Our mothers always told us to write thank you notes. We tried, with varying degrees of success, to send cards thanking our aunts and uncles for their well-intentioned birthday gifts and write notes to our friends’ parents post-sleepover. But remember those kids who would always turn out immaculate thank you notes a day after they got the present? Not us. Oh well, we were good at different things. But Leah Dieterich is good at thank yous. Her blog, thxthxthx, is a “daily exercise in gratitude,” where she posts her witty, genuine thank you notes daily, acknowledging everything from wine to the noises her radiator makes. Here are a few of our favorite thank you notes — thank you notes to Dieterich’s favorite authors, of course. Don DeLillo, we hope you’re listening.
Dear Don DeLillo:
Dear Junot Diaz:
Dear Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly:
Dear Haruki Murakami:
Okay, we couldn’t help ourselves. Here are a couple more, not exactly to authors, but more to books in general. Look, just ask Mom, it’s not like you can have too many thank you notes.
Dear Infinite Jest:
Dear Books: