Synopses & Reviews
The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the countrys finest short fiction and nonfiction. 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 2011 includes
Daniel Alarcón, Clare Beams, Sloane Crosley, Anthony Doerr, Neil Gaiman, Mohammed Hanif, Mac McClelland, Michael Paterniti, Olivier Schrauwen,
Gary Shteyngart, and others
DAVE EGGERS, editor, is the editor of McSweeneys and a cofounder of 826 National, a network of nonprofit writing and tutoring centers for youth, located in eight cities across the United States. He is the author of six books, including What Is the What, Zeitoun, and The Wild Things.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO, guest introducer, is an Academy Award-nominated writer, director, and producer. He is the creator of Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy, Cronos, and The Devils Backbone, among other films. Pans Labyrinth earned prizes worldwide, including three Oscars.
Look for the other best-selling titles in the Best American series:
THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES
THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING
THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES
THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING
THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING
Review
"...zesty...a terrific hodgepodge of essays, satirical pieces, short fiction, lists and comics" --The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Synopsis
An eclectic volume introduced by Guillermo del Toro 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.
Synopsis
"This great volume highlights the very best of this years fiction, nonfiction, alternative comics, screenplays, blogs, and more” (OK!). Compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, it is thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking reading” (Library Journal).
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 includes MARJORIE CELONA DAVID GESSNER ANDREW SEAN GREER RAFFI KHATCHADOURIAN STEPHEN KING EMILY RABOTEAU GEORGE SAUNDERS PATRICK TOBIN LAURA VAN DEN BERG MALERIE WILLENS and others
Synopsis
This "great volume" highlights the "very best of this year's fiction, nonfiction, alternative comics, screenplys, blogs and more" (OK!). Compiled by Dave Eggers and students from his San Francisco writing center, it is "both uproarious and illuminating" (Publishers Weekly).
Synopsis
A selection of the best writing, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and blogs, published during 2009. Edited by Dave Eggers.
Synopsis
The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the countrys finest short fiction and nonfiction. 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 2011 includes
Daniel Alarcón, Clare Beams, Sloane Crosley, Anthony Doerr, Neil Gaiman, Mohammed Hanif, Mac McClelland, Michael Paterniti, Olivier Schrauwen,
Gary Shteyngart, and others
Synopsis
From "Q & A" by Dave Eggers A group of senators and assemblypersons were pressing The Best American Nonrequired Reading on a number of questions relating to the collection, so we decided to kill that stone in the shape of an introduction in the shape of a Q & A.
Who are they, the Nonrequired committees members who decide on things in this collection?
They are high school students from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.
Are they touched by some kind of divine light?
The question is a good one. There is rampant speculation on the subject.
Are they all great-looking and charming and well dressed?
Yes. All of them, and especially Felicia Wong, who can even make her own clothes.
I have a question about the process by which the entries in this collection are chosen. Is it scientific?
The process by which The Best American Nonrequired Reading is put together is not scientific. It is whatever one would consider the opposite of scientific.
Creationist?
Well, no, its not creationist either. The point is that we are probably a bit less top-to-bottom thorough than, say, the Army Corps of Engineers. Well, actually, scratch that. We are probably about exactly as thorough as the Army Corps of Engineers, in that we are intermittently thorough.
What is your opinion and the committees opinion of the state of short stories and small magazines and other periodicals?
This is a good time. It really is.
More specifically?
Not all of us Americans appreciate the fact that we have about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Every state seems to have a very good quarterly, and about a hundred colleges have very good quarterlies from the Kenyon Review to the University of Illinoiss Ninth Letter. So by our estimate there are about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Maybe more. Now, the thing we dont always appreciate here in America is that elsewhere in the world there are few to no quarterlies.
How does it feel to select something for the collection that you found in an unlikely place?
It feels so good. This year, for example, at the last moment we found Humpies” by Mattox Roesch. It was published by Agni Online, and we all loved it, and here it is, ideally able to reach a new audience. We all took pleasure in finding that one; the mandate of the committee is to find the offbeat and the lesser-known and bring these pieces to our readers, most of whom have great skin and bad eyes.
Synopsis
A selection of the best writing, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics, published in American periodicals during 2008 aimed at readers 15 and up.
Synopsis
An eclectic volume introduced by David Sedaris and compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, who dont leave a stone unturned in their search for nonrequired gems. Cover art by art by Maurice Sendak.
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
Introduction by Sufjan Stevens xi Q & A by Dave Eggers xix
I
Best American Names for Horses Expected to Have Undistinguished Careers 3 from Yankee Pot Roast, written by Mike Richardson-Bryan
Best American Beginnings of Ten Stories about Ponies 4 from Monkey Bicycle, written by Wendy Molyneux
Best American First Sentences of Novels Published in 2006 6
Best American New Words of 2006 8 from The Concise Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, new edition
Best American New Band Names 11
Best American Six-Word Memoirs 12 from Smith
Best American Personals from Around the World 14 from Tin House
Best American Article Titles from the Best American Trade Magazines 17
Best American Creationist Explanations for the World's Natural Wonders 21 from Answers in Genesis
Best American New Animal Plagues 23 from Earthweek, written by Steve Newman
Best American Failed Television Pilots 25 from Channel 101
Best American Names of Television Programs Taken to Their Logical Conclusions 28 from Opium, written by Joe O'Neill
Best American Police Blotter Items 29 from Looptard
II
Jonathan Ames. Middle-American Gothic 33 from Spin
Alison Bechdel. A Happy Death 41 from Fun Home
D. Winston Brown. Ghost Children 70 from Creative Nonfiction
Scott Carrier. Rock the Junta 84 from Mother Jones
Joshua Clark. American 99 from New Orleans Review
Edge Foundation. What Is Your Dangerous Idea? 107
Jennifer Egan. Selling the General 131 from Five Chapters
Stephen Elliott. Where I Slept 153 from Tin House
Kevin A. González. Lotería 162 from Indiana Review
Miranda July. How to Tell Stories to Children 187 from Zoetrope: All-Story
Matthew Klam. Adina, Astrid, Chipewee, Jasmine 204 from The New Yorker
Lee Klein. All Aboard the Bloated Boat: Arguments in Favor of Barry Bonds 227 from Barrelhouse
Nam Le. Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice 237 from Zoetrope: All-Story
Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, and Adam Shapiro. Darfur Diaries 259
David J. Morris. The Big Suck: Notes from the Jarhead Underground 274 from The Virginia Quarterly Review
Conan O'Brien. Stuyvesant High School Commencement Speech 299
Mattox Roesch. Humpies 305 from Agni Online
Patrick Somerville. So Long, Anyway 317 from Epoch
Joy Williams. Literature Unnatured 330 from American Short Fiction
Contributors' Notes 341 The Best American Nonrequired Reading Committee 345 Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2006 349