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The Best American Essays 2008
Here you will find the finest essays “judiciously selected from countless publications” (Chicago Tribune), ranging from The New Yorker and Harper’s to Swink and Pinch. In his introduction to this year’s edition, Adam Gopnik finds that great essays have “text and inner text, personal story and larger point, the thing you’re supposed to be paying attention to and some other thing you’re really interested in.” David Sedaris’s quirky, hilarious account of a childhood spent yearning for a home where history was properly respected is also a poignant rumination on surviving the passage of time. In “The Ecstasy of Influence,” Jonathan Lethem ponders the intriguing phenomenon of cryptomnesia: a person believes herself to be creating something new but is really recalling similar, previously encountered work. Ariel Levy writes in “The Lesbian Bride’s Handbook” of her efforts to plan a party that accurately reflects her lifestyle (which she notes is “not black-tie!”) as she confronts head-on what it means to be married. And Lauren Slater is off to “Tripp Lake,” recounting the one summer she spent at camp—a summer of color wars, horseback riding, and the “wild sadness” that settled in her when she was away from home.
In the end, Gopnik believes that the only real ambition of an essayist is to be a master of our common life. This latest installment of The Best American Essays is full of writing that reveals, in Gopnik’s words, “the breath of things as they are.”
In the end, Gopnik believes that the only real ambition of an essayist is to be a master of our common life. This latest installment of The Best American Essays is full of writing that reveals, in Gopnik’s words, “the breath of things as they are.”
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2008
19 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
About the author
Adam Gopnik
113 books462 followersAdam Gopnik is an American writer and essayist, renowned for his extensive contributions to The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1986. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal, he earned a BA in art history from McGill University and pursued graduate work at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. Gopnik began his career as the magazine’s art critic before becoming its Paris correspondent in 1995. His dispatches from France were later collected in Paris to the Moon (2000), a bestseller that marked his emergence as a major voice in literary nonfiction.
He is the author of numerous books exploring topics from parenting and urban life to liberalism and food culture, including Through the Children's Gate, The Table Comes First, Angels and Ages, A Thousand Small Sanities, and The Real Work. Gopnik’s children’s fiction includes The King in the Window and The Steps Across the Water. He also delivered the 50th Massey Lectures in 2011, which became the basis for Winter: Five Windows on the Season.
Since 2015, Gopnik has expanded into musical theatre, writing lyrics and libretti for works such as The Most Beautiful Room in New York and the oratorio Sentences. He is a frequent media commentator, with appearances on BBC Radio 4 and Charlie Rose, and has received several National Magazine Awards and a George Polk Award. Gopnik lives in New York with his wife and their two children. He remains an influential cultural commentator known for his wit, insight, and elegant prose.
He is the author of numerous books exploring topics from parenting and urban life to liberalism and food culture, including Through the Children's Gate, The Table Comes First, Angels and Ages, A Thousand Small Sanities, and The Real Work. Gopnik’s children’s fiction includes The King in the Window and The Steps Across the Water. He also delivered the 50th Massey Lectures in 2011, which became the basis for Winter: Five Windows on the Season.
Since 2015, Gopnik has expanded into musical theatre, writing lyrics and libretti for works such as The Most Beautiful Room in New York and the oratorio Sentences. He is a frequent media commentator, with appearances on BBC Radio 4 and Charlie Rose, and has received several National Magazine Awards and a George Polk Award. Gopnik lives in New York with his wife and their two children. He remains an influential cultural commentator known for his wit, insight, and elegant prose.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
July 5, 2009
The Best
- Atul Gawande's "The Way We Age Now"
- Sam Shaw's "Run Like Fire Once More"
- Charles Simic's "The Renegade"
Other Highlights
- Adam Gopnik's introduction
- Rich Cohen's "Becoming Adolf"
- Anthony Lane's "Candid Camera"
- Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence"
- Louis Menand's "Notable Quotables"
- Hugh Raffles' "Cricket Fighting"
- John Updike's "Extreme Dinosaurs"
- Joe Wenderoth's "Where God Is Glad"
Full disclosure: I stopped reading Emily R. Grosholz's "On Necklaces" after these two sentences: 'That year, when we were not exchanging scholarly notes, we were shopping for shoes at the outlet. E.B. White said of the gifted spider Charlotte that it is rare to find a someone who is both a good friend and a good writer; I might add, and a good shopper.' I know it probably sounds harmless to some, but I really don't have any interest in reading someone who drags a prose artist like E.B. White into Sex and the City-esque slop.
