Book Description
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).
Customer Reviews:
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004 (The Best American Series).......2007-07-17
A great read, with a heartfelt Introduction by Viggo Mortensen on the power and passion of the word! --Diana Divine, Los Angeles, CA
What Exactly Is "Nonrequired" Anyway?.......2005-08-26
Most of the copious volumes from the Best American series are formidable collections in categories that you can really sink your teeth into. You know what you're getting with the Best American writing about Travel, Science and Nature, Music, Mysteries, or even Recipes. But this "Nonrequired" series is either a vanity project for cooler-than-thou editor Dave Eggers, or a dead letter office for orphaned submissions and quirky leftovers. So what does "Nonrequired" really mean as a category? Is it supposed to mean writing from alternative publications or unorthodox sources? That's partially true here, but not entirely, because this volume has submissions from New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, GQ, and Esquire. Is "Nonrequired" supposed to mean cutting-edge styles or offbeat subject matter? With a few noteworthy exceptions, this is not really the case either, because the vast majority of submissions here are completely typical short stories that are often perfectly competent (though sometimes not), but are not out of the ordinary in any literary sense. This is especially curious because there is already a Best American Short Stories collection. Is "Nonrequired" supposed to feature writers from alternative lifestyles, immigrant cultures, or disadvantaged social conditions? That is the case for some of the submissions here, but this also is not consistently the case.
Most awkwardly, this mostly fictional collection has two observational essays and four journalistic articles. Ironically, the four non-fiction articles are the best items here because they deal with interesting subjects, but their placement seems arbitrary and inconsistent. And finally, this book gets off to a horrendous start, with Eggers' so-very-not-funny foreword, and the stultifying introduction by Viggo Mortensen, who acts far better than he writes. So what's the point of having all these writings in this one volume, with the poorly defined category trying to group them together? Maybe it's so Eggers and his group of teen interns with big thoughts can feel like they've served the world, by compiling material that's apparently cool enough for us because it's cool enough for them. But one person's cool is another person's cold. And that's when you can even figure out what the category is supposed to mean [~doomsdayer520~]
Review for The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004.......2005-07-29
I liked the foreward and the introduction the best. I was disappointed in some of the stories. I believe there were students on the selection panel for the stories, so I was surprised at the language/content in some of the selections.
Where are the truly overlooked gems?.......2005-06-28
Not here...
But, what do you expect from the man who only publishes his friends/lovers? Here, again, you'll find Eggers friends whose work he's published elsewhere, people Eggers knows at the Onion web site, etc. etc. This is a great idea for a Best American book, but sooner or later, McSweeney's is going to have to stop pretending to publish overlooked, outsider, experimental, or even good, work. Where can one really find that, I wonder...
Where are the truly overlooked gems?.......2005-06-28
Not here...
But, what do you expect from the man who only publishes his friends/lovers? Here, again, you'll find Eggers' friends whose work he's published elsewhere, people Eggers knows at the Onion web site, etc. etc. This is a great idea for a Best American book, but sooner or later, McSweeney's is going to have to stop pretending to publish overlooked, outsider, experimental, or even good, work. Where can one really find that, I wonder...
Book Description
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 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. Lorrie Moore brings her keen eye for wit and surprise to the volume, and The Best American Short Stories 2004 is an eclectic and enthralling gathering of well-known voices and talented up-and-comers. Here are stories that probe the biggest issues: ambition, gender, romance, war. Here are funny and touching and striking tales of a Spokane Indian, the estranged wife of an Iranian immigrant, an American tutor in Bombay. In her introduction Lorrie Moore writes, "The stories collected here impressed me with their depth of knowledge and feeling of character, setting, and situation . . . They spoke with amused intelligence, compassion, and dispassion."
Customer Reviews:
a ok collection year.......2006-03-03
I like to read nice short novels. And this collection is claimed to be the collection of the best of a year. Still a year might be a little too short to produce many great short novels. So overall I think it is just a OK collection.
many pieces seems for literature critics only.
about 30% of them is pretty good. you can find the trace of new century. Anyway the real good novels should appeal to both general readers and critics.
