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The Best American Non-Required Reading 2010 (Best American Non-Required Reading)
by
Dave Eggers ,
David Sedaris
Aneclectic volume introduced by David Sedaris and compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, who don’t leave a stone unturned in their search for nonrequired gems.
Cover art by art by Maurice Sendak....more
Cover art by art by Maurice Sendak....more
Paperback, 484 pages
Published
October 5th 2010
by Mariner Books
(first published 2010)
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Aug 09, 2011
Ryan Milbrath
added it
Christmas day 2010 I remember distinctly driving back from my parents’ house to Milwaukee so that I could give my girlfriend her Christmas present. She had been working on Christmas Day because it is imperative for a server at a restaurant noted for its fine dining experience to work on the days which generate the most people and most tips. When she got off, I remember smiling as I handed her my present and seeing her bemused expression at my attempts at thoughtful present giving.
Among other th...more
Among other th...more
Jan 13, 2011
Brian
is currently reading it
I think 2007 was the best I've read so far. That's because Mattox Roesch ? and Nam Le absolutely killed it with their short fiction. Conan's contribution was golden. Made me go out and buy their books. 2008-2009 had a few gems. "Y" and Patrick Tobin's "Cake" were great. 2009 reminded me that DFW passed and that was tough, but otherwise no story really stuck out. The intro section was great this year, but since 2007 was my first foray, it will be tough to beat. Still 4 years and still buying the...more
My finance LOVES this series and after hearing him describe some of the stories in this collection I decided to read it. I wasn't too impressed with the first part which focused on ephemera, poems, patents, etc. From the second part I enjoyed the following stories:
Burying Jeremy Green by Nora Bonner (from 'Shenandoah') - story of 5th graders acting out scenes after a runaway prisoner escapes and has a standoff with police in their playground. Interesting look at children processing a traumatic e...more
Burying Jeremy Green by Nora Bonner (from 'Shenandoah') - story of 5th graders acting out scenes after a runaway prisoner escapes and has a standoff with police in their playground. Interesting look at children processing a traumatic e...more
Jan 16, 2012
Holly
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
All the people I know and love
Recommended to Holly by:
Joey Comeau maybe?
Shelves:
boring-old-fiction
This book was full of stories and things I didn't think I was going to like, but that it turned out I loved when I actually made myself read them. I only skipped two stories in the entire thing, which is saying a lot because I'm not usually willing to read a short story longer than, say, a page and a half.
Favourites:
-"Best American Comedy Piece Written By a Woman" I thought this was sarcastic and hilarious. Ken did not. Maybe it's a lady-anger thing?
-"Best American Gun Magazine Headlines" I con...more
Favourites:
-"Best American Comedy Piece Written By a Woman" I thought this was sarcastic and hilarious. Ken did not. Maybe it's a lady-anger thing?
-"Best American Gun Magazine Headlines" I con...more
I received this book as a gift (I was completely unaware of this series) and I loved every moment of it. The book is divided into two: the first (shorter) part contains a bunch of ridiculous lists, such as the best gun magazine headlines of 2009, and the second part contains a variety of essays, comics, and short stories. I often felt like this book took my favorite things about the New Yorker, Zoetrope, and every other magazine I love and combined them all into one.
My favorite inclusions were...more
My favorite inclusions were...more
I enjoyed this year's collection more than the 2009 book, and I will happily lend it to any Chicago pal who wants to borrow it.
The essays, fiction, and ephemera mostly stand up on their own, but taken together they provide a strange and compelling portrait of the US and the world around it, ca. 2009-10. Favorite bits:
--Sherman Alexie's essay on his medical scare. Alexie's always kind of a mixed bag for me, but this piece was riveting.
--Nathan Englander's translation of Etgar Keret's "What, of...more
The essays, fiction, and ephemera mostly stand up on their own, but taken together they provide a strange and compelling portrait of the US and the world around it, ca. 2009-10. Favorite bits:
--Sherman Alexie's essay on his medical scare. Alexie's always kind of a mixed bag for me, but this piece was riveting.
