Synopses & Reviews
The Best American Series First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by a leading writer in the field, making the Best American series the most respected--and most popular--of its kind.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005 includes
Daniel Alarcón Aimee Bender Dan Chaon Daniel Clowes Tish Durkin Stephen Elliott Al Franken Jhumpa Lahiri Rattawut Lapcharoensap Anders Nilsen Georges Saunders William T. Vollmann and others
And perhaps you even know that in the storefront of the San Francisco tutoring center, we sell supplies to buccaneers. Yes, you know this. We sell eyepatches, peg legs, lard, planks (by the foot), hand replacements, puffy shirts, and red and white striped socks. This is true. We run the Bay Areas only independent pirate-supply store, but this is not easy. As you know, we have competition. There is a chain pirate-supply store, and every week, it seems, they open a new franchise, encroaching ever more closely on our territory, such as it is. Can we survive the tidal wave that is known as Captain Ricks Booty Cove? We are not sure, but we intend to fight to the end.
Who is Captain Rick? you ask. That is what many people want to know. He claims to be a seafarer of some renown, who, after many decades on the ocean, decided to hang up his parrot and perpetual tan and open a few humble supply shops. Sounds like a nice story if it were true. In the interest of informing you, the buying public, about Captain Rick, were enclosing in these pages six of our ongoing informational posters about Captain Rick. Once a week or so, 826 Valencia publishes its newest findings about our competitor, and though this may not be the most appropriate venue, the truth must be heard. One thing not mentioned in these announcements is that Captain Ricks planks are made of balsa. Balsa is no good for planks.
(From the foreword by Dave Eggers)
Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity!, and How We Are Hungry, and the editor of McSweeney's. He is the founder of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco writing lab for young people.
Beck, whose single "Loser" was instantly labeled an anthem for the slacker generation, is also known for his Grammy Award-winning albums Odelay and Mutations.
Tony Millionaire (cover art) is the creator of Maakies, one of the most popular alternative newspaper comic strips in the world, and of the award-winning comic book Sock Monkey.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
"The Best American" series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by a leading writer in the field, making the "Best American" series the most respected and most popular of its kind.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005 includes:
- Daniel Alarcón
- Aimee Bender
- Dan Chaon
- Daniel Clowes
- Tish Durkin
- Stephen Elliott
- Al Franken
- Jhumpa Lahiri
- Rattawut Lapcharoensap
- Anders Nilsen
- Georges Saunders
- William T. Vollmann
- and others
About the Author
Dave Eggers is the author of
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,
You Shall Know Our Velocity!, and
How We Are Hungry, and the editor of
McSweeney's. He is the founder of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco writing lab for young people.
Beck, whose single "Loser" was instantly labeled an anthem for the slacker generation, is also known for his Grammy Award-winning albums Odelay and Mutations.
Tony Millionaire (cover art) is the creator of Maakies, one of the most popular alternative newspaper comic strips in the world, and of the award-winning comic book Sock Monkey.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword by Dave Eggers xi Introduction by Beck xxx
Joe Sayers. Passing Periods xii, xv from Passing Periods
Anders Nilsen. The Mediocrity Principle xiiixiv from Blood Orange
Daniel Alarcón. Florida 1 from Swink
Jessica Anthony. The Death of Mustango Salvaje 15 from McSweeneys
Aimee Bender. Tiger Mending 39 from BlackBook
Ryan Boudinot. Free Burgers for Life 48 from Monkeybicycle
Dan Chaon. Five Forgotten Instincts 68 from Other Voices
Amber Dermont. Lyndon 78 from Zoetrope
Stephanie Dickinson. A Lynching in Stereoscope 96 from African-American Review
Tish Durkin. Heavy Metal Mercenary 112 from Rolling Stone
Stephen Elliott. My Little Brother Ruined My Life 123 from Maisonneuve
Al Franken. Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs 134 from Mother Jones
Jeff Gordinier. The Lost Boys 148 from Details
Kate Krautkramer. Roadkill 164 from Creative Nonfiction
Jhumpa Lahiri. Hell-Heaven 175 from The New Yorker
Rattawut Lapcharoensap. At the Café Lovely 196 from Zoetrope
Molly McNett. Catalogue Sales 217 from New England Review
George Saunders. Bohemians 237 from The New Yorker
George Saunders. Manifesto 247 from Slate
J. David Stevens. The Joke 250 from Mid-American Review
Jonathan Tel. The Myth of the Frequent Flier 257 from Open City
Douglas Trevor. Girls I Know 263 from Epoch
William T. Vollmann. They Came Out Like Ants! 281 from Harpers Magazine
Lauren Weedman. Diary of a Journal Reader 313 from Swivel
Contributors Notes 319 Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2004 326