Not an easy read, but always worth your time.......2005-12-04
This again, is a very good collection, although quite different from the previous, if any generalization at all can be made about these collections who bring so many different stories.
In the current collection, we do not have such a large emphasis on the immigrant experience (although "tutor" takes place in India, with a lot of reference to the US and "written in stone" talks about a very turbulent past in Iran) or on different cultures. If I can generalize, this book seems to turn more into the old family values and their demise, or maybe their re-construction, in a different form (loosing your dog, but finding new meaning in "Grace" or a gay family in "some other better Otto").
The shattering of the American dream is expressed in such stories as "What kind of furniture would Jesus buy" that depicts the sort of problems farmers of the old American kind face nowadays. The story, although it does not deal directly with religion ends with some kind of reference to Jesus, as if an only hope amid all the confusion. I loved the story "Intervention" which tells the story of a retired coupled, bonded by a life together and by many problems they faced and overcame. Now they face the husband alcohol addiction and the younger generation effort to deal with this issue, an effort professionally termed "intervention". This intervention is experienced by the wife as a betrayal of her husband, she is unwilling to undergo. The story's beauty is in the tender, simple way it manages to describe the intimate relations of the husband and wife, private jokes, and tender moments and the largest sacrifice of all (life) the woman is ready to make.
My favorite is the story "Accomplice" which tells the story of Mrs. Hempel, a devoted teacher who tries to get closer to her students, based on her personal experience. This story is immensely full and works on many issues and layers. Mrs. Hempel as a teacher, as a daughter and a person who believes in the beauty and in the power of words. Words however are not always able to express what you really feel. All of Mrs. Hempel's roles in life come together to help her understand her students parents and their frustration with the assignment she gave her students. There were a lot of issues in this story I felt that as a mother I could very easily relate to.
I would like to mention that after reading each story I am always interested and surprised to read the "Contributor's Notes", a vital part of the "best" collections. These notes are always surprising to me as they turn my understanding of the story in a totally different direction. For example the author's notes about "runaway", a story I immensely enjoyed, which deals with the relationships between three people, deal with the landscape and the geographical scenery to which I paid no attention. From there the author continued the story.
Another example would be the notes of the lovely "Written in Stone", a sad and painful story, in which the author explains how she wanted to discuss two issues who must be read in light of each other. These notes helped me continue my thoughts and understanding of the story.
A wonderful story is "What you Pawn I will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie which deals with an Indian homeless experience and has some mystical parts in it (so I felt). In this case the reading of the author's comments added to the strong reading experience and made me want to read more from this great author. I cannot help but enjoy the fact that he seems to also be a very nice human being...
Portrait of America.......2005-10-27
Although this book contains only fiction you can see how American society look like, that interests me as a foreigner myself. All aspects portray these day's Amaerica, including such as Immigrants from Middle East, Native Americans, Gay couples, Silver Ages and so on.
My favorites are "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie and "What We Cannot Speak About We Must Pass Over in Silence" by John Edgar Wideman.
I bought the book because I read the first couple of pages of "What You Pawn I will Redeem" at the bookstore and that interests me. I'd never bought the Best American series before.
"What You Pawn.." contents some religious message, I caught something like God-is-behind-you feeling.
"What We Cannot..", I like the ending. And, to me, it was unique that a male character could talk that way.
The characters in "The Tutor" have similar sense of me, loosing their home country and struggle to find their identity.
"Some Other, Better Otto", even though I am not a gay, I understood unhappines of Otto and it touched my mind.
I could not help to feel disgust Mr. Perkins in "A Rich Man" then stop reading in the middle. Why the author create this kind man, I hardly understand. Suppose the author need to stand on the character's side even if the character is so terrible, but I cannot see any good or understandable view on him.
If you want to get to know American society, you may read Time or watch CNN, but try it too, you may enjoy more.
