The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010

by Dave Eggers (Editor), David Sedaris (Introduction)

An eclectic volume introduced by David Sedaris and compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, who don’t leave a stone unturned in their search for nonrequired gems. 

Cover art by art by Maurice Sendak.

Introduction / David Sedaris --
War dances / Sherman Alexie --
Like I was Jesus / Rachel Aviv --
Burying Jeremy Green / Nora Bonner --
The carnival / Lilli Carré --
Capital gains / Rana Dasgupta --
The encirclement / Tamas Dobozy --
Man of steel / Bryan Furuness --
Half beat / Elizabeth Gonzalez --
Gentlemen, start your engines / Andrew Sean Greer --
The photographer / Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemercier --
What, of this goldfish, would you wish? / Etgar Keret --
Fed to the streets / Courtney Moreno --
The tiger's wife / Téa Obreht --
Breakdown / T. Ott --
Ideas / Patricio Pron --
Vanish / Evan Ratliff --
Seven months, ten days in captivity / David Rohde --
Tent City, U.S.A. / George Saunders --
The nice little people / Kurt Vonnegut --
Freedom / Amy Waldman

Genres: Short Stories, Essays, Fiction, Anthologies, Humor, Literature, Collections

484 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have love, love, loved this series, but this is the first one that felt like a bit of a slog. I bought it in December, read the opening essay and the short bits (Part I) in January, and then read a piece or two a month for the entire first half of the year. Normally I read the whole thing the day I buy it. I love the humor of the first section, and the eclectic mix that normally fills the rest: fiction, non-fiction, comics. There were some interesting pieces, but they were evenly matched by less interesting ones. The non-fiction caught my attention more than the fiction. The highlight for me was an excerpt from The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, though the panels were a little hard to read in this cramped format; I have that book sitting by my bed waiting to be read. I guess as long as this series still brings attention to books like that it's viable.

[Sarah Beaudoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift (I was completely unaware of this series) and I loved every moment of it. The book is divided into two: the first (shorter) part contains a bunch of ridiculous lists, such as the best gun magazine headlines of 2009, and the second part contains a variety of essays, comics, and short stories. I often felt like this book took my favorite things about the New Yorker, Zoetrope, and every other magazine I love and combined them all into one.

My favorite inclusions were Sherman Alexie's essay about the death of his father, journalist David Rohde's story of his kidnapping and seven months as a hostage in Afghanistan, and Andrew Sean Greer's account of spending his anniversary with his husband at a NASCAR race weekend in Michigan. The quality and variety of stories in this collection repeatedly amazed me, and I will definitely seek out other editions.

[Justin Difazzio · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great collection of stories! After the first four or so pieces, the content really picks up. There were several stories I thought I would have no interest in but slogged through them anyway, only to find that they were delightfully interesting and so worth reading.

Highlights?

Bryan Furuness's "Man of Steel" -- An amazing story about father and son, mother gone, fear and love...

Elizabeth Gonzalez's "Half Beat" -- Music, family, love, childhood, home, and how you can never go back...

Andrew Sean Greer's "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines" -- a riotously funny piece about his first wedding anniversary with his husband spent at a NASCAR race. Gay marriage, community, friendliness, humor...

Courtney Moreno's "Fed to the Streets" -- EMT's world from the inside. Beauty and humanity...

and

Kurt Vonnegut's "The Nice Little People" -- It's Vonnegut. Enough said.

[Jennifer Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love this collection...the best stuff this year:

(1) Best American Gun Magazine Headlines: "My Wife's Guns: I Thought Some Were Mine, but I Was Wrong," "Kids and Guns: A Great Combination"

(2) Best American Woman Comedy Piece Written by a Woman - featuring, of course, cats, John Stamos, Grey's Anatomy, Cathy comic strips, and dessert.

(3) Best essays - Sherman Alexie's "War Dances," Rana Dasgupta's "Capital Gains," (a fascinating look at Delhi), and Andrew Sean Greer's "Gentleman, Start Your Engines," (a gay man's adventure in NASCAR, both funny and endearing).

(4) Best short story - hands down, Kurt Vonnegut's "The Nice Little People."

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only four stars this year. It's still good stuff, but there was a little too much self-conscious cleverness in the shorter entries this year. So not as awesome as previous entries in the series.

