Mark-Twain Style Thanksgiving...

Mark Twain is infamous for his American wit and controversial topics (with his banned book, Huckleberry Finn and his many witty turn-of-phrase lines).  So many of this books have been devoured by readers of all ages over the years. He broached racial and class relations, time travel, dialectic local color, coming of age, tricksteristic antics, and identity convolutions--as we venture down the river and around the world, following his Pied-Piper call.

November is the perfect time of the year to recollect the contributions of our favorite American writer--Turkey Day is just around the corner, and the  tell-all autobiography was released in November 2011 by University of California Press (has it been a year already?)...

Of course, Mark Twain had classic bits of wit and wisdom to offer about Thanksgiving! He had opinions on just about any topic you can imagine; and he was prolific in jotting 'em down (although it's taken 100 years now for some of his tidbit thoughts and personal observations to come to light.

Mark Twain's Thanksgiving observations seem particularly appropriate this year:  "The observance of Thanksgiving Day--as a function--has become general of late years. The Thankfulness is not so general. This is natural. Two-thirds of the nation have always had hard luck and a hard time during the year, and this has a calming effect upon their enthusiasm."

Mark Twain is one of the writers with whom I'd love to sit down on a porch somewhere (if I could go back in time). Can you imagine sitting with him and talking about books, writing, or really any topic at all. I imagine the conversation would be amazing!

Would you like to be there? What topics would you want to discuss? What questions would you ask? And, what do you think Mark Twain would say about the current state of affairs--with books, technology and all the rest of it this November?