- Atul Gawande's "The Way We Age Now"
- Sam Shaw's "Run Like Fire Once More"
- Charles Simic's "The Renegade"
Other Highlights
- Adam Gopnik's introduction
- Rich Cohen's "Becoming Adolf"
- Anthony Lane's "Candid Camera"
- Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence"
- Louis Menand's "Notable Quotables"
- Hugh Raffles' "Cricket Fighting"
- John Updike's "Extreme Dinosaurs"
- Joe Wenderoth's "Where God Is Glad"
Full disclosure: I stopped reading Emily R. Grosholz's "On Necklaces" after these two sentences: 'That year, when we were not exchanging scholarly notes, we were shopping for shoes at the outlet. E.B. White said of the gifted spider Charlotte that it is rare to find a someone who is both a good friend and a good writer; I might add, and a good shopper.' I know it probably sounds harmless to some, but I really don't have any interest in reading someone who drags a prose artist like E.B. White into Sex and the City-esque slop.
January 7, 2009
It is exceedingly difficult to rate an anthology with any more than three stars, because almost inevitably there will be some essays I love and some I despise (or rather, that bore me so to death that I don't even dignify them with a complete read). And when you average out love and despise you get 2.5, and then have to rate it a 3.
Regardless, this is worth a read, as "The Best" series of all types are every year. I particularly enjoyed the essays that leaned more toward the personal and emotional (one in particular by a man IV feeding his HIV positive partner at home was wonderful), rather than the analytical and pseudo-intellectual (really, necklace making as a metaphor for life? I've never read so much about beading and cared so little...and I am a former beader!).
Recommended for those that don't have qualms cherry picking.
Regardless, this is worth a read, as "The Best" series of all types are every year. I particularly enjoyed the essays that leaned more toward the personal and emotional (one in particular by a man IV feeding his HIV positive partner at home was wonderful), rather than the analytical and pseudo-intellectual (really, necklace making as a metaphor for life? I've never read so much about beading and cared so little...and I am a former beader!).
Recommended for those that don't have qualms cherry picking.
December 2, 2008
I thought this was a pretty disappointing effort this year. But this may simply be a reflection of the fact that Adam Gopnik gets on my last nerve. His meandering, pretentious introduction is a painful reminder of just how much David Foster Wallace's brilliance, wit, and low tolerance for bullshit will be missed (DFW was last year's editor).
Really slim pickings this year. I'd break it down roughly as follows.
Brilliant:
Anthony Lane on the Leica camera;
Hugh Raffles on cricket fighting in Shanghai
Engaging:
Atul Gawande on geriatric medicine;
Emily Grosholz on necklaces
Moving personal reminiscence:
separate essays by Patricia Brieschke and Bernard Cooper, though be warned that each documents the horrific suffering of a terminally ill child and life-partner respectively.
Personal reminiscence that was only mildly amusing:
Ariel Levy ("The lesbian bride's handbook");
David Sedaris mining his adolescence for yuks according to his standard formula (if you've read any of his previous books, you probably could have written the essay yourself)
Personal reminiscence that, although I know that I was supposed to be moved, just came across as whiny, self-pitying and ultimately annoying:
Lauren Slater (mommy issues and homesickness at summer camp: when she started "shuddering with grief", I lost interest)
and
- hey - I'm sorry that Lee Zacharias's father shot himself and that she seems to be obsessing about vultures, but I think her interspersed flashbacks about her family and assorted vulture/buzzard facts were just creepily embarrassing, and certainly no fun to read.
"Quirky" essays that flopped (the reader understands that the author is enthusiastic about the topic, but the author fails to engage or persuade the reader):
Albert Goldbarth on science-fiction comics of the 1950's;
Sam Shaw on trying to attain transcendence through extreme long-distance running;
John Updike (?!) on dinosaurs (it's only my admiration for Updike as a critic that is keeping this out of the "embarrassing" category)
Reasonable idea, execution marred by excessive cleverness, smugness, or implied condescension (the 'elite writing for the elite' tone):
Jonathan Lethem on plagiarism (some interesting points, buried in 30 pages of undisciplined prose);
Louis Menand ("Notable Quotables");
Ander Monson ("Solipsism" - a thin idea, pushed way too far)
Cringeworthy, embarrassing, annoying, and/or just plain stupid:
Rick Moody "On Celestial Music"
Rich Cohen on how his neighbors reacted when he grew a Hitler moustache (Not well? Gee! You don't say. THIS makes it into the top 21 essays of the year. Hmmm. Let me think about that)
Joe Wenderoth on -- well, it's hard to know WTF it was about, actually. Something to do with a strip club - he can't have been sober when he wrote it, that's for sure.
