From the Introduction, Featuring an Interview with Judy BlumeThe book yout work for me.)
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Dec 18, 2008
Sarah
rated it: 
This is by far the weakest collection I've read since '05. Honestly, the best part was the throwaway "best of" craziness in the first third of the collection. I found the nonfiction tedious and "trying too hard" (including the Saunders piece . . though I did read it until the end . . . President Clinton makes me feel like a lazy ass) I found the fiction so-so at best. The comics were good. To be sure, "A Brutal Sweetness" by Abby Nance (it was mentioned in the back
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Dec 02, 2008
David
rated it: 
As today is anthology review day, I just want to take the opportunity to pimp this one, and the whole series. Review follows:
Once again this series, always the star of the "Best American" anthologies, delivers the goods. Here is just a selection of the delights it offers this year:
A hilarious introduction by Judy Blume
Best American police blotter items from Kensington, California
Best American facebook groups
Best American NY Times headlines from More...
Once again this series, always the star of the "Best American" anthologies, delivers the goods. Here is just a selection of the delights it offers this year:
A hilarious introduction by Judy Blume
Best American police blotter items from Kensington, California
Best American facebook groups
Best American NY Times headlines from More...
Mar 18, 2009
Ciara
rated it:
i just picked this up at the library as airplane reading. & then i failed to read it one the airplane because i got all involved in a copy of "real simple" magazine instead (<3). the "best american" series is usually pretty good. they collect together a sampling of what they consider to be the best of the best of what was published that year, & they're usually pretty on point. the non-required series is helmed by dave eggers, who i could really live without, but he gets a
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Mar 10, 2009
Nicole
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I disagree with a lot of the reviews of this edition. I thought 2008 was by far the best of these anthologies.
The pieces are organized in such a way that each story naturally connects to the next. Many of them were politically relevant, and all of them did something I hadn't seen before. I was sad when the thing was finished.
The ones I remember best are about a recycling train in Argentina and another about a guerrilla environmentalist sailor who intentionally crashes More...
The pieces are organized in such a way that each story naturally connects to the next. Many of them were politically relevant, and all of them did something I hadn't seen before. I was sad when the thing was finished.
The ones I remember best are about a recycling train in Argentina and another about a guerrilla environmentalist sailor who intentionally crashes More...
Jan 25, 2009
Terry
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I've enjoyed earlier editions of this series, especially because they've introduced me to writers and artists I'd never hear of otherwise, I think. But for some reason this particular edition really bugged me.
The introduction featuring an interview with Judy Blume is completely ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE JUDY BLUME (and have met AND been hugged by her, so there) fiercely, which is why I found the "interview" kind of insulting. I think it's because it was written More...
The introduction featuring an interview with Judy Blume is completely ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE JUDY BLUME (and have met AND been hugged by her, so there) fiercely, which is why I found the "interview" kind of insulting. I think it's because it was written More...
Dec 03, 2010
cathleen
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again, like BANR 2007, the selections were too similar, in style, mood, and subject, to selections in previous anthologies. it's good that BANR can be reliable in providing selections that appeal to a certain reader, but there is such a thing as being TOO reliable. at this point, i want to be surprised. i want to read something unlike anything i've ever read before, that will astound me and leave me breathless. the last few BANR's i have read have not done that. with that aside, i have noth
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Mar 26, 2009
Brian
rated it:
While not as strong as BANR 07, it was a good effort. I remember picking up BANR 07 and being blown away by the stories, all pretty good. From Allison Bechdel's Fun Home to Conan O'Brien. My favorite stories were from Miranda July, Nam Le and Mattox Roersh. Even the intro was super damn funny.
BANR 08 was a little off the mark. Sure it had some good stories. A lot of mediocre ones too. The Majorie Celona story was good. Patrick Tobin's story made me laugh out loud, and the "w More...
BANR 08 was a little off the mark. Sure it had some good stories. A lot of mediocre ones too. The Majorie Celona story was good. Patrick Tobin's story made me laugh out loud, and the "w More...
