Synopses & Reviews
The eclectic new volume in the annual series presents the finest literature from mainstream and alternative American periodicals, including fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, TV writing, and alternative comics by Judy Budnitz, George Packer, The Onion, The Daily Show, and This American Life. Simultaneous.
Synopsis
Presents selections of mainstream and alternative American literature, including both fiction and nonfiction, that discuss a broad spectrum of subjects.
Synopsis
From Dave Eggers: For this years edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading, we wanted to expand the scope of the book to include shorter pieces, and fragments of stories, and transcripts, screenplays, television scripts -- lots of things that we hadnt included before. Our publisher readily agreed, and so youll see that this years edition is far more eclectic in form than previous editions. Along the way to making the book, we also came across a variety of things that didnt fit neatly anywhere, but which we felt should be included, so we conceived the front section, which is a loose Best American roundup of notable words and sentences from 2005. It is, like this book in general, obviously and completely incomplete, but might be interesting nevertheless.
About the Author
DAVE EGGERS is the editor of McSweeneys and a cofounder of 826 National, a network of nonprofit writing and tutoring centers for youth, located in seven cities across the United States. He is the author of four books, including What Is the What and How We Are Hungry.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction by Matt Groening xi
Best American Fake Headlines 3 from The Onion
Best American Daily Show Exchange on the Anniversary of Watergate 6 from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Best American Ringing Defeat of Religion Masquerading as Science 7 from Kitzmiller v. Dover
Best American Answers to the Question What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?” 10 from The Edge Foundation
Best American Excerpt from a Military Blog 21 from A Soldiers Thoughts
Best American Epigraph Wherein a Contemporary Writer Quotes a Great Writer Who Died in 2005 28 from Saturday, by Ian McEwan
Best American First Sentences of Novels of 2005 29
Best American New Words and Phrases 37 from The Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Second Edition
Best American New Band Names 40
Best American Things to Know about Chuck Norris 41 from Chuck Norris Facts
Best American Things to Know about Hoboes 43 from The Areas of My Expertise
Cat Bohannon. SHIPWRECK 57 from The Georgia Review
Judy Budnitz. NADIA 71 from One Story
Guy Delisle. PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA (excerpt) 94
Tom Downey. THE INSURGENT S TALE 108 from Rolling Stone
Gipi. THE INNOCENTS 124 fromWish YouWere Here
THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION 155 from TheWashington Post
Miranda July. ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW 181 from the original shooting script
Michael Lewis. WADING TOWARD HOME 193 from The New York Times Magazine
The Lincoln Group. ARE IRAQIS OPTIMISTIC? 217
Naguib Mahfouz. ROOM NO. 12 220 from Zoetrope: All-Story
Rick Moody. PIRATE STATION 231 from Gargoyle
Haruki Murakami. THE KIDNEY-SHAPED STONE THAT MOVES EVERY DAY 235 from The New Yorker
Jeff Parker. FALSE COGNATE 253 from Hobart
David Rakoff. LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT 264 from Dont Get Too Comfortable
Joe Sacco. TRAUMA ON LOAN 277 from The Guardian
George Saunders. THE NEW MECCA 286 from GQ
Sam Shaw. PEG 312 from Open City
Julia Sweeney. LETTING GO OF GOD? 327 from This American Life
Kurt Vonnegut. HERE IS A LESSON IN CREATIVE WRITING 348 from A Man Without a Country
David Foster Wallace. KENYON COMMENCEMENT SPEECH 355
Contributors Notes 365 Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2005 375