The remaining two essays, by Jamal Mahjoub and Charles Simic were inoffensive, but also completely unmemorable.
You see why I am so annoyed at Adam Gopnik? He forces me to be mean in public.
Give this one a miss. 2 out of 21 home runs is pathetic. You may think I'm being unduly harsh. But there was very little joy in reading this book. Life is short. We have a right to expect more joy than is provided by this sorry collection.
Now, here's the good news. Probably right next to this volume, on the same shelf in the bookstore, you are likely to find a book called "The Best American Magazine Writing 2008". It's roughly twice the length of the Gopnik disappointment, and is introduced by Jacob Weisberg. It might cost you a few bucks more. No matter. Buy it! I will explain why in a separate review later on today.
Really slim pickings this year. I'd break it down roughly as follows.
Brilliant:
Anthony Lane on the Leica camera;
Hugh Raffles on cricket fighting in Shanghai
Engaging:
Atul Gawande on geriatric medicine;
Emily Grosholz on necklaces
Moving personal reminiscence:
separate essays by Patricia Brieschke and Bernard Cooper, though be warned that each documents the horrific suffering of a terminally ill child and life-partner respectively.
Personal reminiscence that was only mildly amusing:
Ariel Levy ("The lesbian bride's handbook");
David Sedaris mining his adolescence for yuks according to his standard formula (if you've read any of his previous books, you probably could have written the essay yourself)
Personal reminiscence that, although I know that I was supposed to be moved, just came across as whiny, self-pitying and ultimately annoying:
Lauren Slater (mommy issues and homesickness at summer camp: when she started "shuddering with grief", I lost interest)
and
- hey - I'm sorry that Lee Zacharias's father shot himself and that she seems to be obsessing about vultures, but I think her interspersed flashbacks about her family and assorted vulture/buzzard facts were just creepily embarrassing, and certainly no fun to read.
"Quirky" essays that flopped (the reader understands that the author is enthusiastic about the topic, but the author fails to engage or persuade the reader):
Albert Goldbarth on science-fiction comics of the 1950's;
Sam Shaw on trying to attain transcendence through extreme long-distance running;
John Updike (?!) on dinosaurs (it's only my admiration for Updike as a critic that is keeping this out of the "embarrassing" category)
Reasonable idea, execution marred by excessive cleverness, smugness, or implied condescension (the 'elite writing for the elite' tone):
Jonathan Lethem on plagiarism (some interesting points, buried in 30 pages of undisciplined prose);
Louis Menand ("Notable Quotables");
Ander Monson ("Solipsism" - a thin idea, pushed way too far)
Cringeworthy, embarrassing, annoying, and/or just plain stupid:
Rick Moody "On Celestial Music"
Rich Cohen on how his neighbors reacted when he grew a Hitler moustache (Not well? Gee! You don't say. THIS makes it into the top 21 essays of the year. Hmmm. Let me think about that)
Joe Wenderoth on -- well, it's hard to know WTF it was about, actually. Something to do with a strip club - he can't have been sober when he wrote it, that's for sure.
The remaining two essays, by Jamal Mahjoub and Charles Simic were inoffensive, but also completely unmemorable.
You see why I am so annoyed at Adam Gopnik? He forces me to be mean in public.
Give this one a miss. 2 out of 21 home runs is pathetic. You may think I'm being unduly harsh. But there was very little joy in reading this book. Life is short. We have a right to expect more joy than is provided by this sorry collection.
Now, here's the good news. Probably right next to this volume, on the same shelf in the bookstore, you are likely to find a book called "The Best American Magazine Writing 2008". It's roughly twice the length of the Gopnik disappointment, and is introduced by Jacob Weisberg. It might cost you a few bucks more. No matter. Buy it! I will explain why in a separate review later on today.
