We are just a couple weeks away from the Thanksgiving, our stomach's favorite day of the year. Getting ready for the holiday can be stressful and exhausting, so, with the Thanksgiving novels below, step away from reality while staying in the holiday spirit! Here are some novels which take place around and on Thanksgiving.
Do you have any recommendations for me? Email mkotelchuck@whatsupmag.com with your most recent read and a quick review about it to be featured!
Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes: On Thanksgiving Day 2007, three generations of the Olson family gather. Eleanor and Gavin worry about their daughter, Ginny, an unmarried academic in her 30s, a newly adopted Indian daughter, and about their son, Douglas, who has recently been caught in the imploding real-estate bubble. But Ginny and Douglas, determined to have a perfect holiday, keep their troubles secret, a skill they have learned from their parents.
As old grudges, personality clashes, and a stove malfunction spiral the Olson's holiday into a tense and foodless afternoon, 17-year-old Kijo Jackson and his best friend, Spider, set out from the housing projects on a mysterious job. As these two families - one white, one black - head toward a violent and inevitable encounter, Jennifer Vanderbes masterfully lays bare the fraught lives of these fascinating characters and the lengths to which they will go to protect their families.
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler: Travel writer Macon Leary hates travel, adventure, surprises, and anything outside of his routine. Immobilized by grief, Macon is becoming increasingly prickly and alone, anchored by his solitude and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts. Then he meets Muriel, an eccentric dog trainer too optimistic to let Macon disappear into himself. Despite Macon’s best efforts to remain insulated, Muriel up-ends his solitary, systemized life, catapulting him into the center of a messy, beautiful love story he never imagined. A fresh and timeless tale of unexpected bliss, The Accidental Tourist showcases Tyler’s talents for making characters—and their relationships—feel both real and magical.
Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich: When Megan Murphy discovered a floppy-eared rabbit gnawing on the hem of her skirt, she meant to give his careless owner a piece of her mind — but Dr. Patrick Hunter was too attractive to stay mad at for long! With his husky bedroom voice he teased her, with his eyes the color of a stormy ocean he tantalized her… and soon she found herself falling irresistibly, helplessly in love. Maybe it was her gloriously silky red hair or the freckles on her nose, or maybe just her adorable sense of whimsy that made Pat want to carry his lovely temptress off to his old-fashioned four-poster bed. Playing house together, making Thanksgiving dinner for their families, filled them both with a longing for the sweet times to last. But Megan had wept over one failed love, and it hurt so much to risk again. Could the doctor who kissed her breathless help heal her heart?
