The Best American Nonrequired Reading

Tastes great! Less filling! Ok. This is the first BANR I've actually read (2007 version), but I'm so glad I bought it. It's a popcorn read in that it's often lighthearted, somewhat irreverant, but it's so much fun. For those of you who want to be serious all of the time, or feel that every read must be "literary", buy it anyway. I especially liked the Personal Ads (the British ones were the most inventive), the graphic novel that was anything but comic, and the memoirs in six words. I actually challenged my students to come up with memoirs of themselves in six words. Hmmmm, they tried. They're young and need to season a bit. If you want to expand your reading horizon, entertain yourself, and even stand/sit in awe at the sheer brillance of many (unknown) writers, pick this book up.

Sufjan Stevens tells amusingly of his Rudolf Steiner childhood in the introduction. By third grade Stevens was attending public school and couldn't read. A teacher explained how we are surrounded by words. Goth is dying, most bands are industrial, an informant tells Jonathan Ames in his piece entitled 'Middle-American Gothic'. The graphic story by Alison Bechdel concerning a father's intentional or accidental death is engrossing. D. Winston Brown, in 'Ghost Children', opines that time can transform violence. Burma, the size of Texas, called Myanmar, is a place of absolute government control. Scott Carrier, 'Rock the Junta', claims he lied on his visa application to get into the country. Incipient consumerism, a condition he has encountered in other parts of the world, confronts him as he goes in quest of political truths. Foucault described the effects of surveillance. The Burmese poeple, it is asserted, suffer from surveillance. In the main, women are empathizers and men are synthesizers, (from 'What is Your Dangerous Idea?'). Query--will human beings understand the universe, ever? Reasonably considered, scientific knowledge may be pursued only for its practical applications. In 1900 most inventions involved physical reality. In 2005 they revolve upon virtual entertainment. Today a technological elite owns the country's intellectual property. Stephen Elliott, 'Where I Slept', had been a known drug user and eighth grade drinker. At least two characters in this collection wear sleeping masks. In 'How to Tell Stories to Children' two of the characters determine that they have forty minutes before the perishables perish and so they have time for tea. Lee Klein, in 'All Aboard the Bloated Boat' compares Barry Bonds to Jimi Hendrix. Maybe Bonds in a scapegoat. An NGO, Darfur, a mission to make a record of the evolving crisis reveals that the emptiness of the region is disconcerting. Airplanes are referred to Antonovs, (Russian). The marauders are the Janjaweed. The jarhead underground is a tale of Marines. In 2006 there are shifts in the action. In Iraq information is tribal. Control of Fallujah is turned over to an Iraqi brigade. Then the Marines are called upon to deal with the insurgents. The collection is a joy. Basically it is a clutch of the products of youngish, cospmopolitan, emerging writers.

I love anthologies for a couple of reasons: the stories or articles are easily read in a short sitting and no matter how it was edited I usually find a couple of pieces I like. Today I'm writing about one that sets a whole new standard. The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2007, edited by Dave Eggers produced not just a couple of passable stories, but an entire volume of the most thought-provoking powerful writing I've ever encountered. The premise is simple - San Francisco high school students scour through literary magazines, independent publications, and on-line journals for articles, stories, vignettes, and memoirs that they consider the best. They share their findings with each other and with their editor, Dave Eggers, until they've parsed it down to a few pieces to publish in this NonRequired Reading volume. Who would've thought that high schools students would have the ability to spot stories to move me emotionally. Me, a jaded forty-one year old man who heaps cynicism on top of his morning cereal the way some spoon out blueberries, or sugar. But they did. Story after article after first-hand account all pulled emotions from me and sat stewing in my mind for days afterward. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch. The first section is assorted lists and memes, which I consider filler. It was fun I suppose, but the heart of the book lies in Section Two. The best of it all was from my all-time favorite essayist, Scott Carrier. He weaves an account of his time in Burma before the crackdown. When reading it I was struck by the obvious - how could we have been surprised? After that brilliance the next story that caused me to ponder for days after reading was by Lee Klein. He put our entire society into perspective with the most amazing sports essay I can remember reading since Joyce Carol Oates wrote about Mike Tyson. His All Aboard the Bloated Boat: Arguments in Favor of Barry Bonds is required reading for anyone complaining about unfair competition in sports. Another favorite was by Stephen Elliott who knows what it's like to be a thirteen year old boy, homeless, sleeping wherever misfortune allows, and by reading Where I Slept, I feel as if I have some understanding as well. Others that stand out: Joshua Clark brings the reader into New Orleans first hand for the disaster. It's terrifying and mesmerizing simultaneously. James Ames, a reporter from Spin penned a piece about being out of place at GothicFest 2005. In it he comes to an understanding of a new culture and appreciates it for what it is, not for how it's similar to what he knows. Alison Bechdel's graphic comic tragedy is one of the finest pieces of writing I've seen in comic book form. Well-known writer, Jennifer Egan was included with a piece of short fiction, Selling the General, that satirizes our P.R. obsession and makes me want to pick up one of her books. Also, Miranda July weaves a story as well-crafted and surprising as any I've read this year in How

What a fun, engrossing, bizarre and eclectic read this is - it starts off with a funny introduction by Sufjan Stevens followed by poetry about Ed Asner, "Best American" selections (for example, "Best American Beginnings of Ten Stories About Ponies"), an excerpt from a graphic novel, short stories, essays, journalism pieces, book excerpts and even a high school commencement speech written by Conan O'Brien. The great thing about reading anthologies like this is coming across something written by a writer you would normally never read that absolutely blows you away - I achieved that a few times with this collection. The Big Suck by David J. Morris, Selling the General by Jennifer Egan and What is Your Dangerous Idea by the Edge Foundation along with several others are all required reading if you ask me. This is the first year I've read the Best American Nonrequired Reading, and I'm looking forward to making it a yearly reading tradition.

Sufjan Stevens's introduction is pretty much amazing. My boyfriend recommends the Miranda July story "How to Tell Stories to Children," which he says is also amazing. Two amazing bits to this book, at least! That should be worth a browse in your local bookshop.