May 4, 2015
"The breath of things as they are, I think, runs through these pages, and all of the writers included achieve what Dr. Johnson said was the essayists' only real ambition: to be masters of our common life." p. xxiii
I couldn't include a quote from just one of these twenty essays. First of all, it had taken me six months to finish this collection, so some essays were fresher in my brain than others. And then, how would I pick? These twenty essays were considered the best of the year. They were all wonderful in their way. I guess I cheated - I let Adam Gopnik, the editor, speak for everyone else.
I thoroughly enjoy most essays and this kind of collection. I usually just stick with The Best American Spiritual Writing since as far as I can figure out, I will not be able to read everything. However, I had the opportunity to buy this book cheap and so it became one of my "boat" books. I will not take any book that I care about on our boat since water and books do not always get along.
This fulfilled my other requirement for boat reading - it can be easily interrupted. Although some of the essays are longer than others, I could always go back and find my place.
If you are interested in learning a lot of odd facts, told to you by some excellent authors, I recommend any of these "best of" collections. There are about ten of them published every year - there must be one that you would find interesting.
I couldn't include a quote from just one of these twenty essays. First of all, it had taken me six months to finish this collection, so some essays were fresher in my brain than others. And then, how would I pick? These twenty essays were considered the best of the year. They were all wonderful in their way. I guess I cheated - I let Adam Gopnik, the editor, speak for everyone else.
I thoroughly enjoy most essays and this kind of collection. I usually just stick with The Best American Spiritual Writing since as far as I can figure out, I will not be able to read everything. However, I had the opportunity to buy this book cheap and so it became one of my "boat" books. I will not take any book that I care about on our boat since water and books do not always get along.
This fulfilled my other requirement for boat reading - it can be easily interrupted. Although some of the essays are longer than others, I could always go back and find my place.
If you are interested in learning a lot of odd facts, told to you by some excellent authors, I recommend any of these "best of" collections. There are about ten of them published every year - there must be one that you would find interesting.
November 19, 2008
There are some really great essays in this years collection. It's funny, I didn't feel like any of the essays blew me away while I was reading them, but now that I look back on them, I can't help but think that my life would be a little duller if I hadn't read them. Some highlights include how Rich Cohen's "Becoming Adolf," which will change the way you look at the Hitler-stache, Atul Gawande's "How We Age Now" -- Gawande's ability to convey complex medical issues to a non-medically trained audience never ceases to amaze me -- Jonathan Lethem's extraordinary essay, "The Excstasy of Influence," which will change the way you think about creativity, and then do it again if you read the footnotes, and Hugh Raffles "Cricket Fighting," about an ancient and struggling Chinese sport. While these were some of my favorite essays from the collection, I find it hard not to mention John Updike's exploration of unusual dinosaurs, Anthony Lane's portrait of a high-quality camera and the pictures it has taken, Louis Menand's discussion of famous misquotes, and Lee Zacharias's experiences with vultures and her father. All in all, this was a great collection, and a great, economical way to read some great essays without having to subscribe and read every periodical out there, as the editors did.
May 6, 2009
Adam Gopnik sets out three "chief kinds of essays being written these days" in his introduction: the review essay, the memoir essay, and the "odd-object" essay. This last type of essay takes up far too much space in the collection he's edited. Some are good: Lee Zacharias' essay on vultures was fascinating and explored the subject from practically every perspective, from the historical to the personal. Many were dull, though, like Emily Grosholz's lame "On Necklaces" or Albert Goldbarth's essay on science fiction paperbacks. Necklaces? I don't think any writer could make that subject interesting.
I liked that Gopnik broke the formal conventions of the series by presenting essays with images, and including Ander Monson's weird/great "Solipsism," which is printed broadside. There's a lot of innovation in the collection, despite the narrow parameters for the modern essay the editor writes in his introduction.
I also like that there is a good deal of poets represented: Simic, Monson, Wenderoth, Updike (kind of). Gopnik seems to want to open the series to new voices.
This is the second year in a row I have enjoyed the editor's writing better than his editing/collecting judgment. David Foster Wallace is my gold standard for nonfiction, but the 2007 BAE was dull. This year's is better, but I still would rather read Adam Gopnik than half of the essays in this collection.
I liked that Gopnik broke the formal conventions of the series by presenting essays with images, and including Ander Monson's weird/great "Solipsism," which is printed broadside. There's a lot of innovation in the collection, despite the narrow parameters for the modern essay the editor writes in his introduction.