Feb 17, 2009
Rolland
rated it: 
It's so hard to put a rating on some of these anthologies, as the quality of the writing can vary quite a bit. I was surprised at how much fun it was to read, but as I look back over the table of contents, a few of the selections really stand out. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a short story of Stephen King's. "Ayana", originally published in the Paris Review, was a captivating story about a man who witnesses what he feels was a miracle, and who becomes a miracle worker of so
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Jan 11, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
Another good Best American collection (though, for this title, I did like 2007's collection more). The best bits:
(1) "Neptune's Navy:" After catching a few episodes of Whale Wars, I had many, many questions (the money? the getting kicked out of Greenpeace? the poetry?). This piece explained a lot...and, while the dude may be crazy, he's got a serious point about what we're doing to our oceans (most powerful description: the equivalent of how we treat the ocean is if we More...
(1) "Neptune's Navy:" After catching a few episodes of Whale Wars, I had many, many questions (the money? the getting kicked out of Greenpeace? the poetry?). This piece explained a lot...and, while the dude may be crazy, he's got a serious point about what we're doing to our oceans (most powerful description: the equivalent of how we treat the ocean is if we More...
Apr 06, 2009
Aviva
rated it:
This book is awesome. It has short stories, magazine articles, and clippings from random things (including police blotters and facebook) that either make you laugh out loud or tear up. My favorite pieces include:
1) Best Facebook Groups
2) Police Blotter from Kensington, California
3) Article following Bill Clinton through trip to Africa and how his foundation gives to different global AIDS causes
4) The story of the Sea Shepherd, a crazy Greenpeace founder who hunts More...
1) Best Facebook Groups
2) Police Blotter from Kensington, California
3) Article following Bill Clinton through trip to Africa and how his foundation gives to different global AIDS causes
4) The story of the Sea Shepherd, a crazy Greenpeace founder who hunts More...
Jan 14, 2009
Danielle
rated it:
The beauty of an anthology of this caliber is that you're bound to find something in it you absolutely love. And, anything you don't love you can just skp. I highly recommend this book, although there was actually more I liked in the 2007 edition.
Highlights from this year include "Are You There, God? It's Me and the Zombies," (a hilarious piece of short fiction about...well, zombies), "The Best American Facebook Groups" (so funny), "The White Train" (I learned More...
Highlights from this year include "Are You There, God? It's Me and the Zombies," (a hilarious piece of short fiction about...well, zombies), "The Best American Facebook Groups" (so funny), "The White Train" (I learned More...
Sep 09, 2009
Angie
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This book is pretty unmemorable, bar the last few stories: "Cake" by Patrick Tobin, "Where We Must Be" by Laura van den Berg, and "Pearls Before Breakfast" by Gene Weingarten aka what happens when you take a world-renowned violinist, dress him up in street clothes, and plunk him down in the middle of a D.C. metro as an ordinary street musician.
I agree with other reviews about the injustice done to Judy Blume; at the very least, I would have expected more More...
I agree with other reviews about the injustice done to Judy Blume; at the very least, I would have expected more More...
Feb 28, 2009
Kristine
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i love the BANR series and happily read the new edition every winter. i am getting a little annoyed with the precious "front section" (just as editor dave eggers himself can be precious and annoying) - "best american last sentences of books published in 2007" (seven pages), "best american ron paul facts" (even though the best chuck norris facts, which this list is an imitation of, was published a few years ago in a BANR volume), "best american new band names,"
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Sep 18, 2009
Kristen
rated it:
hits, misses.
My favorite pieces were by Marjorie Celona, J. Malcolm Garcia, Andrew Sean Greer (for his descriptions), Emily Raboteau (!!), Patrick Tobin, Laura van den Berg and Rutu Modan (fucking hilarious).
I was skeptical of reading this collection beause 1. Eggers, 2. the awful cover, 3. it was from a girl that makes me want to vomit and forced me to take a widly inappropriate picture of her with a beer bottle in her mouth... yes.
On the other hand, it was f More...
My favorite pieces were by Marjorie Celona, J. Malcolm Garcia, Andrew Sean Greer (for his descriptions), Emily Raboteau (!!), Patrick Tobin, Laura van den Berg and Rutu Modan (fucking hilarious).
I was skeptical of reading this collection beause 1. Eggers, 2. the awful cover, 3. it was from a girl that makes me want to vomit and forced me to take a widly inappropriate picture of her with a beer bottle in her mouth... yes.
On the other hand, it was f More...
Jan 20, 2012
Katied
rated it:
I bought this book when Borders was going out of business. I have read the B.A. short stories and essays, but this was my first time with Nonrequired Reading. In all, I found it quite enjoyable, which then bothered me. I'm supposed to have better taste and be more mature than the group of high school students who choose the short stories, essays and comics that composed this book.
