Every Day is Father's Day: The Best Things Ever Said About Dear Old Dad

by Robert Byrne (Editor)

A compendium of tributes, quips, and essays about fatherhood captures the thoughts of notable people from Aristotle to Martin Mull

207 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Robert Byrne is the author of seven novels, five collections of humorous quotations, seven books on billiards, two anthologies, and an expose of frauds in the literary world. One of his novels, Thrill, was made into NBC’s Monday Night Movie, which aired for the first time on May 20, 1996. Four of his novels were selections of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books and published in many languages. His style is widely praised for its clarity and wit. Byrne’s Standard Book of Pool and Billiards, published in 1978 and expanded in 1998, has sold over 500,000 copies. -byrne.org

Reviews

[E B]

This was a fun/quick read full of short stories and articles published previously spanning from the 80s when this book came out all the way back to centuries before about being a dad. Some of them have cute tidbits which can be learned, but most are just for a quick laugh.

[Posadafan]

Essays, quips, dated b/w photos and the occasional bit of poetry comprise this rather hodgepodge compendium of stuff about not only dear old dad, but also the dad you're glad you didn't have.

Though this book was published in 1989, some of the quotes and photos seem dated even for that time, and plain bizarre for this collection. There are way too many downright nasties from W. C. Fields and his ilk. And what seem like random archival photos are scattered throughout, with odd captions that feebly attempt to tie it into a Dad theme. Then there's a pic of two bare boys in the bush, about to spear a wildebeest or something, with the simple headline "Bechuanaland." Um, huh?

Told from the POV of both Dad and adult child, there are some gems here, too...a bittersweet essay by Bob Greene about attending his Dad's retirement banquet, only to realize he's been an outsider to half of his dad's life. And "On Raising Two Daughters" by Lee Iacocca made me want to run to my spouse and give him this article as a manual on how to do it right (even tho we have no girls).

Co-authored by Teressa Skelton.





Co-authored by Teressa Skelton (credit where it's due, here).