Guys, Take a Page From Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs

Michael Chabon throws his voice into the widening pool of “daddy diaries” with Manhood for Amateurs, which offers “poignant meditations on manhood, fatherhood, and aspects of his own childhood.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning author emerges from the essays “as a prince among men,” writes Heller McAlpin for NPR. “Not only does he produce dazzling novels, he also cooks, cleans, markets, and gets his children to their appointments—and counts himself fortunate to be in a position to do so.”

Among the “lovely qualities” unveiled by Chabon in his book: He “clearly adores and respects his mother,” a single parent; he’s aware of “the disparity between expectations for fathers and mothers”; he “takes his kids to junky movies and erects elaborate Lego constructions with them.” More than anything, “these essays focus on the wonders of childhood and parenting.” (More Michael Chabon stories.)