The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005

by Dave Eggers (Editor), Beck (Introduction)

The Wall Street Journal says, "After a decade in which reading was considered about as hip as the Bee Gees, the under-25 set is now buying books for leisure reading at three times the rate of the overall market."

The Best American Non-Required Reading is a selection for young people of the best literature from mainstream and alternative American periodicals: from The New Yorker to Jane, Rolling Stone to The Onion, Vibe to various magazines, zines, and journals that, if you're over thirty, you've never heard of. This genre-busting collection includes fiction young, coming-of-age, multicultural and nonfiction, including articles on popular culture and politics, profiles, humor, satire, even alternative comics.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Essays, Anthologies, Humor, Collections, American

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2005

About the author

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Erik]

I read this a year ago, and enjoyed a lot of these stories. But "tiger mending" is the one I remember. It's this little gem of Buddhist magic-realism that left me feeling something intense but indescribable. Suck on that Steinbeck!

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

As another entry into the modern canon of faux-hip literary idols, this collection works as a broad but shallow glimpse into the sub-culture. It may seem appealing in the short-term, but there isn't a lot to return to. First of all, many of the stories have a detached, historical mood, even when the events are ostensibly modern. They're presented in a lackadaisical and slightly bemused way, typical of nonfiction writing about the past (when knowing about the future might occasion some winks and chuckles) but not so typical of creative pieces. Jessica Anthony's "The Death of Mustango Salvaje" and Aimee Bender's "Tiger Mending," both stilted and purposefully difficult mixtures of high and low culture, have an aloof, sometimes even sneering, quality. But, taking those two out of consideration, the historical-type writing is not so disagreeable. Jonathan Tel's "The Myth of the Frequent Flier" is written with a similar voice, but in a kinder and easier way. And J. David Steven's "The Joke" reverses the formula, creating a unique and charming story that nevertheless doesn't stick its landing.

In a literary arena marked by sad and true first-person studies, Ryan Boudinot's "Free Burgers For Life," a sad, painfully funny story about a small-town sad sack wasting his time, is by far the funniest. Douglas Trevor's "Girls I Know," about Boston and hapless poetic studies, is also brilliant but a little naive. Dan Chaon's "Five Forgotten Instincts" and Stephen Elliott's "My Little Brother Ruined My Life" try so hard to be uncompromising and bleak that when they reach for a conclusion it can only ring false. Amber Dermont's "Lyndon" and Molly McNett's "Catalogue Sales" both work at managing the hardships of becoming a young woman, George Saunders' "Bohemians" mixes coming-of-age memoir with quirky suburban living, and Rattawut Lapcharoensap's "At the Café Lovely" retells a trite but lovely episode about brotherly love in Thailand. Daniel Alarcon's gauzy and melancholy "Florida" along with Jhumpa Lahiri's spirited "Hell-Heaven" uncover long-standing wounds of adulthood.

A few journalistic pieces are showcased here. Two of them deal with the war in Iraq: Tish Durkin's "Heavy Metal Mercenary" and Al Franken's "Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs." Durkin's article, appearing as it did in Rolling Stone, is a strange and undisciplined kind of writing, one that brushes up against big issues but rejects them in favor of sexy and facile images (usually about rock 'n roll). Franken's essay, about his own experience performing with the USO in Iraq, is passionate but frequently boring and, most surprising of all, not very funny. An essay about ex-Mormon outcasts, Jeff Gordinier's "The Lost Boys," skillfully reports on an engaging subject but doesn't exactly show any amazing writing ability. Kate Krautkramer's "Roadkill," on the other hand, has amazing writing but very little to say. Also included are two stories that to me have a similar impact as nonfiction. Stephanie Dickinson's "A Lynching in Stereoscope" is an arresting but too familiar glimpse into racist America. And Lauren Weedman's "Diary of a Journal Reader," the last piece in the anthology, is a stupid and forgettable memoir-ish indulgence.

[Wendell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading Dave Egger's ingratiating and irritatingly self-flattering Foreword to this volume (why is it, even when he's talking about others, that Dave Eggers is always talking about himself?), one hopes desperately that he is being ironic when he says that the pieces in the anthology were selected by a group of high-school students. Unfortunately, he appears to have been telling the truth. This is arguably the worst of the Best American Nonrequired Reading series, though the competition is pretty stiff. Maybe 2005 was just a lousy year for writing. Maybe we shouldn't be expected to pay full price to read stories and essays that appealed to high-school students. Maybe Dave Eggers really can't tell decent writing from drivel. Or maybe all three.