--Nathan Englander's translation of Etgar Keret's "What, of...more
Blast you, Eggers, you've foiled me again! After the absolute rock bottom that was Best Nonrequired 2008, and my subsequent two-year hiatus from reading these, I was lured back in with a heavily discounted copy of B N 2009 and now, with B N 2010, you've actually done it -- this collection is readable, engaging, funny, and for the first time since the very first collection, not overly heavy-handed. Once again, I am tempted to give credit for this not to the ever heavy-handed Eggers, and certainly...more
I loved this collection. I havent really got a proper shelf, as this is partly non fiction as well. This collection is assembled by several groups of high school students, in San Francisco and Michigan and is apparently an annual event. I strongly recommend this as a brilliant cross section of current writing. The authors are mostly unknown-some big names, but the quality is consistent, readable and often outstanding. I cannot classify the types-some funny, some fantasy and some gritty and real....more
This year's collection is an amazing set of selections. Excellent work students!!! It is my favorite volume since the first one I read in 2006. Every selection brings you out of your comfort zone and into an entirely new world, fictional or real, challenges your expectations and leaves you ready for more. Highlights: Evan Ratliff's account of his publicized attempt to vanish and the pursuit by a collective on-line manhunt, George Saunder's account of his time in tent city in Fresno, David Rohde'...more
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 edited by Dave Eggers with an introduction by David Sedaris is one of the better collections. I still think the first section is usually unnecessary with silly lists, the second section is what I come back for--the inventive short stories and excellent journalism that I may have missed. I realized with Sherman Alexie's compelling "War Dances," that I need to keep up with him since I haven't read anything since The Business of Fancydancing. There were al...more
Splendid compilation overall. My favourites included the following:
-'War Dances' - Sherman Alexie : a rambling tale of illness, family history and relationships, from an intellectual Native American's perspective
-'Burying Jeremy Green' - Nora Bonner : a moving tale of youth versus adulthood; of how greatly we can change, how little separates guilt from innocence, and how quickly we are forgotten
-'The Carnival' - Lili Carre : a poignant, yet adventurous graphic short story
-'Capital Gains' - Rana...more
-'War Dances' - Sherman Alexie : a rambling tale of illness, family history and relationships, from an intellectual Native American's perspective
-'Burying Jeremy Green' - Nora Bonner : a moving tale of youth versus adulthood; of how greatly we can change, how little separates guilt from innocence, and how quickly we are forgotten
-'The Carnival' - Lili Carre : a poignant, yet adventurous graphic short story
-'Capital Gains' - Rana...more
I find this book really entertaining. I have never read a book like that before, cocky, wild yet creative. I like how the stories are written from different authors, actually the short stories are chosen from some actual books. My favorite short story is about a group of terrorists who declared their own territory on an island. It is a political allegory about the relationship between the US and Middle eastern nations. I think the editors must put a lot of works into putting all the pieces toget...more
Only four stars this year. It's still good stuff, but there was a little too much self-conscious cleverness in the shorter entries this year. So not as awesome as previous entries in the series.
Plus, I am so over David Sedaris, which might have had something to do with it. Would it have killed him to write an introduction that actually made reference to the damned book? Mr Sedaris, like some other regular contributors to "This American Life" suffers that rare problem of living an over-examined l...more
Plus, I am so over David Sedaris, which might have had something to do with it. Would it have killed him to write an introduction that actually made reference to the damned book? Mr Sedaris, like some other regular contributors to "This American Life" suffers that rare problem of living an over-examined l...more
May 18, 2011
Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
magical goldfish, tigers' wives
Recommended to Kate by:
818.6 B464
Shelves:
short-stories
Wanda was a woman of uncertain ethnicity between thirty and fifty years of age whose face consisted of a series of sun-darkened red-and-purple rounded structures, like rosy cheeks, but located in places on her face where cheeks would not normally be found.