I also like that there is a good deal of poets represented: Simic, Monson, Wenderoth, Updike (kind of). Gopnik seems to want to open the series to new voices.
This is the second year in a row I have enjoyed the editor's writing better than his editing/collecting judgment. David Foster Wallace is my gold standard for nonfiction, but the 2007 BAE was dull. This year's is better, but I still would rather read Adam Gopnik than half of the essays in this collection.
June 16, 2009
Maybe it's primacy in the book allowed for an easier impression, but Patricia Brieschke's brief and very moving essay tore at my soul. I don't usually give in so easily to supposedly facile ploys at emotional impacts such as children, the elderly, the sick, the dying, etc. but I did with this one. It is a kernal of goodness. This does not diminish the other varied and very interesting essays that followed. I laughed out loud reading Rich Cohen's exploration of Hitler's infamous lip curtain and experienced many ahah's with Atul Gawande's work on aging. Other outstanding pieces are Jonathan Lethem's brilliant addressing of copyright and its changing face in the expanding media of today. Rick Moody's piece spoke to the music lover in me and Sam Shaw's article about a transcendental ultramarathon run around a city block in Jamaica New York sang to the runner in me. Buzzards by Lee Zacharias reminded me of my son and his intense interest in turkey buzzards.
July 12, 2010
Standouts:
*****
The Way We Age Now - Atul Gawande
Aging scares me. This personal fear—perhaps even more than my love for them or any sense of duty—has driven a preoccupation with how I’d like to care for, or see my parents cared for, if and when they need it. It’s about self-worth and independence as we age, I think.
An overview, for me, of geriatric care, this piece is a perfect jumping off point to delve into the matter further. My connection to a piece often has to do with the writer and I’m on the hunt now for annotated bibliographies from Gawande’s other writing in the hope that he, as a writer I vibe with, can point me reliably toward other great sources.
The piece was first published in The New Yorker, so it's in the online archive if you're a subscriber.
****
The Constant Gardner - Bernard Cooper
****
Buzzards - Lee Zacharias
December 31, 2014
I'm a fan of essays, and reading this was a good way to sample various authors. Adam Gopnik's intro was an excellent reflection on the nature of essays, observing that "the essayist's end is achieved not so much by argument as by asserting the facts of actual experience: this is what it feels like to be alive right now, whatever it's supposed to feel like, or however nice it would be to feel some other way."
Unfortunately, after loving the intro, I was mostly disappointed in the actual essays. The standouts for me were:
Azul Gawande, "The Way We Age Now"--about the gradual failure of our bodies as we age and the value of geriatric medicine
Rick Moody, "On Celestial Music"--about music, heaven, longing, and healing
Lee Zacharias, "Buzzards"--about vultures and grief; the last essay in the book and in my opinion the best
Of course it's a matter of personal taste, and others may find lots to love in this selection of essays. For me it was overall just OK.
Unfortunately, after loving the intro, I was mostly disappointed in the actual essays. The standouts for me were:
Azul Gawande, "The Way We Age Now"--about the gradual failure of our bodies as we age and the value of geriatric medicine
Rick Moody, "On Celestial Music"--about music, heaven, longing, and healing
Lee Zacharias, "Buzzards"--about vultures and grief; the last essay in the book and in my opinion the best
Of course it's a matter of personal taste, and others may find lots to love in this selection of essays. For me it was overall just OK.
July 8, 2009
There were some really amazing pieces in this collection, and some that didn't really reach me.
My favorites were Rich Cohen's mustache essay (possibly the best last line in the book), Atul Gawande's essay about aging, Sam Shaw's piece about the transcendent runners, Lauren Slater's essay about summer camp (what a perceptive eye she casts on her childhood! I would love to have such clarity of hindsight), and Lee Zacharias's vulture essay.
Solid, but not my favorites: Patricia Brieschke and Bernard Cooper both made me want to cry, Ariel Levy's lesbian wedding sounded like a blast, and Hugh Raffles' piece about cricket fighting was fascinating.
Albert Goldbarth's essay was a disappointment, because I'd been really looking forward to it and then I just didn't get it. Maybe that's my own failing.
