trilobite's review against another edition
5.0
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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!
abetterbradley's review against another edition
4.0
A hit or miss collection. I skip over the boring and stick with the interesting. The best thing about this collection is that it benefits the 826 Project, a renown writing/tutoring program for students 6-18.
http://www.826national.org/
http://www.826national.org/
emdashbookparty's review
5.0
I really enjoyed the variety here. Many different types of writing were included (true stories, short fiction, magazine articles, lists, graphic novel excerpts) and all were outstanding. Looking forward to future years' BANR compilations.
sp3cia1j's review
3.0
Overall a good read. Some stories I didn't care for, and some will stick with me for awhile. This collection did make me realize that collections of short stories are not my cup of tea - I found it hard to transition from a story on genocide in Burma to one about a suburban plastic surgeon. I experienced a series of mini book hangovers I guess you could say. In any case, there are some authors here I plan on seeking out in the future.