Books for dad or grandpa by various authors

c.2024, various publishers, $26-$32.95, various page counts

Your gift list this year has a lot of empty spaces.

You’ve put a lot of thought into it and you’ve still come up short. Some people are easy to buy for: you know what they want under the tree and it’s easy to find and wrap. For others, finding the right gift takes serious thought and several trips to the store or web. You need help and hints, and Dear Santa letters are welcome, or you can find these great books for dad or grandpa.

For the person who longs almost weekly for the perfect get-away, “Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman” by Patrick Hutchison (St. Martin’s Press, $29) may be what you want to give. It’s the story of a dream that started as a nightmare: without totally thinking it through, Hutchison purchased a tiny, ramshackle, off-the-grid cabin down a long driveway tucked away in the Cascade Mountains. Problem: it needed big-time repairs, and Hutchison wasn’t the handyman sort. This book is great for the person who craves solitude, belly laughs, projects, and good story.

If there’s an old-time music lover on your list, check out “Carl Perkins: The King of Rockabilly” by Jeff Apter (Citadel Press, $29). Like most good biographies, this book takes readers back to Perkins’ childhood and his earliest influences, moving through to the start of his career and his pioneering work, as well as the people he played with, on-stage and off. This is the book to give someone who remembers the music of the ‘50s, or the one who wasn’t “there” but still loves those tunes.

If curiosity is one of the things you love best about that person on your list, then “Father Nature: The Science of Paternal Potential” by James K. Rilling (MIT Press, $32.95) might be the book to give. This is a deep look at marriage, divorce, partnering, and the nature of nurture in males of our species and others. You may know that motherhood changes a woman’s brain, but did you know that fatherhood does the same for men? This is a great book for the science-minded person you know, bonus if he’s someone’s dad.

And finally, for the person who doesn’t mind a few heartbreaks in his book, “I Will Do Better” by Charles Bock (Abrams Press, $26) is the story of a man who’s not sure he wants to be a father, until he actually is. That’s the good news. The very bad news is, his wife is terminally ill and he soon has to learn how to parent his daughter alone. Wrap it up with tissues. It’s a rewarding read, but it’s that kind of book.

And if these aren’t exactly right for the hard-to-buy-for person on your list, head for your local bookseller or ask your librarian for suggestions. Both will be able to tease out the perfect gift to put under the tree, the gift that gives back when you get a smile.

Then clear a chair. Reading a good book requires a comfortable empty space.