Another fine anthology from BASS.......2005-04-13
The 2004 Best American Short Stories collection, edited by Lorrie Moore, is the fattest BASS anthology yet. With stories by Sherman Alexie, T.C. Boyle, Deborah Eisenberg, Paula Fox, Jill McCorkle, Alice Munro, Annie Proulx, John Edgar Wideman, and John Updike, among others, the collection features a wide range of writers, most well known. Many stories come from The New Yorker (eight), a couple from Harper's, but the rest were originally published in some of the country's best, relatively small literary journals: Tin House, Granta, The Missouri Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Zyzzyva.
Sherman Alexie's "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" follows a homeless Native American man living spreading good will and fortune among his destitute friends, none of whom have much hope except in the moment of a brief celebration. Deborah Eisenberg's "Some Other, Better Otto" traces the psychological crisis of a gay man whose relationship with his partner is the only functional one in an otherwise dysfunctional family. In "Runaway", Alice Munro portrays two lonely women as they try to find strength in lies and fantasy, even as a harsher reality awaits each. Mary Yukari Waters's "Mirror Studies" turns primate and nature studies inward, toward a man who faces his mortality.
In the past ten years or so, the BASS anthology has gotten more and more predictable, with a heavy emphasis toward the traditional, and while the trend is not broken by this volume, I was pleased to discover some messier stories - narratives such as Edward P. Jones's "A Rich Man" that are not tightly controlled and instead are allowed to breathe. Still, as long as Houghton Mifflin continues to choose New Yorker writers as editors, this is what readers will see in the series.
While different readers will appreciate different stories, most will find several that will stick with them. If you like cutting edge stories, I suggest getting the latest Pushcart Prize collection instead, a series that ignores the commercial publications in favor of the small literary press.
One Bright Spot.......2005-03-27
The good news is that this collection starts with Sherman Alexie's "What You Pawn I Will Redeem." The bad news is that, after that, there are 19 more stories to slog through. Over the years I have found fewer and fewer stories in these collections that I think really deserve the distinction, but this year's selections, to my mind, were by far the worst.
It is important to note that I love the short story form and normally tear through an anthology in no time. I also, up until recently, would have said that I favored the "literary genre" both in my reading and writing. But I am getting very tired of the old school writers who seem to think that pretty words are all it takes. The story itself also needs to play a major roll.
Every year there are hundreds of magazines listed in the back of BASS as submitters, and every year only the top tier make it in. I am beginning to wonder whether most of these even get a reading. The finalists are submitted to a different judge each year for a blind and, supposedly, objective reading. But by her own account Lorrie Moore had read most of these before. How could she not? What well-known writer wouldn't be reading most of the magazines and journals these appeared in?
The sad part is that, without the names attached, I wonder if many of these would have made it past the slush pile at a mid-level magazine, let alone the best. The majority of these stories are overly long and self-indulgent. While overflowing with well-crafted metaphors there is hardly a decent story among them.
With the exception of Alexie and one or two distant runners-up, these stories do not reflect the best of what is happening in the short genres. I have sampled many of those magazines that don't make it through the first cut and I can tell you that there are a lot better selections out there. Stories are getting leaner and meaner. The writing is more disciplined, and some people still try to achieve the single effect Poe noted as so important to the genre.
Someday maybe Katrina Kenison will sit up and take notice. In the meantime I am going to stop wasting my money and time.
Book Description
In this moving new collection, today's finest writers celebrate lesbian love, desire and heartbreak. Contributors include: Katherine V. Forrest (Curious Wine), Carol Guess (Switch), Lesléa Newman (She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not), Claire McNab (Out of Sight), Ann Wadsworth (Light, Coming Back), Ruthann Robson (A/K/A), Jane Summer (The Silk Road), and many others.
Angela Brown edited Set in Stone and Best Lesbian Love Stories 2003. She lives in West Hollywood, Calif.
Customer Reviews:
Spotted an author I wanted to read in the Table of Contents.......2006-08-05
So I bought this book because the author always delivers a terrific story -
Karin Kallmaker's 'If They Only Knew' was fabulous - very passionate as well as erotic and well written.
As a bonus there are 25 stories and wide variety of excellent writers including -
Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Shelly Rafferty
Leslea Newman
Lisa E. Davis
Andi Mathis
Anne Seale
Carol Guess
Cheyenne Blue
Elizabeth Sims
Jane Summer
What the book did not have were short stories by authors mentioned in the amazon book description (hopefully they can be found in future books in the series). MIA are Katherine V. Forrest, Ann Wadsworth, Ruthann Robson and Diana Cage.
Excellent lesbian fiction.......2004-04-17
A wonderful and diverse mix of stories in one anthology. This book isn't breathless declarations and slurpy kissing, these stories are thoughtful, emotive, sometimes funny, sometimes wry, sometimes poignant, but always entertaining.
Too many excellent stories to mention by name, but the women in all of them spring alive and shining from the pages. Whether they're accidentally nailed to the roof with a staple through their hand, exploring the tentative unfurling of lesbian desire, attending gay pride rallies, watching their lover on a Vancouver ferry, defrauding a bank, buying fish 'n chips in Sydney, or attending a wedding, these are real women and their stories touch the heart, the mind, and sometimes lower places!
Kudos to Angela Brown for assembling such a rich cast in one book. Some names I knew, others were new to me, I'll look forward to the next one.
Took My Breath Away.......2004-01-31
This book really took my breath away. The first story in the book, Lucy Jane Bledsoe's "The Breath of Seals" was amazing...sweet, subtle, with believable characters I related to. There's something in this book for everyone, whether you're jaded about lesbian love, just starting a relationship, or are an old hat at the lesbian love game. The writing is top-notch and the stories aren't saccharine. Some of my favorite lesbian writers - including Karin Kallmaker and Leslea Newman - also have really lovely, well-written pieces in this book. Not fluff! The real stuff! Now I want to buy the 2003 volume. Also - look on the last page of the book. The editor is sooo cute!!
Book Description
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 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. Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004 contains a spectacular array of stories by mystery veterans and talented newcomers. Follow a chain reaction that saves a woman's life, visit a house haunted by a husband's violent killing spree, enter the high-stakes world of Las Vegas gambling, watch the line between reality and dream blur, travel with a bored salesman driven to crime, and much more. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, this year's selections are sure to quicken pulses, send chills down the spine, and keep readers continually guessing.
Customer Reviews:
ummm - where is the mystery?.......2006-07-03
You may think that you're buying a book of mystery stories, but no, the real mystery is why most of these stories in this volume aren't mysteries at all. If they had labeled this "Crime Fiction With No Mystery", then that would be more honest. Most of the stories in this volume have no real hidden element that keeps you guessing. Sure, there may be some good social commentary or character development here and there, but if I really wanted that stuff I wouldn't have picked up a book labeled "Mystery Stories".
Not really mysterious.......2006-03-11
Half of these stories were not even traditional mysteries at all: one was set in the civil war, one was more like a mainstream short story. And these were the better ones! One was a ripoff of Poe's Casque of Amontillado, while the lead story, bet on red, was cliched. Leave it to a fool like Nelson DeMille to pick some really bad stories. The only really good one was Steven Kings' semi-supernatural spine tingler, and that was more for the creepy language and timing he possesses, than for any original story ideas. Save your money.
Great Short Stories.......2005-08-30
Fascinating stories, varied and well written. Many surprise endings and unusual story lines. You'll enjoy it.
Book Description
Adam Johnson, William Gay, David Benioff, Ana Menendez, Maile Meloy, Timothy Westmoreland, Amanda Davis, Jennifer Vanderbes, and John Murray: These are just some of the acclaimed writers whose early work has appeared in Best New American Voices since its launch in 2000. This year's volume, featuring seventeen new stories selected by award-winning novelist John Casey, continues the tradition of identifying the best young writers on the cusp of their careers. With pieces culled from hundreds of prestigious writing programs such as the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Johns Hopkins and from summer conferences including Sewanee and Bread Loaf-and with a complete list of contact information for these programs-this rich, entertaining collection showcases tomorrow's literary stars.
Customer Reviews:
New Voices Worth Hearing.......2007-04-02
I want to thank the editors for introducing me to 17 new authors who are all worth reading. The subjects of the stories range from a blind young Victorian woman infatuated with the phrenologist supervising her care to a gay sadomasochist and his lesbian companion on an alcohol- and drug-soaked road trip. Despite the variety of styles and subject matter included in this collection, every single story is thoroughly enjoyable--not a single clinker in the group.
An excellent anthology........2006-09-19
If you are a fan of short fiction I would highly recommend this anthology. It is a great showcase of new talent and this book in particular features a great variety of voices and styles. I have read the stories in this book again and again since purchasing it.
Book Description
Loved by both readers and critics, Best Women’s Erotica is simply the smartest, sexiest women’s erotica collection available, presenting stories that have raised the bar for women’s erotic writing. For 2004, editor Marcy Sheiner has gathered a superb batch of passionate stories that explore the variety and emotional depth of female sexual desire. Best Women’s Erotica 2004 tells the truth about women’s sexuality, with all of its surprises and twists and turns.
Customer Reviews:
This new edition does not disappoint.......2004-02-11
I buy this book every year, and I take my time reading the stories. There are always one or two that don't do much for me, but the vast majority are beautifully written, emotionally charged stories by women who understand what erotica really is. These are stories with depth first, sex second. Truly a keeper -- the one is no exception to Sheiner's excellent assembly of writers.
Wait for the used version.......2004-02-05
Wait for a less expensive, used version. It's not as good as previous years.
Stories by women not afraid to go there..........2003-12-18
As an avid reader of good erotica I am ashamed to say that this was my first foray into Marcy Sheiner's "Best" series. I am glad, however, that I did. Among the twenty selections were gems by well known vets of the genre as well as a few fresh faces on the erotic literary scene.
There were stories that I devoured right away... Adhara Laws thoughtful and amusing "Menage a Cart," Maria Elana de la Selva's sharp and poignant "Cutting Loose..."
Others I saved for more leisurely days... Helena Settimana's graceful "What She Was Thinking," and Danielle Smith's wonderful "Brushing Back The Years...."
I took Sacchi Green's "Alternate Lives" to bed with me one cold, rainy night having started and stopped it more than once. It quickly proved to be one of my favorites in the collection with memorable characters, a gripping story line and smart, sexy writing that will stay with me for many nights to come.
And the most memorable and perhaps the greatest testament to author's willing to go there, Tenille Brown's touching "Dissolve" which explores one couples dramatic shift in relationship dynamics on the morning of one of the nation's greatest tragedies and Susan St. Aubin's thought provoking tale of what might have been in the case of two high profile extramarital affairs in the world of politics in "A Love Drive-By."
While the collection proved satisfying enough, I felt it could have stood to be a bit more diverse and there was a story or two that made me question what about it made it "Best." I do recommend it to lovers of good, good erotic writing.
Books:
- The Birth of Venus: A Novel
- The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook: What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love and Healing
- The Cat in the Hat
- The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller
- The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, and Belief
- The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies
- The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6)
- The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
- The Giver
- The Gloom Looms: A Box of Unfortunate Events, Books 10-12 (The Slippery Slope; The Grim Grotto; The Penultimate Peril)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Inside A Thug's Heart
- With This Ring, I'm Confused
- Master Disaster: Five Ways to Rescue Desperate Watercolors
- Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia
- The Dot
- Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development
- The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic "Uncheese" Dishes
- Herzog & de Meuron 1978-1988: The Complete Works
- Modern Architecture : Photographs by Ezra Stoller
- Seaweeds: Their Environment, Biogeography, and Ecophysiology
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Children
| Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 (The Best American Series)
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (The Best American Series)
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 (The Best American Series)
Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category
