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spinstah's review
2.0
I didn't like this as much as I remember liking collections in past years. Things like this are always hit or miss, though. In any case it's always an interesting combination of things, this edition includes a couple of comics, short stories, nonfiction essays, random lists, and a few other things. I didn't read it cover to cover -- if something wasn't holding my interest I moved on. If you like these sorts of random compilations of things I would definitely check it out, but it's not for everyone.
bhsmith's review
5.0
This is a particularly tricky review to write because this is a collection of stories by multiple authors, not a single story by a single individual. But, that very reason may be why I give top honors to this book. It is such a diverse collection of stories - some fiction, some non-fiction - by such a diverse collection of authors that you never quite know what lies at the end of one story and the beginning of another.
The entire collection is compiled as part of an 826 National initiative. From what I gather, these groups of high school students scour the printed word - from big-name publications to in-flight magazines and radio show transcripts - to find the very best "Nonrequired Reading" in America. Then, they debate with each other over the merits of each story... ultimately choosing a select few to publish into this annual collection.
The mission of 826 National is worth supporting and giving 5 stars of its own... and the stories in this book certainly receive a 5-star rating. Sure, some are stronger than others, but they all make for some great reading.
The entire collection is compiled as part of an 826 National initiative. From what I gather, these groups of high school students scour the printed word - from big-name publications to in-flight magazines and radio show transcripts - to find the very best "Nonrequired Reading" in America. Then, they debate with each other over the merits of each story... ultimately choosing a select few to publish into this annual collection.
The mission of 826 National is worth supporting and giving 5 stars of its own... and the stories in this book certainly receive a 5-star rating. Sure, some are stronger than others, but they all make for some great reading.
katepowellshine's review
2.0
I'm not here for atrocities in Burma and suicides in China, but that's what I got. This isn't about being informed, it's scrabbling in the dirt for entertainment. Voyeurism. I used to love this series. Some of the fiction is excellent. The comics are good. The front matter is dull, mostly. But the non-fiction is just too much. Trying too hard, maybe? So disappointing.
trilobite's review
4.5
The bulk of this anthology is superb. Some of the short stories that really stand out are:
- Neil Gaiman's "Orange" --- a police interview with a teenaged girl whose sister uses an experimental dye as a self-tanning cream
- Anthony Doerr's "The Deep" is the BEST piece in the collection and likely the best short story I've ever read. The story is about a boy with a heart condition growing up in Detroit in the decade before the Great Depression. Each sentence is practically a work of art in this piece. This story can also be found in the paperback version of Doerr's book Memory Wall - a recent collection of his short stories. I ordered both of his short story collections after reading "The Deep."
- Sloane Crosly has a humorous story about visiting a friend in Paris.
- Joyce Carol Oates has a story about a cosmetic surgeon's harrowing encounter with female patients who are swept up in a cultish desire for trepanation as a spiritual procedure.
I wrongly assumed this anthology consists solely of short stories, as there are several essays also included. My favorite essay is Mac McClelland's, "For Us Surrender is Out of the Question." McClelland, a human rights reporter for Mother Jones magazine, traveled to Mae Sot, Thailand to volunteer to teach English to a group of Karen (pronounced "kuh-REN") activists in Thailand who risk their lives bringing to light the atrocities committed in the military dictatorship of Burma.
Adama Bah has an essay originally published in Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice documenting her arrest and detention by the FBI in 2005 when was 16 years old. She had been attending an Islamic boarding school in Buffalo, New York and was back in Manhattan with her family for Ramadan break when a dozen armed FBI agents came to their East Harlem apartment and arrested her and her father. She spent six weeks in detention and then lived under partial house arrest for three years with an ankle bracelet and a court-issued gag order that prohibited her from speaking about her case. She was suspected of "signing up to be a suicide bomber" simply because she had joined a women's study group for converts and people new to Islam at a mosque in Buffalo.
William Deresiewicz has a piece that was actually a speech he delivered to a plebe class at the US Military Academy at West Point. I almost skipped this piece entirely because I'm not really into military things, but I decided to read it due to an interview I read about a year ago with anti-war activist and West Point graduate Paul Chappell, in which Chappell revealed that he was exposed to Noam Chomsky's writings at West Point.
Deresiewicz, taught English at Yale for ten years and has written for The Nation and is a contributing editor at the New Republic. He speaks about the necessity for solitude in order to learn to think for and find yourself. He compares steady exposure to facebook, twitter and other forms of media as "continuously bombarding yourself with a stream of other people's thoughts" which prevent one from hearing their own thoughts. He draws from Joesph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness and encourages his listeners to read books as a form of solitude, adding that a book has two advantages over a tweet: the person who wrote the book thought about it more carefully than a tweet is thought about and the book is the result of the author's solitude -- the author's attempt to "think for himself."
