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The Best American Essays 2009 (Best American Essays)
by
Mary Oliver ,
Roberts Atwan
Edited by award-winning poet and essayist Mary Oliver, the latest edition of this "rich and thoughtful collection" (Publishers Weekly) offers the finest essays "judiciously selected from countless publications" (Chicago Tribune).
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
October 8th 2009
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published August 26th 2009)
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Addendum to original review, explaining why I have downgraded this to two stars - (italicized material below):
My second criticism is probably more a reflection of my personal taste, and may not be shared by other readers. But I felt that Mary Oliver's background as a poet shone through, with the result that many of the pieces had a kind of "writerly" quality that might appeal to other writers, but was a bit precious for a general reader like me. This was particularly true ...more
My second criticism is probably more a reflection of my personal taste, and may not be shared by other readers. But I felt that Mary Oliver's background as a poet shone through, with the result that many of the pieces had a kind of "writerly" quality that might appeal to other writers, but was a bit precious for a general reader like me. This was particularly true ...more
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Essays are not boring! I'm giving this book four stars overall, but some of the essays definitely merit 5 stars. My top five:
1. "And Such Small Deer" by Garret Keizer. An epic war between a man and the deer who nibbled away his backyard arbor vitae, organized based on famous characters from literature and art.
2. "You Be the Moon" by Amy Leach. I didn't think I was interested in reading about the orbit of the moon, until I read this: "To get an idea of the rel...more
1. "And Such Small Deer" by Garret Keizer. An epic war between a man and the deer who nibbled away his backyard arbor vitae, organized based on famous characters from literature and art.
2. "You Be the Moon" by Amy Leach. I didn't think I was interested in reading about the orbit of the moon, until I read this: "To get an idea of the rel...more
Bill
is currently reading it
I've been reading this series every year since it started appearing, back during the Reagan administration. For the most part I've found it a pleasing exercise. Sometimes it sums up the year-- the post 9/11 set made a point of it, for example. Sometimes it is full of things that I have already read, and am pleased to rediscover, and have between covers. And sometimes, rarely, it is full of essays that reflect the interests of the guest editor, and is otherwise oblique to me. The year Susan ...more
I was interested in about eight of these essays. "Portrait of a Masked Man" is about the author's personal encounters with the Zapatistas in Mexico. "Faustian Economics" is an essay by Wendell Berry that encourages folk to err toward a conservationist mentality. "The Mansion: A Subprime Parable" is a firsthand scenario of living beyond one's means. "Madre de Dios" is an odd essay about one man's religious predilections in times of adversity. "Cuss Tim...more
There are some essays in this collection that I enjoyed enormously - Mary Oliver's excellent taste is clearly evident here - including Barry Lopez's "Madre de Dios" and Michael Lewis' "The Mansion: A Subprime Parable." My favorite, though, was a two-pager, "The Greatest Nature Essay Ever," by Brian Doyle. It's actually a stunning essay on the art and craft of writing itself and builds to a summary of why many of us read books: at the end of a well written book, ...more
I thought this was going to be an interesting read and honestly it has a very appealing title. i purchased this book on my way to pittsburgh a few weeks ago and assumed it was going to be deep. I must say it was very different from books i've read before. My favorite essay was written by a woman named Amy Leach, called you be the moon. Leach uses the science behind the moon's orbit to discuss the paths of human lives. The book has a very unique collection of essays and i really enjoyed the read.
I love the Best American Essays series in general, but I was particularly glad to see one of my favorite writers (nature poet and essayist) Mary Oliver as the guest editor for the 2009 volume. I tend to read the Best series in drips and dabbles, delving into an essay mid-volume as the title or author catches my interest and then back-tracking (or forward-tracking, as the case may be) through the rest/others. :) Beautiful and skilled prose. :)
If all the other volumes in this series are as good as the two I just read (Science and Nature 2009 and Essays 2009), then I am missing some fantastic writing each year.
Gah! How will I read it all???
But I digress. The best essay in this collection is "The God of the Desert" by Richard Rodriguez; a very evocative meditation on touring the religious sites (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) of the Holy Land.
Gah! How will I read it all???
But I digress. The best essay in this collection is "The God of the Desert" by Richard Rodriguez; a very evocative meditation on touring the religious sites (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) of the Holy Land.
I was up and down with respect to this volume. There were some very nice essays; the Lewis essay was wonderful, for example. But, as other reviewers have mentioned, there are a few highly poetical essays in here, and not all of them are poetical in the good way. The Arthur essay in particular I found immensely conceited and unappealing, and I found myself disliking the author immensely after reading it. Unfortunate.
A collection of writers' writing. Gets off to a bumpy start with a few essays that I thought were gimicky and trite, and it did annoy me that Wendell Berry's Faustian Economics, important though it may be, is published here AND in the Best Science series. But I liked most of the essays, loved a few of them, and found some new favorite authors.
