Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons by Tim Russert

If ever there was a book to answer the question 'Who's your Daddy?', this is it. 

After writing his book 'Big Russ & Me', Tim Russert began to receive letters from sons and daughters who wanted to tell him about their fathers. From this batch of letters, Mr. Russert chose and compiled hundreds and organized them into this book. He sorted the letters into twenty chapters and began each chapter with a short introduction from his own experiences.

Occasionally, I enjoy reading compilations like this. Lots of short, sweet comments from a variety of people in varying situations. It was good to read about all these fantastic Dads. We hear so much about bad parenting and absent fathers in current events, how nice to hear children lauding their fathers. Some made me laugh and some brought tears to my eyes. Some reminded me of my own Dad and others were telling of experiences that were totally foreign to me. Still they were all interesting.

What I did start skipping over after a couple of chapters, was the commentary of the author. He also subtitled each submission with his own thoughts. It felt like he was trying to pull the attention away from the letter writer and onto himself. If I had wanted to read about his experiences either with his father or as a father, I would have read his other book. I wanted to hear what the letter writers had to say, in their own words and draw my own conclusions.

'Wisdom of Our Fathers' was a quick, fun book that allowed me to focus on my own Dad and our relationship, which is the purpose of this week leading up to Father's Day. I enjoyed it.