I would save exactly two pieces from this book: Aimee Bender's "Tiger Mending" and Stephanie Dickinson's "A Lynching in Stereoscope," both of which are marvelous. The rest of the book ranges from decidedly not marvelous to aggravating, self-referential, and banal. When you get to the last four pieces (Jonathan Tel's "The Myth of the Frequent Flier," Douglas Trevor's "Girls I Know," William T. Vollman's "They Came Out Like Ants," and Lauren Weedman's "Diary of a Journal Reader"), you realize you're deep in the Swamp of Complacencies that is the province of graduate-writing programs and of writers like Eggers and the McSweeney crowd: too clever by half, damn impressed with themselves and, at base, utterly uninterested in readers. Writing, for them, is an essentially masturbatory act that precludes an other.

I'd put Beck's Introduction, as superficial and trivial a piece of writing as you'll ever find, into the same category. It is apparently included in BANR 2005 solely for the "cool factor" bona fides that someone like Beck could provide in 2005 and not because Beck has a single intelligent or interesting observation to make about writing. Plus, Beck was about to feature Eggers on his next album, so hey: One hand washes the other, high up there in the Hiposphere. And that seems to be Eggers all over: so doggone determined to be "alternative" that he becomes, numbingly, the same as everything else.

[SeaShore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Anthony is the author of this story and I plan to look up more of her works.

Curious Homo sapiens we are. We want to know and learn. Reading is never a chore for me when it's something new and here it is in this story. I chose this book at random, then story #2 was my random pick for today with no regrets.
It is 24 pages long about a young girl bullfighter, a matadora. Her father dressed her every day for the past 10 years in glorious looking Traje de Luces. Her name is Cristina and her bull fighter's name is Wild Montana.
Squeezed in this short story are gems such as "talent isn't something you have , it's something you use."
Her dad takes anxiety pills and offers one to her , "for her nerves," he says and she responds with, "I don't have any nerves."
Eugenio(dad) prays for her before every fight. It goes like this,
"Please let the girl fight well. Then let her marry well and live in the country. Above all let her recognize You and thank You for bringing her to this moment of stardom."

Cristina wonders, "What stardom?"

The committee team making the selection of stories to be published are High School students; their bios written in Dave Eggers' amazing foreword.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a mobile device, so I'll be brief:

Decent, but should be entitled "best short stories for smart, learned, literary teenagers from the Bay Area to read in 2005." Having such a shallow diversity of age and life experience in the selection committee leads to a relatively
Monotonous selection of stories. Wouldn't love a collection selected by all young lac professors, or old romance authors, or political long form journos. They're all great, but spice is the variety of life.

Plenty of schadenfreude in this, especially while reading free burgers.

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonrequired reading has such potential as a category. And on occasion, the kids find something really worth reading. But I must admit that I'm more inclined now to turn to those collections in the Best American series that are edited by authors rather than teenagers. There's a level of pretension in these collections that becomes a bit much.

Loved the short story "The Joke", though.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good writing, and a good way to see more writing out there since it pulls from so many places. Only one story had I read before, and most of then were ones I wouldn't have wanted to miss. Good collection.

[Lyndsay West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's an excerpt from my review of this book on my blog. You can check out the rest of the review here: http://humpdayhardbacks.blogspot.com/...

Almost two years ago, I reviewed The Best American Short Stories 2013—one annual collection amongst many “Best American” categories. I poked fun at the Best American Nonrequired Reading series, suggesting it was an attempt to “lure angsty, rebellious teens." I wasn’t entirely wrong! Each year, some lit-savvy Bay Area high schoolers choose “the best” works of that year from a range of genres (fiction, nonfiction, journalism, cartoons, etc.). Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (highly recommend), oversees the group and edits the final compilation.

I read The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005, which I randomly selected from a lovely mom and pop bookstore in Charlottesville (shout out to Heartwood Books). Beck wrote the introduction because of course he did. Beck does everything. Aside from make music that I actually enjoy listening to. Sorry, Beck.

Beck does a good job of explaining the value of reading something not required—the relationship you have with a form of entertainment that you personally, actively seek out. Referring to his childhood reading curiosities, he says, “Everything we gravitated to probably had the weight of something discovered on one’s own, like we’d uncovered some secret thing nobody else knew” (Eggers, xxxi).

As with any collection, I love some, like others, and don’t like a few. I love Hell-Heaven by Jhumpa Lahiri—author of Interpreter of Maladies. As in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Lahiri integrates her Indian American experiences to show a coming-of-age culture clash for first-generation immigrants.

I also love Al Franken’s Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs—a comedic account of his 1999 USO tour. Trigger warning: one of the sketches he details is more troubling in light of the sexual assault allegations from his 2006 USO tour. I’m going to keep my opinions to myself on this one (ahem, martyr) and simply say that his piece is very well written; it makes me laugh and gives insight as to what a USO tour entails.

I love George Saunders’ Bohemians and Manifesto. Apparently these high school kids love him too, considering they include him twice. Because he’s the short story king, I’ve already reviewed his collection Tenth of December, which I have truly not stopped thinking about since I read it two years ago. I revisit it from time to time. It’s a bedside table kind of book.

I do not like They Came Out Like Ants!, an article by William T. Vollmann that drones on and on and on and on and on and on about underground tunnels built by Chinese immigrants in Mexicali.

Do you like some of these things? Do you not like some of these things? I’m going to suggest that you will probably like most of these things. As indebted as I am to The Best American Short Stories series for provoking the short story addict within me, the mix of fiction and nonfiction within a collection makes The Best American Nonrequired Reading especially appealing.

[Bret McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember a few of these stories being good. Amber Dermont's "Lyndon", Gordinier's "The Lost Boys", Lahiri's "Hell-Heaven" and Douglas Trevor's "Girls I Know" fall into this category along with Vollmann's strange reportage "They Came Out Like Ants!"

I remember a couple of these stories being very good. I'm looking at you Daniel Alarcon's "Florida" and Jessica Anthony's "The Death of Mustango Salvaje".

I remember one of these stories utterly tearing me up inside. That would be Stephanie Dickinson's "A Lynching In Stereoscope", which somehow finds a new way to talk about a well-known and reviled aspect of our history.

There are moments here, but that's about it.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing in the world new to say about a Best American series book. As with any collection of stories or essays, some are better than others, But, as a collection, these books are always well put together.

[Kendra Twenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will always come back to read 'Manifesto' and be reminded of an uncertain and unknown unity

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good early collection

[Andrew Westphal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite entry in the Best American series

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book edited by McSweeney’s editor and author Dave Eggers, with an introduction by Beck, almost guarantees a good time. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005 is an anthology of short stories and nonfiction ranging from hilarious to serious to, quite frankly, mundane topics. It is well compiled and covers an excellent range, from discussions of the Iraq war to discussions on the “ladystache.”

Some of the most notable selections are as follows:

A Lynching in Stereoscope from African-American Review
By Stephanie Dickenson

Disturbing and powerful, Stephanie Dickenson tells parallel stories – one of a lynching in years past and the other of a woman hired to take care of two elderly siblings in contemporary America. Both stories include characters wrongly accused, though consequences are different for both. Descriptions used by Dickenson when telling the story of a young man burned and hanged for allegedly molesting a young girl, along with the heartbreak of the boy’s mother as she bears witness to the atrocities, stay with the reader hours, days even, after the story is finished. But the true beauty of this story is how Dickenson’s stories converge in the end, telling an even broader story about our culture then and now.

Heavy Metal Mercenary from Rolling Stone
By Tish Durkin

A story about “corporate soldiers” in Iraq, this eye-opening article is an essential part of the overall Best American anthology. Tish Durkin travels with a group of private military contractors through Baghdad and beyond, learning about their daily lives. Throughout the article, Durkin explains the dangers the “soldiers” face. She explains who they are and why they’re there. The most distressing aspect of the article, and one of many involved in the Iraq occupation, is that these paramilitary purchase their arms on the black market. According to Heavy Metal Mercenary, because it is illegal for non-military to own certain armaments, like rocket launchers, many times they purchase these from the black market, “providing cash to the same arms dealers who supply the Iraqi insurgents who are killing American soldiers…” The irony is that our military sometimes must hire private security because coalition soldiers are inexperienced at protecting convoys. Behind the scenes, our military is helping to fund the same people who are killing them.

