If you haven't figured it out yet Father's Day is just around the corner. As in tomorrow. And if you haven't bothered to start your shopping yet you just may be outta luck. Better start thinking "homemade". OK, maybe there's still hope, and it comes in the form of the last grilling book your dad may ever need, 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes: Delicious, Easy-to-Make Recipes From Around the World.

Just out from our friends at Agate Surrey Publishing, 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes is the latest in their famous "1,001" series of books. Written by Rick Browne, host of the PBS TV series "Barbecue America" and the author of seven earlier cookbooks, this tome is crammed with tried and true techniques, helpful tips and tricks, and just about everything else the aspiring pitmaster could use. Did I mention that it's got over a thousand recipes?

From Beer Burgers to Dragon Ribs to Buttered Bourbon Onions, this book has something for everyone. And don't worry if dad's not all that good with the grill, the book kicks off with Rick's key tips to effective grilling. Think of them as training wheels for the charcoal challenged.
$13.62
AgatePublishing.com

So you finally want to start brewing your own beer but you’re not sure where to start. I get it. I was there once, too. It sounds so complicated with the grains, the hops and the boiling. Where do you even start? There are plenty of great references on the web that can walk you through the brewing process, but unless you like the idea of getting boiling wort all over your new iPad, I suggest you stick to the paper kind. Speaking of which, The Complete Homebrew Beer Book by George Hummel is just the thing.

Award-winning homebrewer and contributing writer for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, George Hummel is unleashing his take on homebrewing with this new book. I’ve had a chance to flip the pages and this one’s definitely going to make a great reference. I’m always on the lookout for another great homebrewing book to add to my library and The Complete Homebrew Beer Book doesn’t disappoint. It’s loaded with tons of beer recipes (over 200, actually), easy-to-follow brewing instructions and it’s written to keep the attention of beginner and advanced brewers alike.

Some of the other great features include recipes for soda and mead, and a comprehensive glossary crammed with everything you’ve ever wanted to know about brewing. And since the recipes are categorized according to level of brewing difficulty, you can pick and choose your spot on the learning curve – it’s beer circuit training as you make your way from an American Brown to a Belgian Dubbel building that brewer’s brain.
$16.47

There are very few books I say are a "must read" for guys. Living Loaded: Tales of Sex, Salvation and the Pursuit of the Never-ending Happy Hour is one of them. Not just because it was written by Dan Dunn, also known as The Imbiber, the lifestyle columnist for Playboy Magazine who drinks alcohol for a living. (And people say I have a great job.) And not just because Dan is a friend who I've spent quality drinking time with in both Las Vegas and Mexico... lost weeks I thankfully have pictures of, otherwise I'd have no idea what we did, or how good of a time we had...

No, Living Loaded is a must read, because it's one of the funniest and most truthful (as far as he can remember) books of a life lived to the bottom of a glass. If you've ever woken up with a marching band in your head, chained to the bedpost, with your clothes in a burning pile on the floor, you know what I'm talking about. (Plus each chapter begins with a cocktail recipes created exclusively for this book by sixteen of the world’s finest mixologists... so at the very least, it's got some redeeming value...)

Sammy Hagar, Danny DeVito, Rob McElhenney (creator/star of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), and adult film superstar Savanna Samson -- all highly respected literary critics -- have loved it, and now I want to give you a shot at winning a copy personally signed by Dan, so you can too.

All you need to do for a shot at winning a copy of this soon-to-be Great American Classic, is enter your email address here. And on Wed, Feb 23 I'll pick the 3 lucky winners. And I take no responsibility for the direction your life takes after that. But Dan and I will save you a seat at the bar.

To buy a copy of Living Loaded go here or here or here.

Baseball season is around the corner and that means tailgating season will be gearing up as well. Any excuse to light a flame and sear some meat. But space is limited for supplies. You can't be packing cookbooks in with your tongs, condiments and paper towels. Plus when you're elbows deep in ground sirloin and kosher dogs, you don't have time to pull out a cookbook and start looking for ideas. The better way to go is to have those grilling recipes on your phone.

Steven Raichlen, author of a ton of grilling books, including The Barbecue Bible, and a man Oprah herself called "the Gladiator of Grilling," has personally selected 31 of his favorite all-time recipes and compiled them in one inexpensive e-book.

For less than $4 bucks you can download Raichlen's Tailgating! 31 Righteous Recipes for On-the-Go Grilling and have classics like Goat Cheese and Dried Tomato Poppers, the Bratwurst "Hot Tub," Santa Maria Tri-Tip, Beer-Barbecued Chicken Wings, and even desserts like Coconut-Grilled Pineapple, right at your fingertips. Without the extra weight and bulk. Of the book. Your extra weight and bulk I can't vouch for.

Download from B&N and Amazon

What goes better with booty and pillaging than rum and swashbuckling? How about haiku? C’mon, you mean you’ve never put pirates together with a classical Japanese style of poetry consisting of 17 moras in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively? Don’t bother looking up what the hell a mora is. That’ll be 5 minutes of your life you’ll never get back. Instead, spend some time asking yourself why anyone would want to write a book of pirate haiku.

