The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004

by Dave Eggers (Editor), Viggo Mortensen (Introduction)

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
Dave Eggers, who edits The Best American Nonrequired Reading annually, has once again chosen the best and least-expected contemporary fiction, nonfiction, satire, investigative reporting, alternative comics, and more from publications large, small, and on-line -- Zoetrope, Tin House, the Atlantic Monthly, Bomb, SPX, the New York Times, Texas Monthly, GQ, Iowa Review, Esquire, and others. Read on for "some of the best literature you haven't been reading . . . and it's fantastic. All of it" (St. Petersburg Times).

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

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2004

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

[Shannon]

The last story in this collection - "transmissions from camp trans", by Michelle Tea, is one of the most well written, insightful, and interesting pieces I have ever read on the topic it discusses. It talks about a camp for lesbian-identified women and the issue of them not allowing transgendered (male to female) people to participate. I like the way it "sheds light" on the issue, without being preachy or rude in any way. And it's really sad, because I know a lot of trans people have to face issues like this (that is- feeling as if they are being discriminated against in their "own" community, for lack of a better way of putting it). Tea tells of her experience as a journalist visiting with this camp, and a camp opened up to include trans people (kind of in protest to the original camp), in a way that is just... damn good. So good I marked as to-read everything she has written. Just so I remember to read more of her in the future. Cuz I'm impressed. So... I highly recommend that story, at least. I have only thus far read some of the other 'uns, but they were good too.

[sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love these books, so it seems fairly pointless to review them. Favorites here: "We Have a Pope!" (about a failed PR campaign to appoint an American pope), "What You Eat" (about a boy whose father makes him eat anything he kills-- less gross and more poignant than it sounds), "Hidden Lives of Lakes" (about a town where the dead go to live underneath the ice in a frozen-over lake), "Sixteen Jackies" (Jackie Kennedy splits into 16 different Jackies after JFK's death, and each lives her own separate life), and "Big Brother" (!! such a good story! About what happens when a single mom's son gets a Big Brother. Mostly I loved this story because the narrator's voice is hilarious and spot-on).

[Tiffa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains two of my favorite short stories of all the short stories there are to be read in the world.

Zoanthropy, by David Benioff is really lovely. I have an old photograph of a lion in a zoo, taken by my grandmother on her honeymoon. Zoanthropy makes me feel the way that photograph does.


But "Good World" by John Haskell is a story that I've read and reread too many times to count. I tear up every time I read it - actually anytime I think about reading it- as it's the saddest and most beautiful and lovable bundle of pages (a dozen or so) I've ever read.

[Antisocialite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random note: this evening, shortly after reading "City of Clowns," a clown got on the elevator with me as I was riding up to my apartment. This is not something that happens regularly.

****

Much later, and I have come back to add that apparently, this clown nearly ran over my roommate while she was crossing the street. My roommate didn't tell me whether there were 50+ other clowns in the van at the time ...

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

From a rocky beginning I have learned to love Dave Eggers.
1. For starting a pirate store
2. For teaching kids who need an outlet how to write
3. For writing What is the What
And now, for putting together and publishing these compilations of short stories that I would never otherwise find. I bought this one in a used book store for a few dollars, and now I think I have to buy all of them.

[Bret McGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection _begins with_ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Half of a Yellow Sun" and Daniel Alarcon's "City of Clowns", either of which could effectively anchor virtually any collection of short stories on their own. This collection would perhaps be successful if it did nothing more than bundle these two fantastic (but quite different) stories together... but there is so much more here.

Ben Ehrenreich's "What You Eat" is brilliantly disturbing. Kaui Hart Hemmings "The Minor Wars" is the story which is eventually expanded into "The Descendents", although it's more compressed form here helps it maintain more focus. And Sammy Harkham's "Poor Sailor" works the panel comic format into a subtle and touching story.

Jones' "Night Train", Orringer's "The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones" and Ochsner's "Hidden Lives of Lakes" aren't quite as potent as their companions mentioned above but each provides a distinct texture (and an excellent complement to the other stories). Hall's "Running for His Life" does the same, this time with non-fiction. And Buckley's "We Have a Pope!" still maintains it's humorous punch.

This isn't by any means a perfect collection. An early story, Benioff's "Zoanthropy", swings for the fences but never really connects. Some of the later stories (most notably Olsen's "Sixteen Jackies") never really come off and/or can't escape their conceit. And the final bit of non-fiction, Tea's "Transmissions from Camp Trans", wanders around for far too long and never really settles anywhere. But these missteps can be utterly forgiven for the absolute brilliance of what has come before.