Catalogue Sales from New England Review
By Molly McNett

This hilarious short story tells of two sisters who must not only struggle with their parents’ divorce, but also the Filipino mail-order bride their father recently “purchased.” McNett does an incredible job of tapping into the insecurities of young women and the tensions between sisters. There are layers to this story, making it relatable and complex.

These are only a few favorites. The anthology is full of many more great reads, touching on cultural differences and personal idiosyncrasies alike. A must-read for 2006.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005, as usual has some gems, and some suspect selections. It has become an annual tradition to read the collection edited by Dave Eggers and I’m finding his Forwards to the editions increasingly whimsical, with a sort of in-joke aspect that is getting tedious. Beck provides a short introduction (mostly a marketing ploy I suspect). In particular there were three stories (“My Little Brother Ruined My Life” by Stephen Elliot/”Lyndon” by Amber Dermot/”Catalogue Sales” by Molly McNett) that comically capture the strum and drang of adolescence. The first story by Elliot is about an estranged brother who gets a visit from his younger brother and finds that it’ not as a big of an imposition as he might have originally thought it would be, and they bound through the experience. The second by Dermot is about a petulant daughter and her power broker Mom’s coming to terms with the death of their father/husband and a coming to terms with each other. And the third story by McNett, involves coming to terms with the break up of a family and acceptance of the changed situation of their parents-especially that of their father who has married a filipino mail order bride.

“Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri is another standout story. It is an intimate look at the life of East Indians as they try to come t terms with a different culture far from home. It is full of nostalgia and a retrospective knowing recognition of the small tragedies of life unrequited love and accepted roles based on compromise. I am excited to read her collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies that is sitting on my shelf.

I also enjoyed “Bohemians” by George Saunders, “Girls I Know” by Douglass Trevor, and “At Café Lovely” by Rattawut Lacharoensap, which I previous read in his excellent short story collection Sightseeing. There were two other pieces that I had read before and felt that they were over-rated and I felt chagrined to find them in this collection: “The Death of Mustango Salvaje” by Jessica Anthony-which originally appeared in McSweeny’s, and “They Came Out Like Ants” by the over rated William Vollman that originally appeared in Harper’s. Overall, there’s more good than bad-most of it is eclectic and I may not have been exposed to those stories otherwise.

[Seri · Rating 2 out of 5]

*1.5
Grrrr. Is this the best you can do? I mean, if you advertised it to be the "best", then why did it feel like I was reading The Mediocre American Required Reading 2005?! There are a few very good ones, but the majority was drudgery for me. I expected more from a collection that was handpicked by intelligent high schoolers, though the whole thing seemed hastily put together? It would have been nice if there were some point to some of these stories... I guess I'll attempt to rank these stories based on personal taste.
----------------------------------------
•Manifesto, a Press Release from PRKA (George Saunders): liked the message
•The Lost Boys (Jeff Gordinier): probably the one that held my attention best; an investigation about teenage boys who got excommunicated from their polygamous, religious communities
•Hell-Heaven (Jhumpa Lahiri): thought the intercultural marriage and complicated relationship between the characters were interesting
•Bohemians (George Saunders)
•Tiger Mending (Aimee Bender): magical realism and nice storytelling
•A Lynching in Stereoscope (Stephanie Dickinson): unsettling mood is well conveyed
•The Joke (J. David Stevens): refreshing; circuitous, stream-of-consciousness-esque writing
•At the Café Lovely (Rattawut Lapcharoensap): heartwarming brotherhood
•The Myth of the Frequent Flier (Jonathan Tel)
•They Came Out Like Ants! (William T. Vollmann): really, took too many pages to tell the story; promising premise, but execution was not very good
•Catalogue Sales (Molly McNett)
•The Death of Mustango Salvaje (Jessica Anthony)
•Heavy Metal Mercenary (Tish Durkin): a glimpse into private military contractors
•Diary of a Journal Reader (Lauren Weedman)
•Roadkill (Kate Krautkramer)
•Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs (Al Franken)
•Lyndon (Amber Demont): interesting facts about former presidents
•Free Burgers for Life (Ryan Boudinot)
•My Little Brother Ruined My Life (Stephen Elliott): ugh, not very original
•Five Forgotten Instincts (Dan Chaon)
•Girls I Know (Douglas Trevor)
•Florida (Daniel Alarcón)
----------------------------------------
If you still plan to read this book though, I'd suggest not going in order and just read the ones that sound interesting to you. It's not worth it to spend the time to go through every story when some of them are likely to be disappointing.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typically for an anthology such as this, I would just click my rating, maybe name-drop a few authors I thought were real standouts, and move merrily along with my life. I've really enjoyed other years of the "Best American Nonrequired Reading" I've read. But something struck me about this collection, as all the fiction felt at least tinged if not schmeered with melancholy and hopelessness so that I was continuously left with this lingering sense of despair -- not where you want your head to be when you pop your melatonin and turn off the nightstand light. On the other hand, I thought all the nonfiction selections were quite good -- if you choose to read this book, start with those pieces and feel no remorse about cherry-picking your way through the rest.

