The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 (The Best American Series (TM))
by Dave Eggers
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Read in January, 2008
What more can I say about Dave Eggers. His work as a writer and an editor makes me so jealous, yet I can't help but gobble it all up. He's got an amazing ear for what works and his cottage industry of literary journals, magazines, DVDs and writing labs across the country, while perhaps not exactly mainstream, really do deserve the praise (and the book throwing jealousy) all of us in the literary community can heap his way. So, it's no big surprise that I admire the unique and bold qualities of h...more
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As all anthologies, a mixed bag. The odd lists at the front of the book ranged from the interesting (Best American Ringing Defeat of Religion Masquerading as Science - Kitzmiller vs Dover School Board) to the silly (Best American New Band Names), the bulk of the rest is devoted to short stories (my favorite was Murakami's The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day), essays (Wading Toward Home, a poignant piece by a multi-generational scion of the New Orleans ruling class returning home after ...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone looking to diversify their reading subject matter
This was one of the better Non-Required Reading Comps over the years. Although, I think I say that about all of them. Of course there were particular essays I wasn't crazy about, but those were the minority and I only skipped over one because I started falling asleep as I was reading it (Iraqi constitution...I sound ignorant saying this...but I think reading the United States Constitution has the same effect on me). I was also at work at the time...
Overall, this was fantastic. I'd recomend all...more
Overall, this was fantastic. I'd recomend all...more
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As most of you already know, I’d rather pull off my own fingernails that endure anything Dave Eggers had a hand in creating. Obviously, the exception that proves the rule is the Best American Nonrequired Reading series.
As the name would imply, the editors pulled from both fiction and non-fiction in an effort to piece together a collection of writing that represents the best of the pervious year. With each of the entries coming from the past year, it’s difficult to find anything that’s...more
As the name would imply, the editors pulled from both fiction and non-fiction in an effort to piece together a collection of writing that represents the best of the pervious year. With each of the entries coming from the past year, it’s difficult to find anything that’s...more
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Read in April, 2008
3.5 stars, actually.
I'm a fan of the Nonrequired Reading series and how the volumes are compiled. Were I a teacher, I'd swipe the idea for my class: encourage students to read and select pieces that speak to them, and then share the best writing with their peers in a book that reflects not only a year in reading, but a year in their lives.
As these volumes are compiled by students, they tend to follow a pattern: there's a piece about the war written by a soldier, an article about what the war...more
I'm a fan of the Nonrequired Reading series and how the volumes are compiled. Were I a teacher, I'd swipe the idea for my class: encourage students to read and select pieces that speak to them, and then share the best writing with their peers in a book that reflects not only a year in reading, but a year in their lives.
As these volumes are compiled by students, they tend to follow a pattern: there's a piece about the war written by a soldier, an article about what the war...more
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Read in August, 2007
I'm not really sure why The Best American Nonrequired Reading series even exists. It seems to be a collection of short stories, comics and essays that didn't make it into their respective Best American collections (there is no poetry here). The 2006 edition of Nonrequired Reading is a very mixed bag - both in terms of content (which is good) and goodness (at least in terms of what really impressed me). There isn't a single short story in here that really blew me away - though I should say...more
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Read in June, 2007
I stumbled upon these collections a few years ago, and loved them. They are edit by Dave Eggers - not my favorite author - and constit of short storiees, magazine articles, blog entries, and a myriad of other not so accesable sources collected by high school students at 826 Valencia (If you knwo Eggers, you know what this is). I normally love almost everything in them, and savour the variety, but ths year - 2006 - left me very dissapointed. It was mostly political essays, and mostly about Iraq. ...more
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Read in January, 2007
I generally like the series, but I felt this was the weakest collection so far. It had the most thematic continuity, and I think the quality of the works included suffered as a result.
