Thanksgiving: books we’re thankful for
For today’s post, we’ve asked some of our regular contributors to share a book they are thankful for and why.
Joel Tannenbaum: I am eternally thankful for The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterward, the filmmaker Whit Stillman's novelization of his own 1998 film, The Last Days of Disco. In the novel's peculiar universe, the film is a "ripped from the headlines" dramatization of real events. One of the principal participants is mortified by his portrayal and has written his own account in order to set the record straight. All of the characters from the film reunite at the end of the novel, years later--older, sadder, happier, better, worse. When in 2016 I presented a copy to Whit Stillman to sign for my wife, he cheerfully did so, adding "Long Live Disco!" I don't actually care about disco but oh, how I love this book and this film.
Matthew Sparacio: I am thankful for Chad L. William's The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023) because it shows that even the best of writers like Du Bois struggle with how to frame a book, go back and forth over whether or not a book is ever finished, and even lose faith in the purpose of the work itself. Part apologia and part elegy for Du Bois's monumental history of the Black American soldier's experience in the Great War, The Wounded World is an elegant and sober reminder that perhaps the most valuable stories are never complete.
Elizabeth Stice: I am thankful for Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, which I have read and reread numerous times. It is one of the only books I’ve read which is genuinely “hauntingly beautiful” and inspiring in its style. It also captures a historical era in a very vivid way.
Sarah Selden: I'm thankful for An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green as it offers a really hopeful take on contemporary society--on the potential of using technology for good, the beauty of global interconnectedness, and the power of close friendships. It's also a really fun read!
Michael Jimenez: I am thankful for Min Jin Lee's novel Pachinko. The sweeping generational drama, charming like a Dickens novel, was hard to put down. I read it within a week and actually wept a couple of times because of the tenderness of the story. It was also fun to see my wife Lluvia pick it up later, totally engrossed by this beautiful book.
Sam Wilber: I am thankful for Emergent Strategies by Adrienne Maree Brown. This book has offered tangible strategies for making our communities equitable and safe for everyone. I'm thankful for the self-reflective nature of this book as we start to slow down for the colder seasons.
Brody Eldridge: I am thankful for The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara which I discovered during my junior year of undergraduate. O’Hara’s spontaneous poems, which make the quotidian beautiful and personal, have taught me that sometimes “you just go on your nerve,” as he describes.
Cecelia Larsen: This year I'm thankful for Little Shrew, a picture book-slash-early reader by Akiko Miyakoshi. For me, Little Shrew was a way to connect with my niblings who were fascinated that anthropomorphic Little Shrew lived alone (like I do) and in the city (again, like where I live), and sitting together and reading it aloud until my voice got hoarse was a rare and cozy delight -- just the like the illustrations in the book.