'Searching for Zion' and 'Neptune's Navy' in particular stand out as being very well written introduction More...
'Searching for Zion' and 'Neptune's Navy' in particular stand out as being very well written introduction More...
Jan 15, 2011
Adi
rated it:
A wonderful collection of short stories and essays and profiles and...non-required reading material from 2008, I guess.
Some of the pieces weren't to my liking or failed to really capture my attention. But most of them did. And the ones that stood out are severely marked with dog-eared pages because I didn't have a pen with which to write down and remember my favorite passages. Huge bits of life transferred into little pieces of writing. Often moving, usually incredibly insightful, and More...
Some of the pieces weren't to my liking or failed to really capture my attention. But most of them did. And the ones that stood out are severely marked with dog-eared pages because I didn't have a pen with which to write down and remember my favorite passages. Huge bits of life transferred into little pieces of writing. Often moving, usually incredibly insightful, and More...
Dec 21, 2010
Stephanie
rated it:
I had always heard amazing things about Egger's Non-required series, but I felt most of the pieces in this anthology fell flat. Aside from the throw away section at the beginning of the book, a majority of the longer stories had uninteresting topics and even more uninspired prose. The only worthwhile stories were Saunders piece on Bill Clinton, Tobin's story "Cake" and Weingarten's piece of Joshua Bell and the recognition of beauty in public spaces.
Although this was my firs More...
Although this was my firs More...
Aug 22, 2011
David
rated it:
This was my first shot at The Best American Nonrequired Reading series. And it was almost my last.
Starts out cute enough, like something for the edgy 15-22-year-old (well, if it gets them reading something other than Harry Potter, I'm fine with it). I Got through the first fifty pages relatively quickly. Then I stumbled somewhere around the third or forth story; I even put the book down for a couple weeks because the writing everywhere was proficient, yes, but drab, also. But the st More...
Starts out cute enough, like something for the edgy 15-22-year-old (well, if it gets them reading something other than Harry Potter, I'm fine with it). I Got through the first fifty pages relatively quickly. Then I stumbled somewhere around the third or forth story; I even put the book down for a couple weeks because the writing everywhere was proficient, yes, but drab, also. But the st More...
Jun 15, 2011
Sylvia
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This anthology was fairly mediocre. I expected more short stories--but instead, the most interesting and memorable pieces were a couple wordy nonfiction essays. There seemed to be no reason why these particular writings were collected together, either thematically or in quality. And the introductory chapter, composed mostly of funny newspaper headlines and Facebook group names reprinted from the Internet, was irritating and dull. Was not surprised to find out that this was collected by a committ
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Oct 12, 2009
Marie
rated it:
I read this on a cross country flight, and my seatmates must have thought I was insane. I spent about half my time trying not to laugh out loud, and the other half trying not to cry. If you skip the dorky, McSweeney-esque "hilarious" lists in the beginning and get right to the meat in part 2, this is a superb collection of short stories and non-fiction. "Pearls Before Breakfast" and "Bill Clinton, Public Citizen" are non-fic standouts, and the fiction selections
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May 22, 2009
Tiny Pants
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Oh gosh -- it says something about the quality of this collection that I finished reading it sometime in April (May? I don't even remember) and just never bothered to update my "currently reading" or review it. This was just a slog. I know, I keep reading BANRR, I keep complaining about it, but this may really be the one that puts the final nail in the coffin for me.
While basically all of these except the first one (where Eggers had someone editing HIM) are relatively crap More...
While basically all of these except the first one (where Eggers had someone editing HIM) are relatively crap More...
Oct 11, 2008
Meg
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I will admit, so far I'm a little disappointed compared to last year's volume (which pretty much blew my mind). The front section is much smaller than last year's, which is a shame - it's usually the funniest section.
This year's front section doesn't fall down, exactly...(Best American Police Blotter Items from Kensington, California is an EXCELLENT start to the book, Best American Facebook Groups is the kind of content I was expecting and looking forward to, Best American Diary of More...
This year's front section doesn't fall down, exactly...(Best American Police Blotter Items from Kensington, California is an EXCELLENT start to the book, Best American Facebook Groups is the kind of content I was expecting and looking forward to, Best American Diary of More...