Maybe it’s because the market was already flooded with Serial Killer Sonnets or maybe it’s the only product niche left untouched since the release of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Whatever the reason, if your wish list has a book of pirate-inspired three-line poems that don’t rhyme, we’ve got you covered.

Slated to hit store shelves in plenty of time for the Christmas rush, Pirate Haiku: Bilge-Sucking Poems of Booty, Grog, and Wenches for Scurvy Sea Dogs by NY Times bestselling author Michael Spradlin, is just the thing for that hard-to-buy-for lover of 18th century water-borne criminals and Far Eastern poetry styles. Need more proof? It’s filled with hilarious and clever three-liners like:

Pirates are simple.
We like rum, guns, wenches. And
Women like bad boys.

And my personal favorite: ...There's more

You like beer. You like food. It’s only natural that you want to combine the two, right? I agree whole-heartedly... and so does food author and fellow beer-lover Lucy Saunders. In her cookbook, "The Best of American Beer & Food," she’ll have you crafting the perfect pairing of suds and grub in no time. And this book isn’t your run-of-the-mill cookbook. It’s loaded with full-color pictures and easy-to-follow recipes that just about any guy should be able to nail – even after a few pints.

The Best of American Beer & Food showcases chefs and craft brewers from around this great nation who not only love beer, but cook with beer. You’ll get suggestions on beer and food pairings that cover the gamut from pilsners to porters and everything in between. The book starts off innocently enough with a useful primer on the art of beer and food combinations and then dives straight into the goods.

There are 75 recipes, each complete with a suggested beer pairing to get you off on the right foot. The first half of the book is arranged by region of the country so you can easily head down south for some pulled pork and IPA or up to the Pacific Northwest for some salmon and hefewiezen.

Isn’t it time you beefed up your culinary game? We all know that women love a guy that can cook, and if you can get your beer at the same time, it’s a win-win.

$22.95
www.beertown.org

This post is for those of you who actually read books. The rest of you can go back to surfing for nip slip pics and "epic fail" videos.

If you love to read - but you're running out of shelf space, there are books you barely got through that you're sorry you bought, or you don't want to shell out $35 on the new bestseller - go check out BooksFree.com.

Playing on the hyper-successful Netflix business model, BooksFree let's you pick a monthly plan and choose from over 170,000 paperbacks and audio books they'll deliver right to your mailbox. Read it, then ship it back and get the next book in your queue.

They've got most of the bestsellers and classics, in a wide variety of genres, with new titles added every day. Plans start at $9.99 per month for two books at a time, and roll up to $47.99 per month, which will feed your addiction with 15 books at a time. Although, if you're reading 15 books a month, I seriously doubt you're reading this post. Or doing much of anything else.

www.booksfree.com

Photographer Kevin Lynch's new book, Octagon is the ultimate gift for the ultimate fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

As big, bulky and intimidating as many of the fighters featured inside, the coffee table-crushing 20.5 x 26-inch book is packed with over 800 pages of rare color and black & white photos of combatants moments before, and immediately after, they battle inside the Octagon. All your favorite fighters are here, including Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and more.

Packed in a handmade, leather-bound clamshell box, and rumored to weigh in at over 70 pounds, Octagon will set you back a cool $2500 for one of the 450 limited editions produced. If you want to go for one of the additional 150 that come with signed, limited edition, chromogenic prints of the cover, be prepared to part with at least $7,500. It's enough to make the average guy tap out.

If you want to see the book without having to take out a second mortgage, it has been making the rounds on the art gallery and book store circuit worldwide. Check www.octagon-book.com for places and dates.

It's a sad story that's happened to a lot of guys: at some point, some woman in your life - mom, girlfriend, wife - found your stash of Playboys and demanded you throw them out. Or, worse, took it upon herself to toss them for you. (This was a lot more prevalent pre-Internet.) I know guys in their 50s and 60s who are still lamenting classic issues hitting the dumpster under orders from She Who Must Be Obeyed. (Poor bastards.)

Fortunately ol' Hef wants to make sure you can once again relive your days of hiding in your room and getting yourself through puberty with Miss October. This November 25th, he and Playboy are releasing "Playboy - The Complete Centerfolds", a 720 page, 32 pound tome that includes every single one of the 625 centerfolds since Marilyn Monroe posed for the first in 1953.

You won't have to squint either. The book is 22 3/4 inches long - the same length as the magazine - so each centerfold is reproduced exactly as it appeared when first published. (Minus the staples from the early issues.) ...There's more

With the final installment of the Harry Potter juggernaut hitting shelves in exactly 4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes and 14 seconds from the time I am writing this post - (There's countdown clocks all over the net... it's insanity. What I want to know is where are the Hermione Becomes Legal countdown clocks? At least do something productive with your programming skills.) - and the news and Internet in full hysteria, I figured more than a few of you would be caught up in Pottermania. I also figured you'd be trying hard to conceal your literary shame from the other grown men and women around you.

Don't worry. Pointlesswasteoftime.com has your Muggle back. They've got a bunch of ingenious, hilarious and fully-printable book covers you can place over your copy of the Deathly Hallows, so you can find out who lives and who dies before some nine-year-old spills it. While at the same time preserving your masculinity.

www.pointlesswasteoftime.com