My favorites were Rich Cohen's mustache essay (possibly the best last line in the book), Atul Gawande's essay about aging, Sam Shaw's piece about the transcendent runners, Lauren Slater's essay about summer camp (what a perceptive eye she casts on her childhood! I would love to have such clarity of hindsight), and Lee Zacharias's vulture essay.
Solid, but not my favorites: Patricia Brieschke and Bernard Cooper both made me want to cry, Ariel Levy's lesbian wedding sounded like a blast, and Hugh Raffles' piece about cricket fighting was fascinating.
Albert Goldbarth's essay was a disappointment, because I'd been really looking forward to it and then I just didn't get it. Maybe that's my own failing.
March 8, 2011
The Best American Essays series are stellar. This particular edition is edited by Adam Gopnik. Previous edition editors have included Joyce Carol Oates, David Foster Wallace, Ian Frazier, Susan Sontag, Annie Dillard, and Gay Talese (quite a list!).
I've read superb essays by Rick Moody, Lauren Slater, and Jonathan Lethem.
Slater's essay was interesting in that she writes about a summer camp experience at Tripp Lake, which is about 20 miles from my house. Slater is typical of the kind of talented writers that each edition of this series features. I wasn't familiar with Slater, and the essay introduced me to her and some research reveals that she has a couple of books that I'll add to my reading list.
Moody's essay on music would be a must read.
I've read superb essays by Rick Moody, Lauren Slater, and Jonathan Lethem.
Slater's essay was interesting in that she writes about a summer camp experience at Tripp Lake, which is about 20 miles from my house. Slater is typical of the kind of talented writers that each edition of this series features. I wasn't familiar with Slater, and the essay introduced me to her and some research reveals that she has a couple of books that I'll add to my reading list.
Moody's essay on music would be a must read.
July 15, 2014
A selection of great writing representing magazines such as Harper's, The New Yorker, Swink, Pinch and others; by authors including David Sedaris, John Updike, Lauren Slater, Anthony Lane, Charles Simic, and many more. Simic looks at the history of his native Serbia, Sedaris's hilarious look at growing up in a home where history was not as respected as he would have liked is a gem, and Slater recounts a summer spent at camp. This is just a sampling of the great essay writing found in this book. This series is a great way to introduce readers of all ages to the art of essay writing, and what a good essay really is.
January 13, 2011
A few days after finishing this one, Atul Guwande's essay on aging still stands out in my mind. I'd recommend anyone grab a copy at the library to read that essay, and skip through for others of interest.
I'd have preferred the Jim McManus essay on poker listed in the notable section at the back to a couple of the essays actually included in the collection, but perhaps Gopnik is more a fan of Leica cameras than card games. We can disagree on which is more interesting to either of us personally.
I'd have preferred the Jim McManus essay on poker listed in the notable section at the back to a couple of the essays actually included in the collection, but perhaps Gopnik is more a fan of Leica cameras than card games. We can disagree on which is more interesting to either of us personally.
December 22, 2012
I originally just picked it up for Solipsism and then David Sedaris, but now I feel compelled to read the whole thing.
Update 9/4: I only read the first three and a half essays, Solipsism, and David Sedaris's piece before I decided to return it to the library because it was due today anyway. The first essay was really good. Solipsism was disappointing. Sedaris is pretty cool. The Hitler Mustache one was weirdly good. The HIV one was like one giant cliff-hanger (did he die or not?!?). The one I had started about aging was interesting but overall pretty boring.
Update 9/4: I only read the first three and a half essays, Solipsism, and David Sedaris's piece before I decided to return it to the library because it was due today anyway. The first essay was really good. Solipsism was disappointing. Sedaris is pretty cool. The Hitler Mustache one was weirdly good. The HIV one was like one giant cliff-hanger (did he die or not?!?). The one I had started about aging was interesting but overall pretty boring.
October 20, 2008
I've only read the first two and am currently into Albert Goldbarth's Everybody's Nickname. From what I can see, in this year's collection Adam Gopnik has really carefully chosen essays that are not only well-crafted but highly entertaining and progressive visions into the future of the essay, what I suppose are products of these "creative non-fiction" classes. Regardless, I'm having a blast reading this one.
January 28, 2009
Some really great essays in here, along with some so-so ones and one I couldn't stand ("Everybody's Nickname," which I really should have loved if the writer had not been so gimmicky). I am teaching from the book this semester, and so far we are really enjoying dicsussing and debating it. Tomorrow we discuss "The Ecstacy of Influence," which is a challenging (both in difficulty and terms of preconceptions) essay about originality and plagiarism.
