It’s the seasons to be thankful, and for this Thanksgiving day, here are some of the books to be grateful for. We’re sharing some of our favorites, and in the comment section, we’d love to read about yours.

Melissa, the LibraryCanary:

“My Aunt Jane’s Christmas presents were the best. They weren’t expensive or exotic or even particularly well-chosen. In fact, they were usually downright odd. Which is what my sister and I loved about them.

Every year, we’d wait for the box to arrive in the mail. We’d unpack the carefully wrapped, misshapen lumps inside, each with an accompanying note in Jane’s sprawling cursive. One year there was a long necklace made of Christmas lights, a turquoise leather bolero. A copy of Doctor Zhivago (for a niece age eight or nine.) A collection of her hand-written stories and memories.

But my favorite gift of all was a tiny pocket-sized edition of Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus. I was nearly twelve and filling notebooks with poetry. I did not understand the strange poems in Rilke’s book, but I carried it around with me— talisman, lucky beach stone, map. The little book told me someone saw me as Poet, too. These poems of solitary descent into the unknown, the ‘underworld’ of self and mystery, have become touchstones for me as a working poet. I am grateful to my Aunt Jane for the gift of encouragement.”

Go on to PAGE 2 to find out what book theothercanary is grateful for….