Happy Father’s Day 3.5 readers!
Just a quick discussion topic – who is your favorite literary father?
I’m going to go with Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. He may not have been Cosette’s biological father, but he sure did go through a lot to protect her, thus illustrating to the reader that biology isn’t the only thing it takes to be a dad. Dedication and love are more important.
Remember, Cosette’s biological father got out while the getting was good, so he wasn’t exactly a dad to write home about.
What say you, 3.5?
Bookshelf Battle 
Definitely Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird!
If there’s a list he’d have to be at the top.
Someone already beat me to Atticus! So I’ll go with Hans Hubermann from The Book Thief!
I’d vote for him just because his wife was so mean to him but he stuck around anyway.
Recent, but the dad whose name escapes me in Tony Doerr’s new Pulitzer novel ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is the quintessence of awesome!
I’ve been meaning to read that. It sounds good.
I love Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. He’s hilarious!
I’m sad to say I’ve never read that. What about Darth Vader? He did throw his boss down a shaft to save his kid after all.
I actually thought of Vader right after I submitted that comment! Yup, even after nearly killing both his kids, he ended up being pretty ok as a dad.
Though I guess he did blow up his daughter’s adopted homeworld most likely with her adopted parents so…waah waah.
Anytime parenting in literature comes up, I go right to “Prince of Tides”. To me it’s examples of extremes on all sides. In the case of a good father, I’ll go with Tom Wingo, as a classic example of a man who learns from the mistakes of his own parents and strives to be the best he can, in spite of his flaws.
Crap. I’m just going straight to Denethor of Gondor. Very few of us don’t feel better about our own fathers after encountering him, and that’s a mitzvah in itself.