The best essays transcend Oliver's proclivities --- religion, the ailing body, writing about writing --- to stand alone as excellent examples of what the literary essay can do. I'm thinking in particular about Berger on the Zapatistas and Rodriguez on the ecology of the Israeli desert. But I guess that probably belies my own proclivities . . .
Always treasure to find in this series. Standouts include a short essay by Sue Allison, insights on writing by Patricia Hampl (which was fun as I had just finished Florist's Daughter.) Also Garret Keizer on his attempts to save his arborvitae hedge from deer, and Gregory Orr on harrowing events during early civil rights days.
Did I just read an essay about a guy who faints when his doctor pokes his doghole? And what's with the majority of "essays" about writing and the writing life? Nonfiction is a much better field than what this 2009 edition offers. Even then, there are a few fantastic pieces by Ryan Van Meter, Barry Lopez, Amy Leach, and Richard Rodriguez.
I originally picked this up because of its inclusion of an essay by a college classmate—Kathryn Miles, whose essay "Dog is Our Co-Pilot" is one of the best and longest essays in an unusually short installment of this yearly series. Perhaps the brevity is a consequence of having a poet, Mary Oliver, as the editor. Though some of the essays here are a little too short, there's lots of good stuff. I particularly liked (and have already used in class) Gregory Orr's "Return to Haynevil...more
The average essay length in this anthology is smaller than usual for the series, and the effect is really refreshing. I don't care much for Oliver's poetry, and her introduction to the essays is pretty dull, but she did a great job editing this collection.
Picked this up for half price at PDX airport, and I'd say I liked half the essays in it. Good essays by Michael Lewis, Barry Lopez and Richard Rodriguez. The real standout is "You Be the Sun" by Amy Leach. It's a gem.
My favorites: Cuss Time by Jill McCorkle, found here: http://www.theamericanscholar.org/cuss-t... and The Greatest Nature Essay Ever by Brian Doyle, found here: http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/a...
I also loved God of the Desert by Richard Rodriguez, it's much longer than most included and is going to be part of a book he is writing about "Jerusalem and the ecology of monotheism"—basically, how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are rooted in essentially the same place. I...more
I also loved God of the Desert by Richard Rodriguez, it's much longer than most included and is going to be part of a book he is writing about "Jerusalem and the ecology of monotheism"—basically, how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are rooted in essentially the same place. I...more
Quite consistently terrific. Wendell Berry's "Faustian Economics" and John Updike's "The Writer in Winter" were among the more memorable.
Plus, three writers from BYU made the Notable Essays section.
Plus, three writers from BYU made the Notable Essays section.
This year's collection isn't quite as good as some of the other books in the Best American series. There are a few fine pieces of writing here, especially Michael Lewis's "The Mansion: A Subprime Parable," but none of them really shined as something you just have to tell your friends to read. Many of the essays were more cute than great and so many were about writing that it started to feel a little self-indulgent on the part of the editor.
Favorites:
Amy Leach's "You Be the Moon"
Brian Doyle's "The Greatest Nature Essay Ever"
David James Duncan's "Cherish This Ecstasy"
Patricia Hampl's "The Dark Art of Description
Amy Leach's "You Be the Moon"
Brian Doyle's "The Greatest Nature Essay Ever"
David James Duncan's "Cherish This Ecstasy"
Patricia Hampl's "The Dark Art of Description
I didn't realize essays could be interesting... A wide variety. Topics included the sun, moon, and Earth; deer eating shrubs, living in a giant house, a young priest...
First time reading a book from this series. Interesting articles though not all were to my liking. "First" was the best.
Some fantastic selections in here. I loved "You Be the Moon," and many others. Great reading no matter what mood you're in.
Mary Oliver's selection of essays is wonderful! I often forget that she's an essayist as well as a poet. A great book!
This year's volume of essays is pretty slim. Some of these are a little too lyrical / poetic for my taste. The highlights of this collection for me also happen to be the shortest essays, such as "The Greatest Nature Essay Ever," by the always dependable Brian Doyle. There was also a pretty good one by Michael Lewis on the subject of debt. All in all, though, not a magnificent collection.
A very mixed bag of essays. Some are very good (e.g., "Dog is Our Copilot", "The Mechanics of Being") and others are very dull.
Some amazing essays are contained within...not to be missed.
Hit and miss, some good, some great, some not so great.
Annielaural
added it
first essay is a hoot - lovely, entertaining
Sara
marked it as to-read
patricia hampl-dark art of description
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“Mary Oliver. In a region that has produced most of the nation's poet laureates, it is risky to single out one fragile 71-year-old bard of Provincetown. But Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1983, is my choice for her joyous, accessible, intim...more
More about Mary Oliver...
“Mary Oliver. In a region that has produced most of the nation's poet laureates, it is risky to single out one fragile 71-year-old bard of Provincetown. But Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1983, is my choice for her joyous, accessible, intim...more
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