This year I am thankful for:

Subcontinent--I feel like I needed a lot of advice this year, and most of it I found within myself, or by listening to StoryCorps, or by re-reading my religious text of choice, The History Boys, but the handful of times I let her know what I was thinking and what I was facing she was there, not only with encouragement but with sympathy as well, and that's more rare than you would think.

Roommate J--for similar reasons, but mostly for our epic summer e-mails and for the original works of art she is constantly providing to decorate my room. The froomies know what I mean.

Anthony Blunt--I'm going to London in January to read his memoir. They gave me money and everything. My thesis topic rocks, and it's because the Cambridge spies are crazy-fascinating to everyone.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt--Oh my goodness.

The Aged Ps--Parents who give not only the gift of friendship and flawless parenting but also the freedom to spend a year off doing what I want are definitely something to be thankful for.

Also: peppermint tea; Cornel West's music-only lecture; The Civilians; SWAN Day; tea chats with K; carrel parties with A; perfect reunions with HarvardGirl and StOlafBoy; chocolate chip cookies; learning to make The Chocolate Sauce; the venerable Subaru; Bottles of St. Pourcain; A Suitable Boy; the constant companionship of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Some Like It Hot; RedHead, who told me I was one of her favorite writers when I most needed to hear it; Lawnparties photo shoots; the Spelman Hall nuclear family; Midori sours; Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; "One day I had to admit to myself that I was a Bert, not an Ernie."; San Francisco; John Le Carré, George Smiley's glasses-cleaning habits, Young Peter Guillam, and Jim Prideaux (breaking readers' hearts since 1974); champagne, mixed nuts, pedicures, and dress-up; Jane Eyre adaptations; posters; sinister swedes; Kate Bularski; oral history; "Entrepreneeeeuuuurrr"; the carpet on the floor of my room at Princeton.