It's cool that they are including more media, but come on...the screenwriting selection was "Me, You, and Everyone We Know"? Was it included in spite of or because of the fact that most of the readers had probably already seen and discussed the movie at length? How about something a little more off...more
It's cool that they are including more media, but come on...the screenwriting selection was "Me, You, and Everyone We Know"? Was it included in spite of or because of the fact that most of the readers had probably already seen and discussed the movie at length? How about something a little more off...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone who can read
I found 2 essays to be BRILLIANT and the rest were fantastic. One brilliant essay was about women in politics & written by Simon Baron-Cohen. Question asked by the Edge Foundation was "What is your dangerous idea" and he proposed that politicians legislate and act with EMPATHY rather than COMBAT. Then he put the pieces together to say that men generally react with combat (we're mostly talking figuratively, here) and women with empathy. The world has been run by men and therefor...more
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Read in May, 2007
Worth reading if only for two brilliant, hilarious essays: the intro by Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons) and "Here Is a Lesson in Creative Writing" by the late Kurt Vonnegut. A favorite passage from the latter: "FIRST RULE: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college. And I realize that some of you may be having trouble deciding whether I am kidding or not. So from now on I will tell...more
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The Katrina essay is the high point of this collection. It's an account of New Orleanian manners, eccentricity, and neighborhood life. The way the crazy locals, the old classmates, and the regular guys come together after the storm resembles a bizarre family reunion...And as the author would have you believe, that's the been the way of all New Orleans for a long time. The descriptions of one neighborhood's experience adds a layer to the Katrina story that didn't make the Fox News scrollbar-of-so...more
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Read in May, 2007
Don't bother with carefully combing through Granta, McSweeney's, and those burdensomely weekly issues of the New Yorker -- this anthology will teach you everything you need to know about being a literary hipster until at least 2009. Despite a fabulous pairing of articles on Iraq, an immaculately written feature on post-Katrina New Orleans, and a nourishing Murakami short, the star in this constellation of post-ironic hipness involves what you need to know about Chuck Norris. That's the effect of...more
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Read in December, 2007
This was a fun one. fast reading. skipped over some stories (though I don't think many- maybe one or two), but some were fantastic. The George Saunders piece on Dubai is amazing. There were some bullshitty Dave Eggers bits- like list of hobo names that is 700 names and 9 pages long, and a list of "Best American New Band Names". The short stores that Eggers chooses to include are great, but when he feels the need to edit all words in the English language ("Best American New Works a...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone looking for short stories
I read the 2002 issue of this series which was edited by renown YA literati, Michael Cart. I really enjoyed the 2002 issue. It even exposed me to a few new authors. I had forgotten about the series until I found myself desperate for something to read in the airport. It was a seredipitious moment to find that this series is still alive and well.
I would recommend "The Best American NonRequired Reading" to anyone who is looking for something a little offbeat or an opportunity to reaq...more
I would recommend "The Best American NonRequired Reading" to anyone who is looking for something a little offbeat or an opportunity to reaq...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
the names of great hoboes as well as
"But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear talked about much in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom....more
"But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear talked about much in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom....more
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I learned much randomness like a good hobo name for my dog if he ever decides to run away again, and I read the Iraqi constitution (seriously, it's better than our constitution), and I laughed at Kurt Vonnegut's axis diagram of Kafka, but the problem, as with anything Dave Eggers touches, is an abundance of crappily collected stories usually about weird things that are like Kafka, but more current and more dumber. I also don't know why there weren't more made up stories about David Bowie?
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recommends it for:
you and you and everyone you know
Random, eclectic, perfect. Check especially David Foster Wallace's dazzling commencement speech, Vonnegut's "Lesson" (perhaps his last missive to this world?) and Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know" (then see the movie). And don't miss the list of hobo names, because what John Hodgman writes is true: "Though hoboes are gone, there are those who still admire their lifestyle of unworried rambling and crusty pants." Long live Poo-Knickers Elias and Caboose
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone
This is a really cool collection of writing that I would not have seen if it weren't for this book. It is also nice that it's a book that you can pick up and read in between books because it's short stories, comic strips, etc., so there's no need to read beginning to end unless you want to. ALSO, the introduction by Matt Groening (the Simpson's, Futurama, etc.) is SO worth reading. He really describes his love of literature in a way that I think most of us on here can relate to.
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recommends it for:
hardcore readers who like staying up to date
I've heard the BANR annual edition is hit and miss. This, however, was my first year with the series and I thought it was great. It definitely added a few "To-read"s to my list and exposed me to some work I wouldn't have seen any other way.
On the other hand, some of the obligatory inclusions tested one's commitment to read the book cover to cover. I found myself wondering what interesting material could have been included if the entire Iraqi Constitution hadn't made the cut.
On the other hand, some of the obligatory inclusions tested one's commitment to read the book cover to cover. I found myself wondering what interesting material could have been included if the entire Iraqi Constitution hadn't made the cut.
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone who knows how to read.
I bought this book at the beginning of 2008 and it's sat on my shelf since then. I really wish I would have started it sooner.
This was an amazing collection from blogs, magazines, books, and other sources. At the very first of the book when I read piece about hobos I couldn't put the book down. I will soon be purchasing the rest of the series, and am excited for the 2008 edition.
I've also found a few books featured in TBANR 2K6 that I will be adding to my reading list.
This was an amazing collection from blogs, magazines, books, and other sources. At the very first of the book when I read piece about hobos I couldn't put the book down. I will soon be purchasing the rest of the series, and am excited for the 2008 edition.
I've also found a few books featured in TBANR 2K6 that I will be adding to my reading list.
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