James Spring's "Mid-Life Cowboy" originally aired on This American Life is his true story of his journey to Baja Mexico to work as an independent bounty hunter on a whim.
Also notable was a lovely comic/illustrated story about a Jewish rug-makers day at an old country market by James Strum.
There were a few stories that didn't grab me, but over all this anthology is solid.
- Neil Gaiman's "Orange" --- a police interview with a teenaged girl whose sister uses an experimental dye as a self-tanning cream
- Anthony Doerr's "The Deep" is the BEST piece in the collection and likely the best short story I've ever read. The story is about a boy with a heart condition growing up in Detroit in the decade before the Great Depression. Each sentence is practically a work of art in this piece. This story can also be found in the paperback version of Doerr's book Memory Wall - a recent collection of his short stories. I ordered both of his short story collections after reading "The Deep."
- Sloane Crosly has a humorous story about visiting a friend in Paris.
- Joyce Carol Oates has a story about a cosmetic surgeon's harrowing encounter with female patients who are swept up in a cultish desire for trepanation as a spiritual procedure.
I wrongly assumed this anthology consists solely of short stories, as there are several essays also included. My favorite essay is Mac McClelland's, "For Us Surrender is Out of the Question." McClelland, a human rights reporter for Mother Jones magazine, traveled to Mae Sot, Thailand to volunteer to teach English to a group of Karen (pronounced "kuh-REN") activists in Thailand who risk their lives bringing to light the atrocities committed in the military dictatorship of Burma.
Adama Bah has an essay originally published in Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice documenting her arrest and detention by the FBI in 2005 when was 16 years old. She had been attending an Islamic boarding school in Buffalo, New York and was back in Manhattan with her family for Ramadan break when a dozen armed FBI agents came to their East Harlem apartment and arrested her and her father. She spent six weeks in detention and then lived under partial house arrest for three years with an ankle bracelet and a court-issued gag order that prohibited her from speaking about her case. She was suspected of "signing up to be a suicide bomber" simply because she had joined a women's study group for converts and people new to Islam at a mosque in Buffalo.
William Deresiewicz has a piece that was actually a speech he delivered to a plebe class at the US Military Academy at West Point. I almost skipped this piece entirely because I'm not really into military things, but I decided to read it due to an interview I read about a year ago with anti-war activist and West Point graduate Paul Chappell, in which Chappell revealed that he was exposed to Noam Chomsky's writings at West Point.
Deresiewicz, taught English at Yale for ten years and has written for The Nation and is a contributing editor at the New Republic. He speaks about the necessity for solitude in order to learn to think for and find yourself. He compares steady exposure to facebook, twitter and other forms of media as "continuously bombarding yourself with a stream of other people's thoughts" which prevent one from hearing their own thoughts. He draws from Joesph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness and encourages his listeners to read books as a form of solitude, adding that a book has two advantages over a tweet: the person who wrote the book thought about it more carefully than a tweet is thought about and the book is the result of the author's solitude -- the author's attempt to "think for himself."
James Spring's "Mid-Life Cowboy" originally aired on This American Life is his true story of his journey to Baja Mexico to work as an independent bounty hunter on a whim.
Also notable was a lovely comic/illustrated story about a Jewish rug-makers day at an old country market by James Strum.
There were a few stories that didn't grab me, but over all this anthology is solid.
itsjustme's review
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
selenajournal's review
2.0
it took work to finish this. one compelling story every two hundred pages just isn't good enough. maybe i'm not the right audience for this kind of thing.
maraihrcke's review
5.0
As always, The Best American Nonrequired Reading sums the year up in a poignant collection of short stories, articles, lists, and more. If you want to feel smart and in-the-know, while also reading entertaining and surprising pieces, this is for you.
This collection is also great for those who do not have hours to devote to reading. Instead, each story takes around fifteen minutes to finish. Great for before bed reading, waiting in line reading, and pedicure reading.
This collection is also great for those who do not have hours to devote to reading. Instead, each story takes around fifteen minutes to finish. Great for before bed reading, waiting in line reading, and pedicure reading.
missnicelady's review
4.0
Another interesting, eclectic, thought-provoking batch of goodies this year. My favorite bits include the oral history of Adama Bah; Tim Crothers' "The Game of Her Life"; Neil Gaiman's "Orange"; "the Imaginist" comic from Oliver Schrauwen; and a West Point commencement speech about how solitude is necessary for leadership, which is making me seriously rethink how I spend my time. The Sloane Crosley story did nothing for me, and the Joyce Carol Oates piece about a plastic surgeon was too icky to finish, even though I liked the writing. Warning: Lots of blood and skull fragments!