[Samee]

Reading this 20 years after its publication was an interesting experience. I like to think a modern version of a collection like this would have more balanced representation particularly in terms of gender, but who knows. I did appreciate being reminded of cultural through-lines and rhymes that are sometimes forgotten--Michigan Womyn's Fest to TERF discourse, the ways that yesterday's conflicts (literal and figurative) mutate into today's. This reminder is, I think, a helpful antidote to our modern perpetually online modes of thinking.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, very few of these short stories I enjoyed. Worse even, quite a few I disliked. While I read Sixteen Jackies, I wondered why this made it into a collection of anything. However, the whole book redeemed itself with the What You Eat by Ben Ehrenreic. A bit trippy but very cool. And, of course, David Sedaris. Can't go wrong with him.

[paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

very hit or miss. john haskells story was my favorite

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve gotten in the habit of reading The Best Nonrequired reading series, and recently finished reading the 2004 edition. As usual there were a lot of interesting pieces from small publications, as well as a few from the bigger ones that I did manage to catch at publication (David Sedaris’ “Full House” and Michael Paterni’s “The Fifteen Year layover” both from GQ). There were several stories that were written from the perspective of immigrants or foreigners (Africa-“Half of a Yellow Sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and South America-“City of Clowns” by Daniel Alarcon). There was another excellent story that was concerned with Jewish Orthodoxy and coming of age, “The Smoothest Ways Is Full Of Stones” by Julie Orringer. There were a couple of well-written journalistic pieces as well. One was an inspirational story about a Rwandan runner who survived the genocide after almost being burned alive. The other, “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner, is about economicist who look at how changes or the purchase of goods affect out level of happiness-for example getting a new job, getting married, or buying that new car. The results were interesting since greater wealth beyond being able to easily get by don’t necessarily make people happier. I found Christopher Buckley’s story “We Have a Pope!” very humorous and well written as well. I didn’t enjoy every story, but there are plenty of great stories worth reading in the volume.

[Miss Cutschall · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have come to depend on the carefully chosen stories and the way the collections have additional life breathed into them by mixing very established authors with some lesser known ones based on a group of students and the chosen editor (who was in this case the famed Viggo Mortensen from Lord of the Rings). I was not disappointed in this one, though I did find that the stories where set up in an order that made me pace myself, Half way through the collection they start varying on an even greater level of content and prose and at times did not flow so seamlessly into each other, making me take momentary breaks between stories and comics. This is not a huge issue though as I tend to read these in transit anyway. It was hilarious and heartbreaking at times. I also can tell it was superb by the mere fact I still own it and went on to research various authors and buy their other works, such as Michael Hall and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. David Sedaris has already long been on my bookshelf and I had been made aware of Michelle Tea by her strong LGBT following. The part that stops me from giving in a slightly more gracious rating? I found one story by Robert Kelly to be completely unreadable and had to skip the majority of it. Never the less, I urge you to check out this collection as well as all those published in part of 826 National.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this book was assembled by high school kids. I think that have weird taste, good taste, taste that is trying to be too mature, and bad taste. My favorite essay in here that is pretty much near life changing is "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness". It sounds pretty much like a bummer but I promise it's not! You can find it online if you Google the title. It's something that would be on RadioLab or something, not some emo album (they were still making those in 2004, right?). I also really enjoyed "Transmissions From Camp Trans" which examines the trangender folx and how they fit into or do not fit into current-day feminism. It's a deep and controversial topic but it's pretty accessible in this piece.

[o · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great.

This is an anthology, so I've been picking it up on and off for the past month, reading a story here and story there. Anthologies tend to be hit or miss for me - depending on the theme that the material has, I either like everything in the collection or give up very quickly.

Fortunately, there was only one story that I elected not to finish after a few pages - tad too weird for me - and the rest of the stories were excellent!

I purchased this anthology at my library's discarded books sale, with the usual vein of desperation: "I really don't need any more books..." But I'm not regretting that twenty-five cents, so it's all good :)

Gina Ochsner's "Hidden Lives of Lakes" was my personal favorite in the collection.

[Ines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit it - I bought this book for two reasons. 1 - to read something nonrequired was going to be such a relief. 2 - the introduction was written by Viggo Mortensen, to whom I am forever grateful for not screwing up on Aragorn. I have not finished it yet, probably because I got stuck in a story that I wasn't really feeling, but I remember there were other pieces that I really liked. And when I read that it was a committee consisting of high-school students who made the choices about the stories, I was amazed. These pieces are like food - some you'll love, others you might not warm up to, but how would you know if you didn't try it?

[Paul (formerly known as Current) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always good to read something not required.

In a world populated with large quantities of excellent writing buried among the even larger quantities of words-words-words, it is wonderful to sit down and read through a selection of materials that others have culled and find a number of stories and essays that expand your own reading horizons, that are interesting, moving, and remarkable.

My particular favorites are: Zoanthropy by David Benioff, The Minor Wars by Kaui Hart Hemmings, We Have a Pope! by Christopher Buckley, City of Clowns by Daniel Alarcon, and The Promise of Something by Cheryl Printup.

It seems that I am just re-listing the contents. This is goodreads.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The non-fiction was really good, the fiction was kind of hip Oprah book club. A consistently good series, though. Even when I don't love individual selections, I like the diversity of the choices. Most of the stuff that gets included I would have missed, otherwise. I have a big old crush on Eggers that has nothing to do with his writing and everything to do with his work creating writing centers for kids. (Really, how cool is it to get Viggo Mortenson in as guest editor?)

[Amy Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

the thing i love the most about the nonrequired reading is that you're introduced to all these authors that maybe you've never read before, but they're totally awesome. it's how i found one of my absolute favorite authors ever: david sedaris. thank you, best american nonrequired reading! i love you!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best American Series is always outstanding and this release is no exception. The book was speckled with a variety of genres from biography, graphic novel, science fiction, fantasy, first person narratives, etc.

I really enjoy a short story collection that pushes me to read every last story in the book. I always feel the need to read them all with this series and I'm sure others agree.

[K. L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The following are the stories I most enjoyed in order of appearance:
"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"City of Clowns" by Daniel Alarcón
"What You Eat" by Ben Ehrenreich
"The Minor Wars" by Kaui Hart Hemmings
"Bones" by Tom Kealey
"Secret Names" by David Mamet
"The Smoothest Way Is Full of Stones" by Julie Orringer

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a bit more fiction in this go-round. I’m glad the authors are getting away from the nonsensical idea that these books should be read only by the “25-and-under” set. I’m also glad that Dave Eggers reigned in his ego a little bit in the introduction. I enjoyed virtually every story collected here.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at my sister and brother and law's house to read while I was there--a fairly decent collection of innovative voices. I'd be interested to check out a more recent version of this series. That Dave Eggers, man. He sure is awesome, getting young kids involved in the selection and keeping an open mind to the up and comers. Great stuff.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite pieces from this collection:

+ David Benioff - Zoanthropy
+ Kaui Hart Hemmings - The Minor Wars
+ Thom Jones - Night Train
+ Gina Ochsner - Hidden Lives of Lakes
+ Lance Olsen - Sixteen Jackies
+ Julie Orringer - The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones
+ Paula W. Peterson - Big Brother
+ Cheryl Printup - The Promise of Something
+ David Sedaris - Full House

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading these books because of their atypical collections. The amount of "different" material in this series is wonderful, and although I sometimes don't like what I read, I feel better for having read it.

[Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a solid anthology with a few wonderful 5-star pieces and a few "what?" 2/3-star pieces. Overall: four stars? Oh and don't skip the introduction because Dave Eggers laced it with awesome microfiction.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This books was alright, but I was expecting it to be a little bit better. Some of the stories like "The Fast Runner" were inspiring, while others were so so. I think my favorite part of the book was the introduction by Viggo Mortensien. I never knew he was such a gifted writer.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Eggers is a total genius, even if he is crazy. As a for instance: I went to watch him read once from one of his novels, and instead he held an Expert Panel full of local scientists on the topic of itching and scratching.

[trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What You Eat"by Ben Ehrenreich is one of the best short stories I have read recently. It is disturbing with an ambiguous ending, and I can't stop thinking about it. I think it is a modern, dysfunctional retelling of "The Most Dangerous Game."

[Linda]

The "Forward" is one reason to pick up this book (or at least read that part online for free via Amazon), but the rest of the book isn't shaping up to be that great. I'm about half-way through, though, so maybe I'll change my mind later.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were good, especially the disturbing and well-crafted "What You Eat" by Ben Ehrenreich and the narration of "Big Brother," but what I loved most about this collection were the introductory materials by Eggers and Viggo Mortensen.

[Daniel]

Eggers explains this series, now in its third year: "The purpose of this book is to collect good work of any kind—fiction, humor, essays, comics, journalism—in one place, for the English-reading consumer." The editor founded a San Francisco writing lab, w