Dear Prudence,
We are spending this Thanksgiving with my in-laws. They are nice people, but conversationally challenged. I can spend days with them, and the only questions I will be asked are, “How are you?” when I arrive and “Would you like something to drink?” They can talk—they just don’t seem to want to talk to me. I ask questions about their lives, and generally try to engage them, but I usually end up listening to whatever they are talking about. I could not be in the room at all, and it wouldn’t matter to them. They always seem happy to get together, but then uninterested in my presence. I’ve tried not saying anything, but either they are happy to sit in silence or they divert to someone else (the questions they ask each other are more in-depth). At my family holidays, people engage each other on a number of topics, and no one is left twiddling their thumbs. I wonder if there’s anything to be done about this, or do I just bring a book and read if they’re just going to ignore me anyway?