Thanksgiving for Your Book Club

This Thanksgiving Day, you have a unique opportunity with your book club. Besides serving up some great food, you can also take this chance to look up some great literature. This will also give your book club an opportunity to get out of the book format, and look at some short stories, poetry, and other styles and forms of writing. Of course you can stick to a traditional book, but with a shorter piece of literature, more time can be spent on analysis and discussion. Besides that, you will be assured that everyone will actually read their assigned writing.

The Reading List

A Thanksgiving Poem - Paul Laurence Dunbar

A Thanksgiving To God, For His House - Robert Herrick

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving - Louisa May Alcott

The Morning of the Day Appointed for a General Thanksgiving. January 18, 1816 - William Wordsworth

The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor - Hezekiah Butterworth

What I Am Thankful For - Mark Twain

Truly getting away from the novel format, this "interview" of Samuel Clemens truly shows this political satirist's style, wit, and indigestion! Not your typical reading for Thanksgiving, but it is a good piece of Farce for any time period, and for that matter, any Holiday!

Jane Murray's Thanksgiving - Rebecca Harding Davis

Over the River - Lydia Maria Child

This song I always had sung during Christmas is actually a poem about traveling to grandmother's house on Thanksgiving!

The Food

Warning. These food suggestions are not for those who are sensitive to carbohydrates or are on a low carbohydrate diet. Sorry :(

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Take mini-pie tins found at any decent sized grocery store with a baking aisle. Fill each as if you were making individual pumpkin pies. You do need to adjust the baking time a 'bit. Make sure you check if they are set with a fork or toothpick. Top with Whipped Cream. Though these are a good way to involve portion control, they are still very addictive!

Thanksgiving Dinner Pies

Prepare the following per instructions. Stuffing (with dried cranberries mixed in), turkey breast, Green Bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. In your mini-pie tins, layer the bottom and sides with your prepared stuffing (as you would a crust). Add a mixture of primarily turkey, and spread the green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes (optional) almost as 'condiments'. Top your 'pie' with a thin layer of stuffing, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Voila, thanksgiving dinner in a pocket. An alternative would be to use a 'sandwich maker', and layer the stuffing like you would do slices of bread. If you use this alternative method, your 'pies' will be more like Thanksgiving sandwiches, and will stay together much better!

If you would like some Thanksgiving novels or longer works, my article on the best books of fall should help.