ThanksReading
November 23, 2008

Erma Bombeck once called this holiday “the Great American Pig-Out.” And I think she called it right. I am not talking of just food, though there is certainly that, but of the rabidity with which so many people stuff travel, family, shopping, expectations, disappointments—and food—into these four days.

But what if, for once, we didn’t do that? What would the Thanksgiving holiday look like?

I suspect it would look something like the one I have planned. This year, I accepted an invitation to join a large group of friends—some good, others to be met—for dinner on Thursday afternoon. My only contribution will be homemade cranberry sauce that has already been made. There will be no frantic housecleaning, no wrestling with a twenty-pound bird, no multiple loads of dishes to be washed. The heaviest lifting I will be doing over those four days will be that of the books I have put in a special pile for a new tradition: The Great Thanksgiving Weekend Read.

This is the first time I will be pretty much alone during this four-day holiday weekend. And I am looking forward to it. I will be spending leisurely mornings reading in bed followed by lazy breakfasts followed by more reading under the leafy tree in the front yard or comfortably ensconced on the sofa (depending on the weather), the only interruptions being Thanksgiving dinner and a Saturday luncheon with a good friend.

Usually the two weeks before Thanksgiving are filled with thoughts of shopping, of making the cranberry sauce, of defrosting the homemade turkey stock from last year and making gravy, of making the dressing, and doing the pre-roasting preparatory work. Not this year. For the first time the only scouring I did was that of my bookshelves, pulling out one book after another, looking for just the right ones upon which I plan to gorge myself. I may not, probably will not, finish them but oh, the literary dining I will do!

Feasting upon books offers the same satisfying feeling as do my favorite Thanksgiving foods. But there is an advantage. Books are calorie free; they feed my brain but not my hips. They will last longer in my mind than the turkey will in my stomach. So my holiday will consist of a moderate amount of turkey and dressing along with an excessive number of books. It’s the Great American Pig-Out, after all, and why would I want to limit myself?

The Road from Damascus by Scott C. Davis. From the jacket flap: “In February, 2001 Scott C. Davis flew to Damascus, participated in raucous political salons, and travels quickly and widely across the country . . .. As he traveled, Davis found himself following the path of Alexander the Great, tracing the route of Mongol invaders, and climbing stone battlements erected by Crusaders. He found strands of history that were still unbroken; men and women living in villages beside the castles who were descendents of ancient armies and empires.” Yum.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky was published in 2007 to much acclaim. It has been on my bookshelves for about a year during which I have looked longingly at it several times. I love Anna Karenina, which I have read several times. Now it is War and Peace’s turn. I know I wouldn’t finish this even if I did nothing else that weekend so I will consider that its start is a good fit to a weekend of good excess.

Essays by George Orwell. Ah, Orwell. The man of a thousand complications. Most of us have read his two most famous novels but his essays, a huge number of them, may be even better. It matters little where Orwell casts his essayist eye; the result is guaranteed to be a rich, sometimes bitter, always complex trip of observations, commentary, irony and accusations.

Narcissus Leaves the Pool by Joseph Epstein. Editor and essayist Epstein uses his philosophy of taking “what seems to be a small or mildly amusing subject and open[ing] it up, allow[ing] it to exfoliate, so that by the end something arises that might be larger and more intricate than anyone—including the author—had expected.” It’s the perfect definition of the personal essay, and I am looking forward to diving into this particular pool.  

California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown by Ethan Rarick. I grew up in Pat Brown’s California, the land of sunshine and quality education and fairness and just plain fun. It was a good time and a good place for families, and the man who had the most influence then and still today (since most comparisons are made against what he brought about) remains Pat Brown. More people today probably know his son, Jerry, but it was Edmund G. (“Pat”) who set the standard that made California the standard-bearing state. 

Rounding the Horn: Being the Story of Williwaws and Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries and Naked Natives—A Deck’s Eye View of Cape Horn by Dallas Murphy. I read this once already for the reason that I like the adventure genre and found especially intriguing the subtitle, one of the longest I have seen that was not published prior to the twentieth century. The book did not live quite up to its promise, but overall it was good. It satisfied my lust for faraway places, for their history and for the compelling awfulness that such difficult times and locations inspire. For weeks I have heard its siren call and I can resist no longer. 

From all of us here at BiblioBuffet to all of you: Happy Thanksgiving. We also wish you a very happy ThanksReading.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
There are none this week.

The Pub House:
Steerforth Press is somewhat unusual in that its focus is not a genre but “worth.” In their words, they publish “a wide range of works on a variety of topics” that “engage the full attention of the reader, and [have] something new or important to say. Here is where you will find their hardcovers and “trade paperback editions of enduring works of nonfiction. Zoland, one of the two imprints, focuses on fiction, poetry and arts-related memoirs, while Steerforth Italia’s focus is, not surprisingly, Italy and Italian culture.

Among Steerforth’s new releases are a biography of Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s first African American driver in the difficult times of the 1950s; the true story of a Chinese spy who operated for more than thirty years at the CIA; and a novel about an Englishman who deserted the European war in 1916 and fled to the U.S. only to come under the sway of an American con man and a beguiling actress, both of whom lead him back toward the war he had hoped to forget.

Of Interest:
For those of you who live in  or will be visiting New York City, the Strand Bookstore is holding a contest to see who can produce the best pictures of the store. From now through February 27, 2009, amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit “photo representations” for the Eye on the Strand contest. Finalists and winners will be part of a reception and gallery display, and the prizes for the winners are wonderful. For more information, click on the link provided above.

This Week:
It’s a bit different here because I am using this space to share my cranberry sauce recipe. If you are accustomed to the canned variety, this is going to be very different. Even if you make your own (or buy the freshly made) my version can be startling because it is tart. Bear in mind most recipes call for at least one cup of sugar per bag. I use a scant one cup for three bags, which allows the cranberry flavor to dominate. Feel free to add a bit more sugar if you like, but don’t overdo it. Prepare this at least eight hours in advance and let it chill well.

3 bags of cranberries, picked over and place in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan
1 leveled cup of sugar (or less)
Zest (no white pith) and squeezed juice of two small oranges or tangerines
Zest (no white pith) and squeezed juice of one lemon
Fresh ginger juice (place peeled, sliced ginger root slices in garlic press and squeeze)