Dec 21, 2010
julieta
rated it:
In theory, an anthology would be a perfect read for me right now.
My mind keeps wandering (my daughter is 4 months old, so my attention span is very short unless it's something to do with her) so reading a whole novel might take me months.
I thought, why not?
I might find my future favorite author in there, I might even start loving comics, which I have never gotten into, even though I once had a nerdy boyfriend who tried to teach me the difference between graphic novels and pl More...
My mind keeps wandering (my daughter is 4 months old, so my attention span is very short unless it's something to do with her) so reading a whole novel might take me months.
I thought, why not?
I might find my future favorite author in there, I might even start loving comics, which I have never gotten into, even though I once had a nerdy boyfriend who tried to teach me the difference between graphic novels and pl More...
Jul 02, 2009
Windy
rated it:
This is an excellent compilation. The stories "Cake," "Y," and "Where We Must Be" were particularly good. However, I think the nonfiction pieces outshine the fiction, particularly the one about Argentinean cartoneras, Paul Watson, Bill Clinton's work in Africa, and "Pearls Before Breakfast," which indicates that so many people are so busy in their mundane lives that they miss out on true moments of beauty. Er, I think I just listed almost all of the non
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Apr 02, 2009
Shawn
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Even though this book is short stories and articles taken from magazines, etc. I enjoyed it a lot (I'm not a short story fan). The excerpts of graphic novels (cartoons to us laymen) I found sort of inexplicable, not remarkable drawing, the words utterly not compelling to me, why are they here? Can't say. My two favorites maybe were Bill Clinton--Public Citizen which follows Clinton on a tour of Africa where his NGO does a lot of work, The Dreamer Did Not Exist, sort of "autobiographical
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Dec 14, 2011
Gina
rated it:
A great volume.
The more notable works: Celona's "Y," Greer's "Darkness," Khatchadourian's "Neptune's Navy," King's "Ayana," Saunder's "Bill Clinton, Public Citizen," and Van Den Berg's "Where We Must Be."
I have to say I laughed out loud at quite a few of the Best American... that start off the collection. I especially liked Best American Diary of a Young Girl.
I also appreciated the quotes from Vonnegut- r More...
The more notable works: Celona's "Y," Greer's "Darkness," Khatchadourian's "Neptune's Navy," King's "Ayana," Saunder's "Bill Clinton, Public Citizen," and Van Den Berg's "Where We Must Be."
I have to say I laughed out loud at quite a few of the Best American... that start off the collection. I especially liked Best American Diary of a Young Girl.
I also appreciated the quotes from Vonnegut- r More...
Apr 20, 2010
John
rated it:
The yearly anthology of writing compiled by a team of San Francisco high school students and edited by Dave Eggers. Unfortunately, for me, this edition was the least satisfying I've read. There were a couple of stories I had to push myself to finish, which meant I ended up reading the whole collection over the course of a year or so.
That said, as one might expect in an anthology like this -- and as I, myself, have come to expect from this series in particular -- there were definitel More...
That said, as one might expect in an anthology like this -- and as I, myself, have come to expect from this series in particular -- there were definitel More...
Jan 14, 2009
Alissa
rated it:
An eclectic collection of magazine pieces, a list of the strangest Facebook groups, and my current favorite, the Kensington Police Blotter. I was shaking from laughing so hard.
Update: This book reminds me of Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Great ideas, great introduction, and then wah wah wah. I had my favorite pieces: "Cake," which had some heart, unlike many of the other pieces, the previously mentioned pieces (the Kensington Police Blotter More...
Update: This book reminds me of Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Great ideas, great introduction, and then wah wah wah. I had my favorite pieces: "Cake," which had some heart, unlike many of the other pieces, the previously mentioned pieces (the Kensington Police Blotter More...
Aug 16, 2009
JM
rated it:
This is a good series just to get a different perspective from regular books without having to commit to a big bunch of pages, plot, characters, and so on. Frankly, you wouldn't want to commit to some of these for a whole book length, so it's good to sample. This collection includes my least favorite George Saunders story and one of my favorite David Gessner stories.
Jan 31, 2009
Mbarkle
rated it:
I have read this offering in the Best American series for the last two years, at least. This one, again, has fantastic essays, short stories, a collection of last lines of novels, some blog entries. I loved the list of the Best American Facebook groups. This is one of the books that you can pick up and put down, to read in short bursts, which I always enjoy.
