Books We’re Grateful For 🦃

Great reads to get you through Thanksgiving

5 min readNov 17, 2017

Thanksgiving. As those who celebrate the holiday know, it can be a chore to go around in a circle and talk about all the things we’re grateful for in our lives. It might be especially difficult to remember the good things with all the social conflict that has permeated this past year. However, no matter the turmoil around us, the one thing we’re always grateful for is books. So if you find yourself in a bind, turn to one of these great reads, and try sharing one of them when it’s your turn at the table!

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

Morrison’s latest venture in nonfiction seeks to further discuss the question of race and how the presence of someone who is “Other” has become something to be afraid of and take caution towards. Using her Norton Lectures as foundation, Origins of Others tells of our learned racism and how literature has impacted it, both positively and negatively. Personal memories, history, politics and compassion form a compelling narrative that will stay with you long after the final pages.

The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown

All’s fair in fashion and war. This fantastic book comes to us from Tina Brown, who contrary to everyone’s expectation, saved Vanity Fair from the brink in the 1980's. Her personal diaries reveal the often dramatized but very realistic competition of the media world, her life as a newly transplanted Englishwoman in NYC, and the hard-work of a woman executive in a glittering (literally) era. Often hilarious and always intriguing, Brown’s diaries are a backstage look into a dazzling world.

Annie Leibovitz Portraits 2005–2016

The third in a series of portrait collections, Portraits shows never before published photos by iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz. Her perspective as an artist gives her a unique ability to personalize the look of well-known figures. You will spend hours with this collection, admiring the depth, detail and story of each image. From Angelica Houston to James Franco, view a side of celebrity you’ve never seen before.

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

A winning example of a new age of graphic novel, The Best We Could Do is filled with gripping illustrations painted and inked into a personal memoir. Bui tells of her family’s escape from South Vietnam in the 1970's and feelings of displacement as a child refugee. She parallels this with her journey into motherhood and the unspoken discoveries of being a first-time parent. This stunning work provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past.

The Book Of Dust by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman’s young adult prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy is about a boy named Malcolm who is a bit of a spy. In his sleuthing, he overhears gossip and scandal from people who frequent his parents’ inn. One fateful day, he hears a secret message not intended for his ears and begins to notice many suspicious people at the inn all looking for a little girl named Lyra.

This Book is a Planetarium by Kelli Anderson

While this pop-up book is technically meant for children, we kind of really want one. Kelli Anderson has redefined the bounds of books by not only creating content on a variety of disciplines, but offering you a way to actually build six fully functional tools out of its pages! A planetarium, a musical instrument, a geometric drawing generator, an infinite calendar, a message decoder, and even a speaker can be created, combining innovation with interaction for a one-of-a-kind experience for kids of all ages.

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

If we are to learn from history so we are not doomed to repeat it, then this is our study guide. The New York Times Bestseller offers 20 lessons in hopes of enlightening readers to the failings of past democratic states. The hope? That our current political climate should not fall to tyranny as we’ve seen in some European countries. Deemed “easily the most compelling volume among the early resistance literature” by The Washington Post, this pocket-sized guide might be just what you didn’t know were looking for.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

You may pick this up casually because of the title, but you’ll be all the better for it. Manson “cuts through the crap” to give no nonsense guidance to leading your happiest life. Honest, but not cruel. Biting, but not vicious. With a fine balance of well-conducted research and crude jokes, Manson argues that in an era of winning just for participating, we’ve lost the ability (or even desire) to confront our fears, weaknesses, and uncertainties because we haven’t been made to. Figure out how many f*cks you should give about what matters most, then go live ya best life.