Brenda and Lyle walked off into the night, seemingly awash in happiness. Although they appeared to be, as Ernesto claimed they were, alcoholics, and were, by their own admission, on their way to panhandle and dig through trash cans until it was...more
Brenda and Lyle walked off into the night, seemingly awash in happiness. Although they appeared to be, as Ernesto claimed they were, alcoholics, and were, by their own admission, on their way to panhandle and dig through trash cans until it was...more
I necessarily like all of the content of this book, but I love that it exists and I love that it gives me a chance to be exposed to such widesweeping content. Profits from this book go towards literacy efforts for teens and kids around the country - that alone makes it worth purchasing. The selections are picked by two groups of high school students, pulled from publications far and wide. It is well worth a peak, you may find something new for your palate. Worst case scenario, you've helped supp...more
Books from the various Best American series are my absolute favorite bargain-table buys. I've only read one other Non-Required volume (2011), which I would have to say I found superior to this one. In the 2010 edition, I enjoyed the Part One bits, and a handful of the main entries, but skipped or skimmed a lot of the rest. I will point out one selection in particular: David Rohde's "Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity," from the New York Times, is astonishingly good. I'd recommend just finding i...more
I love that this project even exists! Very much took me back to my English major days - I love the collection - new ideas, new authors, and the opening piece completely won me over! Great reading while I was traveling - primarily short stories and essays, though there are sections entitled "Best Amreican Sentences on Page 50 of Books Published in 2009" and "Best American Gun Magazine Healdines," as well as patents, tweets, and most else you can think of. I'm not through the whole thing yet, and...more
Most importantly: the only reason these collections can't garner five stars is because they are anthologies and there are bound to be selections that are not as good as others. That being said, the Nonrequired Reading series constantly raises the bar for good miscellany, and this year delivered in due form.
Let me cut to the standouts: "Best American Illustrated Missed Connections" by Sophie Blackall topped the entire part of the always unique Section I. Lilli Carré was another comic artist worth...more
Let me cut to the standouts: "Best American Illustrated Missed Connections" by Sophie Blackall topped the entire part of the always unique Section I. Lilli Carré was another comic artist worth...more
Another year, another great BANR. It's hard to review this kind of thing as a whole volume, because for me at least every year some articles are good and others don't quite cut it. Here are some of my favorite stories from this volume, and a bit about each:
"Like I Was Jesus" by Rachel Aviv
- At first I thought this was going to be a cynical take on an overly evangelistic organization, but Aviv shone a humanistic light on leaders of what I first perceived to be a cult-like offshoot of Christian fu...more
"Like I Was Jesus" by Rachel Aviv
- At first I thought this was going to be a cynical take on an overly evangelistic organization, but Aviv shone a humanistic light on leaders of what I first perceived to be a cult-like offshoot of Christian fu...more
I have love, love, loved this series, but this is the first one that felt like a bit of a slog. I bought it in December, read the opening essay and the short bits (Part I) in January, and then read a piece or two a month for the entire first half of the year. Normally I read the whole thing the day I buy it. I love the humor of the first section, and the eclectic mix that normally fills the rest: fiction, non-fiction, comics. There were some interesting pieces, but they were evenly matched by l...more
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good stuff here. i think in many ways this is the best "best nonrequired reading" yet. more "professionalism" in the choices and layout of book as whole (done by high school students). i especially liked pieces by george saunders "tent city", amy waldman "freedom" (soon to be a novel), tea obreht "tigers wife (soon to be a novel), patricio pron "ideas. ah hell there's a bunch of really good things in here. best tweets, best band names, best fast food crime stories, etc.
Overall an interesting and representative collection of writing. There are some stories and essays that shine more than others, of course; I particularly enjoyed Elizabeth Gonzalez's "Half Beat", Evan Ratliff's "Vanish", and David Rohde's "Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity". All of the writing has been carefully selected and it shows. This collection did an excellent job of choosing the best of many genres of short writing (and illustration)so that the book appeals to a wide audience. The "Bes...more
What a great collection of stories! After the first four or so pieces, the content really picks up. There were several stories I thought I would have no interest in but slogged through them anyway, only to find that they were delightfully interesting and so worth reading.
Highlights?
Bryan Furuness's "Man of Steel" -- An amazing story about father and son, mother gone, fear and love...
Elizabeth Gonzalez's "Half Beat" -- Music, family, love, childhood, home, and how you can never go back...
Andrew...more
Highlights?
Bryan Furuness's "Man of Steel" -- An amazing story about father and son, mother gone, fear and love...