March 9, 2009
I wasn't sure I was even going to read this collection, but Adam Gopnik's introduction sucked me in. Semi-committed, I proceeded to get bowled over by Patricia Brieschke's essay, which was perhaps the saddest thing I've ever read, and then righted again by humor with Richard Cohen's essay about the Hitler/toothbrush mustache. A great collection overall. [full review ]
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September 27, 2018The first essay of this collection, "Cracking Open" by Patricia Brieschke, was published in a low prestige journal (PMS) and puts all the other, more predictable New Yorker essays to shame. The one exception is Ariel Levy's "The Lesbian Bride's Handbook" which is written in such a strong, confident, yet vulnerable voice. I'm looking forward to reading more recent Best American Essay collections to see if the tyranny of men at the New Yorker has loosened somewhat in recent years.
November 28, 2008
Really enjoyed the essays by Rich Cohen, Bernard Cooper, Atul Gawande, Jonathan Lethem, David Sedaris, Lauren Slater and Joe Wenderoth. The rest were less impressive, and a few were unfinishable. That's an anthology though, I suppose. The Sedaris and Cooper pieces were particularly strong--especially considering these writers are already reliable.
November 29, 2008
Wait--you mean that John Updike's contribution is by far the weakest in the collection, yet it's there anyway?? Weird.
Aside from his mediocre essay on dinosaurs, though, everything else is really, really good. And Adam Gopnik's introduction is one of the most succinct and smartest pieces on essay writing that I've ever read.
Aside from his mediocre essay on dinosaurs, though, everything else is really, really good. And Adam Gopnik's introduction is one of the most succinct and smartest pieces on essay writing that I've ever read.
October 28, 2008
Not the best collection of creative essays I've read. A few really good ones, though. I'd recommed "This Old House," by David Sedaris, "Becoming Adolf," by Rich Cohen, and simply for the ingenuity of it, "The Ecstasy of Influence," by Jonathan Lethem. Also, if you like personal memoir, "Cracking Open," by Patricia Brieschke is well-written.
January 11, 2009
There were a few essays in here that I really liked, but for the most part I was unimpressed and a little bored. Part of this is undoubtedly the mere fact that I prefer short stories to essays, but I feel very strongly that writing should be entertaining (or, at least, interesting and compelling), regardless of the medium, content, and purpose.
April 20, 2009
As usual with these, I thought the quality was uneven -- or at least my interest was. But there are always a few absolute gems. One was "The Constant Gardener" about a man who learns to maintain a PICC line to give TPN to his dying partner. It was absolutely beautiful in its weaving of medical and personal, and even had a few moments of humor.
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September 22, 2009Not the best of the series, though not the worst, either. I enjoyed Bernard Cooper ("The Constant Gardener," about taking care of his ailing partner), and Albert Goldbarth on the Leica camera. Especially interesting was Jonathan Lethem on influences in writing. But most the others are forgettable, and a couple too boring to finish.
March 2, 2009
This essay collection was a bit of a let-down this year. Usually I enjoy the majority of the essays, but I had to pass over many. The sparse amount of good ones at least made it enjoyable. Hopefully next year's choices are better.
February 9, 2009
I don't know...my three favorite essays this year were from "The New Yorker" which isn't typically the case with this collection. Maybe the universe was just telling me to renew my subscription to the NYer?
March 31, 2009
Boy, you sure can tell what kind of essays end up in the annual collection based on the guest editor. Adam Gopnik's picks were fun and mostly light-reading -- not quite like Susan Sontag and David Foster Wallace's picks.
May 5, 2009
This collection of essays spanned so many topics that I was frequently outside my own zone of interest. They're all well-written, though occasionally a little too ... literary ... for my taste. I especially enjoyed "The Lesbian Bride's Handbook," while "The Constant Gardener" was heartbreaking.
November 14, 2009
I look forward to this collection of essays every year. I read them over the Thanksgiving weekend. They bring me to my knees. How I learn about the world, besides watching Southpark, is through the Best American Essays series.
February 18, 2011
I usually find the Best American series more enjoyable. I thought the 2008 collection was rather uneven- I really enjoyed some essays, like Atul Gawande's, but others I ended up not finishing becuase I just couldn't get through them.
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