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[Image by Sabrina Ripke from Pixabay]

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and, for many of us, that means mentally preparing for the annual digging up of family drama. Someone’s secretly pregnant – or was. Someone illicitly adopted a baby and is unwilling to return them to their birth parents. Someone is completely bankrupt and is planning a pilgrimage to their daughter’s house. Oh wait. That’s just the families in these incredible novels. To prepare for the family drama (and ensuing headache) of the upcoming Thanksgiving festivities, here are four novel courses of families you’re thankful aren’t yours, plus a palate cleanser to get you through the rest of the holiday season.

[Penguin Random House]

When you think about cats in comics, who comes to mind? Some of the most obvious are the cats who live in classic comic strips—Garfield, with his love of lasagna and hatred of Mondays, Hobbes, the beloved stuffed tiger come to life, even the multitudes of nameless cats that pop up in comic strip after comic strip online. But the funny pages aren’t the only place to find incredible felines. Comic books and graphic novels have their fair share of four-footed characters with real depth and charm. These aren’t cats that dispense weekly soundbites or tired catchphrases, but fully developed characters who lie, fight crime, swear, and discuss the stars and their place in the universe. Some silly, some complicated—these are the ten comic book cats we love best.

Last time: Dracula's type.

Next time: Ginger opens her heart.

New to the group? Meet the monsters.

[TV still from Sherlock, BBC]

When it comes to great side kicks in literature, it’s a no brainer that Dr. Watson takes the cake. Without this perceptive gentleman, Sherlock Holmes would be at a loss. Here are our favorite Watsons in pop culture.

It’s our favorite month of the year: NaNoWriMo. That’s National Novel Writing Month, for those of you who haven’t yet sacrificed your entire November to hitting that 50,000-word goal. Here at Quirk, we know that NaNoWriMo is exciting and invigorating. But we also know that writing a novel is hard. And lonely. And easy to give up on. All month, we’ll be sharing advice on how to finish that novel – and still have friends come December 1. So, gather your writer friends, stock up on snacks, and pull out your fluffiest pillows. Because you’re about to have the most productive party of all time.

We’ve got E.T. on our mind today and it’s a wonderful feeling. Our favorite extraterrestrial graces our pages today in a brand new picture book from illustrator Kim Smith. It’s enough to get our 80s-loving hearts a flutter. To celebrate this book’s release and the beautiful friendship between Elliott and E.T., here are some of our favorite interspecies friendships in pop culture.