Elizabeth Gonzalez's "Half Beat" -- Music, family, love, childhood, home, and how you can never go back...
Andrew...more
I really enjoyed this collection. The articles, essays, short stories and cartoons were incredibly diverse and give the reader a glimpse of what's being published outside of the mainstream. There's something for every mood - light-hearted, humorous anecdotes, serious journalistic accounts of what it's like to be on the fringe of society, etc.The great thing about a collection such as this is each selection is completely unrelated to the next: one minute you're reading a silly piece about Craig's...more
I thought that The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 was so unique in structure and depth. i have never read a book that was merely a compilation of other people's stories. i found this book to not only be quite humorous, but very emotional as well. ranging from comic strips about a man with a dull life, to documentaries of children in afghanistan, i believe this book is suited for all types of audiences.
I saw this book in a Barnes & Noble, and decided that I would like to read it. Not having enough money to buy it, I retrieved it from a library.
The book is very diverse in its stories and other miscellany, and you never quite knew what you were getting into when you started reading the next thing.
My favorite pieces were by Andrew Sean Greer, Courtney Moreno, and David Rhode. And I discovered at the very end that one of the authors, Bryan Furuness, teaches at my alma mater. Funny how that hap...more
The book is very diverse in its stories and other miscellany, and you never quite knew what you were getting into when you started reading the next thing.
My favorite pieces were by Andrew Sean Greer, Courtney Moreno, and David Rhode. And I discovered at the very end that one of the authors, Bryan Furuness, teaches at my alma mater. Funny how that hap...more
I always love this collection...the best stuff this year:
(1) Best American Gun Magazine Headlines: "My Wife's Guns: I Thought Some Were Mine, but I Was Wrong," "Kids and Guns: A Great Combination"
(2) Best American Woman Comedy Piece Written by a Woman - featuring, of course, cats, John Stamos, Grey's Anatomy, Cathy comic strips, and dessert.
(3) Best essays - Sherman Alexie's "War Dances," Rana Dasgupta's "Capital Gains," (a fascinating look at Delhi), and Andrew Sean Greer's "Gentleman, Start Yo...more
(1) Best American Gun Magazine Headlines: "My Wife's Guns: I Thought Some Were Mine, but I Was Wrong," "Kids and Guns: A Great Combination"
(2) Best American Woman Comedy Piece Written by a Woman - featuring, of course, cats, John Stamos, Grey's Anatomy, Cathy comic strips, and dessert.
(3) Best essays - Sherman Alexie's "War Dances," Rana Dasgupta's "Capital Gains," (a fascinating look at Delhi), and Andrew Sean Greer's "Gentleman, Start Yo...more
Like any collection, this has both positives and negatives but the good outweighs the bad with this edition. The greatness on display really makes it one of the best editions the 826 crew has amassed. Especially terrific are the Maurice Sendak cover, Andrew Sean Greer's essay on NASCAR, and two short stories by Etgar Keret and Amy Waldmann, respectively.
Keret's "What, of this goldfish, would you ask?" is a short story of such economy and grace that it makes writing look simple. It's a masterful...more
Keret's "What, of this goldfish, would you ask?" is a short story of such economy and grace that it makes writing look simple. It's a masterful...more
So far, I'm loving it. The Sherman Alexie thing was made so much more powerful by putting it after all that humor. As to the Twitter section -- I will never again be able to look at the Millennium Falcon without thinking "Flying Pepperoni Pizza".
Finished in a day and a half and loved it. This is always the best of the Best American series. This one is a must read.
Finished in a day and a half and loved it. This is always the best of the Best American series. This one is a must read.
I kind of want to give this three stars, but I won't because the nonfiction was so good. Having reading 2009 and 2010 within the last year, I have to say that BANR definitely has better nonfiction than fiction. I like both genres, but prefer fiction a little more and I think their aesthetic/interest in fiction does not line up with mine which is a bummer. Despite that, I still feel like this collection is a bit more interesting to read than the standard Best American Fiction/Nonfiction books tho...more
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Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, A Hologram for the King, about a struggling businessman pursuing a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In this novel the author takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of...more
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