So, 2005: A good year for Burgundy region wines, a disappointing year for joie de vivre in American short fiction (if you trust Dave Eggers' taste). Well, I suppose if I wanted to read stories that compelled me to leap outside and hug a stranger, I could pick up a copy of "Chicken Soup for the Insomnia-Riddled Soul." Would someone write that for me, please?

A bientot! Fais de beaux rêves!

[Conrad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The weakest of the Best American Nonrequired series thus far. While the stories by authors like Aimee Bender, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Dan Chaon, whom I was familiar with were well crafted, the unknowns simply couldn't deliver. Their general format for fiction started with an outlandish "attention-grabbing" statement left unsupported or quickly qualified. Then the first person narrative would devolve into a recounting of miseries. There was very little hope here, just a litany of complaints and the losers that suffer them in lieu of brazen adventures and meaningful character arcs. The nonfiction selections, aside from the vain, unfunny politico-humor rantings of Al Franken, were much stronger than the short stories. I found the prize of the collection to be George Saunder's "Manifesto," which begins with the line, "last Thursday, my organization People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction, orchestrated an overwhelming show of force around the globe." It's this quirky, pointed sensibility which has endeared me to the series in the past that was unfortunately rarely to be found in this volume.

[Woodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s not often I delve into a short story collection. Why is it so many of them are depressing or just plain sad or pathetic? Woo-hoo! Fun! (Not.) So I might’ve skimmed about half of these. If there’s too much of a main character being pathetic... or characters doing drugs... or the main character is named Pranab or Sanjeet... I’m going to skim. But if some of the stories are little wacky or exciting or funny then I’ll give it a shot. This collection had about half in that scenario. Two were by George Saunders who I’ve always enjoyed. (I’ve read two collections of his short stories before. And without skimming.) One of these stories was really a recollection from Al Franken about entertaining troops in Iraq. That was both funny and interesting. Love him or hate him, his piece is good. And the story about people in a joke waiting around for the joke to actually be told was fun. Mm-hm. I guess I enjoy a short story if it’s off the beaten path of sad people and their pathetic lives. Cheer up!

[Mary Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the intro by Beck very much. Most of the stories I read were pretty good, although not necessarily memorable. I look back at the titles of the stories and only a few jump out - I really liked The Death of Mustango Salvaje by Jessica Anthony and Tiger Mending by Aimee Bender both of which are in the realm of magical realism. I thought The Joke by J. David Stevens was brilliant, if I can find it on line I am going to post it on facebook. I just finished the last few stories and found two to be completely boring - The Myth of the Frequent Flier by Jonathan Tel and They Came Out Like Ants! by William T. Vollmann. The frequent flier story tries to by post modern like The Joke, but doesn't quite make it. They Came Out Like Ants! is from Harper's Magazine and is about tunnels under Mexicali once inhabited by Chinese people. Not only is it over 30 pages (by far the longest story/essay in the book), but I could not even tell if it was a nonfiction essay or a short story for the longest time. I still don't really know, but have decided it is an essay.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some really great stories in here, and some mediocre ones. There were a few articles dealing with the war in Iraq which were interesting and still relevant, 10 years later. There was a fair amount of versatility in the collection, both in terms of style and author. I think that is definitely this collection's greatest strength.

My favourite stories were: "The Death of Mustango Salvaje," "Hell-Heaven," and "The Joke."

When I got this book I saw that Daniel Clowes' name was on the back under the "including" section. I was most excited for him but he's actually no where to be found in the book. I assume there was a copyright problem shortly before the book was printed and they forgot to remove his name. I hadn't heard of most of the other authors but I'm definitely interested in reading more by some of them now.

