though and a
very interesting exploration of the father/daughter dynamic.
8.Matthew Cuthbert and
Anne from Anne of Green Gables. I
lived in the Anne books for quite a long time when I was a kid. That world was
my world and was there ever a sweeter man than Matthew Cuthbert who had zero clue
how to handle a girl, least of all Anne Shirley, but who loved her so fiercely
regardless and he always had her back. He was so quiet and shy and Anne was so Anne but somehow they just gelled and I love
them.
9.Mr Wormwood and
Matilda. YAK. Mt Wormwood is an ass and
Matilda is seventeen shades of amazing and his uneducated ridiculous conniving
cruel self just makes me angry because people like him don’t even desrve to
have children. YAK YAK YAK. But then, if he hadn’t been who he was (and who he
is now, is the guy from the musical ‘all I know I learned from telly, this big beautiful
box of facts) then Matilda would never have ended up with Miss Honey and the
world would have been a little less happy. Because it’s totally real what are
you even talking about.
10.Captain Crewe and
Sara from A Little Princess. I mean, he spoiled her I know that (now, I didn’t see
it that way at all when I was 7) but only because he loved her more than any
other thing on the planet. Seriously, so much doting and you know she might
have been spoiled but she wasn’t spoiled was she, she was almost too
nice, Pollyanna levels of looking on the bright side almost that one, and that’s
got to be down to her Dad, right? He instilled that sense of goodness and hope
in her which is excellent parenting. And then he dies and it’s the worst.
11. Mr Bennett and
Elizbeth from Pride and Prejudice because
he’s excellent and long suffering and he loves his daughters but seems to have
that extra special kind of a bond with Elizabeth (although he doesn’t exactly
hide that fact which is less than stellar parenting) and fair enough he could
have perhaps handled Lydia a little better but hey, that girl was headstrong and perhaps nothing save
locking her in the attic ala Mrs Rochester would have helped keep that girl out
of the worst kind of trouble, and besides: An
unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a
stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do
not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.
I
love him just for that.
Talk to me guys. Good list? Bad list? WHO DID I MISS?
