Give Dad a gift of words for Father's Day

MAN WITH A PAN: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who Cook for Their Families, edited by John Donahue (Algonquin, $15.95 paper). Stephen King microwaves salmon. Mario Batali serves his kids monkfish liver. Thirty-four writers share their kitchen war stories and their recipes in this delightful anthology, perfect for any dad who's had to whip up a weekday supper.

THE BOY IN THE MOON: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son, by Ian Brown (St. Martin's, $24.99). An exceptional book on a tough subject: Brown's 13-year-old son, Walker, was born with an extremely rare genetic malady that leaves him unable to speak and totally dependent. "Boy in the Moon" explores questions of fatherhood, medicine and humanity with honest intelligence and a welcome dark humor.

THE JUDGES OF THE SECRET COURT, by David Stacton (New York Review Books, $15.95 paper). For the Civil War buff: This 1961 historical novel, long out of print, tells the story of brothers Edwin and John Wilkes Booth. Edwin was a celebrated Shakespearean actor; John Wilkes, infamously, became Lincoln's assassin.

THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN: Sportswriting From The New Yorker, edited by David Remnick (Modern Library, $18 paper). Here's John Updike's classic Ted Williams tribute with the great title ("Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu"), plus Roger Angell on baseball (of course), Rebecca Mead on Shaquille O'Neal, David Owen on Tiger Woods -- even a 1949 Lillian Ross profile of Brooklyn-born bullfighter Sidney Franklin.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, by John le Carré (Penguin, $15 paper). If Dad hasn't read le Carré before (or even if he has), do him a favor and buy him the spymaster's iconic 1974 thriller, one of four handsome reissues in anticipation of the fall movie adaptation with Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.