All in all, a worthwhile read.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not likely to return to the series any time soon. Absolutely NONE of the stories stand out favorably as I look back at the titles. I do recall laughing aloud at the Al Franken piece, but I'm hard-pressed to recall any of the details (ah...yes...a USO tour, I believe).

"Free Burgers for Life" reminded me of something I might have written 20+ years ago and look back upon wondering what the hell I was thinking to ever think it was worth publishing. But because I could "relate" it is one of the only pieces that I can recall fairly clearly.

Of course I recall those that I just finished reading, but I don't understand the purpose of "They Came Out Like Ants!" and I thought "Diary of a Journal Reader" was just plain horrible in every possible way.

Don't bother with this collection.

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love this series. In this edition, Jhumpa Lahiri's story "Hell-Heaven" is excellent, and I also really liked the two stories about sibling relationships, Lapcharoensap's "At the Cafe Lovely" and McNett's "Catalogue Sales." "Tiger Mending" haunts me. Also, the 826 Valencia posters that disparage a one Captain Rick's pirating prowess had me chuckling in a way that's open to me only in my blissful summer solitude. (Yes, I realize that the previous sentence is far too esoteric in this public format. Deal with it.)

I must express my minor outrage at the fact that Daniel Clowes is promised on the back cover and yet is quite absent from this collection. What gives, BANR publishers?

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The conceit of this book is great and, like any edited collection, it has a number of fantastic essays (Jhumpa Lahiri's and Douglas Trevor's were my favorites). However, I felt that it overall suffered from being compiled by a group of high school students who seemed to not only flavor their selections with topical bias, but also seemed to have a geographic bias in the subjects/topics that interested them. I've been holding onto this book (a 2005 impulse purchase) for awhile (obviously), and just got around to reading it, but I wonder if future years exist and--if so--whether some of the other volunteers at other 826 locations have gotten involved? I imagine this would improve the product, though I must admit I'm unlikely to check another collection out.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going through some books and giving them a re-read before I give them away. I loved this collection, and I was sad to learn that they discontinued it a few years ago (not even a press release!?).

I stand by my two-star review from many moons ago. Just too many clunkers. With that said, here are the top five submissions from this volume that you can find here or somewhere else:

1. The Death of Mustango Salvaje - Jessica Anthony (McSweeney's)
2. Free Burgers for Life - Ryan Boudinot (Monkeybicycle)
3. Lyndon - Amber Dermont (Zoetrope)
4. The Lost Boys - Jeff Gordinier (Details)
5. They Came Out Like Ants! - William T. Vollmann (Harper's Magazine)

[Dan Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An uneven collection that still contained several gems. Unfortunately, too many stories betrayed the editorial committee's background: high school students tend to gravitate toward tales of earnest angst and idealized accounts of social outcasts. The stories aren't identified as fiction or non-fiction, only by title, author and original source. While the genre was usually obvious, several stories defied categorization. Does this matter? Perhaps not, but it does highlight how much our preconceived notions regarding genres and authors can color our reading experience.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories and features from different literary magazines across the country. Dave Eggers recruited a group of high school kids to help him pick which stories would be in this edition, and they did a great job. I'm a fan of short stories, I think they are a great way to learn something new without going on the long, complicated journey of most books. Perfect for a Metro ride.

[Melynda Yesenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

tiger mending is the stand out. a short by aimee bender i've only come across here, it tells the story of two sisters who travel to malaysia following one of them receiving a job offer. there are moments in this that could break a heart, the tiger's roaring and her sister's loneliness and personal quiet.

the rest of this is made up of hit or miss tales, a few with substance followed by the completely forgettable, just like most collections.

[Elke Ursin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some amazing stories in this collection, and also several duds. I liked these the best:

Dan Chaon. Five Forgotten Instincts.
Ryan Boudinot. Free Burgers for Life.
Kate Krautkramer. Roadkill.
Jhumpa Lahiri. Hell-Heaven.
George Saunders. Bohemians.
Lauren Weedman. Diary of a Journal Reader.

While I loved Aimee Bender. Tiger Mending. I didn't love the end, it was too abrupt.

This book was another reminder of how much I love the short form.

[mari jaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

on a return flight from south america, hungry for the english language, i cracked open this book and found myself laughing out loud (in the good way).

there are some great moments in here, and i'm impressed with the taste of the high-schoolers who selected these stories, but it felt to me a bit uneven.

i'd almost recommend it for the foreword by dave eggers & george saunders' two pieces.