On to Dad

Sh*t My Dad Says‘ provenance is so up-to-the-minute it would be embarrassing if the book weren’t so darn fun and entertaining.  Son Justin has a Twitter feed, and here’s his “about” explanation: I’m 29. I live with my 74-year-old dad. He is awesome. I just write down shit that he says.

Dad is a retired physician and his blunt, to-the-point comments are what you’d get if a smart, exasperated man had no filter between his brain and his mouth.  Such swear words!  Ay!  And yet still so funny.   Here’s the post for February 18th:  “There’s a word for people like that…No, I’m saying, there’s a word and I don’t know what it is. I’m not being fucking poetic.”

Justin Halpern has well over a million followers on Twitter.  Also a book deal.  And also a TV show starring William Shatner.

I would like to say that the book is a hollow recounting by a shallow son of the aimless rantings of a nutso dad.  But instead, I will say that it was the perfect antidote to Ruth Reichl’s sad, sad memoir about her mom.  And also the only book in memory that jolted me awake after my usual 9:45 bedtime.  Seriously, my husband was reading in bed with his itty bitty book light and laughing so hard, the bed jiggled and woke me up.

While his tweets do a great job of giving you a quick jolt of insight mixed with funny, in Sh*t My Dad Says, Halpern provides a narrative that takes all the good stuff his dad says and putting them into context.  The book’s a total winner.  Feel free to give it to your own dad for Father’s Day.