Books by Judd Apatow, Jason Matthews are great for Father's Day

With Father's Day a week away, some gift suggestions.

PALACE OF TREASON, by Jason Matthews. A retired CIA agent-turned-author follows up his bestselling debut, "Red Sparrow," with another novel of U.S.-Russia espionage. American operative Nate Nash is back, as is Dominika Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service, who is in love with Nash -- and secretly reporting on the Kremlin to him. This time Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment program pits the superpowers against one another. (Scribner, $26.99)

BUCKLEY AND MAILER: The Difficult Friendship That Shaped the Sixties, by Kevin M. Schultz. Norman Mailer was the pugnacious leftist, author ("The Naked and the Dead") and founder of The Village Voice; William F. Buckely Jr. was the patrician conservative, author ("God and Man at Yale") and founder of the National Review. Yet these two polarizing public figures of the 1960s were unlikely friends, as well as ideological sparring partners. "Buckley and Mailer" explores their relationship against the backdrop of that turbulent decade. (Norton, $28.95)

SICK IN THE HEAD: Conversations About Life and Comedy, by Judd Apatow. The influential writer and director ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up") and producer ("Freaks and Geeks," "Girls") has been an obsessive comedy nerd since he was growing up on Long Island in the 1970s and '80s. His new book collects interviews with comedians, dating back to a 1983 Q&A with Jerry Seinfeld, conducted when Apatow was 15 for Syosset High's WKWZ radio. Also on deck: Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer and many, many more. (Random House, $27)