Plus, I am so over David Sedaris, which might have had something to do with it. Would it have killed him to write an introduction that actually made reference to the damned book? Mr Sedaris, like some other regular contributors to "This American Life" suffers that rare problem of living an over-examined life. Myself, I lost interest at least two books ago.

It's still one of the best damned anthologies around, though.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

good stuff here. i think in many ways this is the best "best nonrequired reading" yet. more "professionalism" in the choices and layout of book as whole (done by high school students). i especially liked pieces by george saunders "tent city", amy waldman "freedom" (soon to be a novel), tea obreht "tigers wife (soon to be a novel), patricio pron "ideas. ah hell there's a bunch of really good things in here. best tweets, best band names, best fast food crime stories, etc.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked almost all the stories in this collection, which I found in the little free library (accounts for the randomness of the year 2010.)

I loved all the short, quick lists at the beginning like best character names, best band names, best six-word memoirs, etc. I really loved the graphic novel submission, The Carnival. It was so sad and sweet! I think it was written by a French woman which is cool. My favorite stories were definitely Etgar Keret's about the goldfish (which I had already read, but still) Sherman Alexie's memories about his dad losing his feet to diabetes and his own health scare (or was that fiction and I just assumed it was memoir?) Evan Ratliff's article about how relatively hard it is to try to vanish from your life what with the internet, and the last story of the collection, Amy Waldman's allegorical story about the islamic fundamentalist prisoners shipped to a new country called Freedom. Totally fabulous.

This was a hard review to write because of how disparate each story was, but it was really fun to read! I'd be curious to see other Nonrequired Reading collections from other years. I liked the idea that it is a good snapshot of life in 2010.

Sidenote, Maurice Sendak's illustrations on the cover were perfect!

[Ryan Milbrath]

Christmas day 2010 I remember distinctly driving back from my parents’ house to Milwaukee so that I could give my girlfriend her Christmas present. She had been working on Christmas Day because it is imperative for a server at a restaurant noted for its fine dining experience to work on the days which generate the most people and most tips. When she got off, I remember smiling as I handed her my present and seeing her bemused expression at my attempts at thoughtful present giving.



Among other things, this book was her gift too me. It’s difficult for me to be objective about a book when it carries such sentimental value. This first gift between those in a relationship seems to represent more than just an ordinary collection of literature. Like how Chopin reminds me watching other students from my student-house in Eau Claire or how when ever I have chili it reminds me of my father making dinner during the winter months when mom had to work late. The book captures a moment, a feeling that transcends the intent of the editor or author.



I could rail on about how this is a great collection of short stories, funny articles, letters, slogans put together by one of my favorite authors: Dave Eggers, but it will all seem so inconsequential. I say that because even during the highlights of this book: Vanish, Seven Months and 10 days in Captivity, Letters to the Editor, etc reminded me of that cold Christmas Day when the lady that has grown to mean more to me than I could have imagined told me to wait while she wrapped it – not having enough time to do it before hand with amount of doubles she had to work that week. It reminds me how we sat on her couch afterwards, arms around one another watching some silly Christmas special that we just ignored anyways in favor of embracing the warmth between us.



In this reviewer's opinion this book was great even before I read it. The personal attachment made it that way. In the end, I wonder if it’s possible to be objective about such a personal and subjective gift. Hope this review was helpful for all the reasons that no-one else would consider worthwhile to examine.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite pieces from this collection

+Sherman Alexie - War Dances
+Nora Bonner - Burying Jeremy Green
+Lilli Carre - The Carnival
+Bryan Furuness - Man of Steel
+Elizabeth Gonzalez - Half Beat
+Andrew Sean Greer - Gentlemen Start Your Engines
+Etgar Keret - What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?
+Patricio Pron - Ideas
+Evan Ratliff - Vanish
+George Saunders - Tent City, U.S.A.
+Kurt Vonnegut - The Nice Little People
+Amy Waldman - Freedom

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is eclectic and unusual. It is not mainstream. It is stuff I never would have read if it hadn't been put together in one volume. It is everything from Tweets to headlines, to photographic stories and illustrations. Mostly it is short stories or non-fiction magazine articles. I really liked most of it and skipped a few that were too "out there" for my tastes.

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any compilation, not everything was a hit for me but I loved the mix of works. Best American non-required reading has everything from graphic novel short-stories to engaging cultural works.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, there is always a range of quality (subject to my personal tastes and biases). This one is no different. Some very strong stuff and some material that is not as strong. I thought the lists were underwhelming as well as the handful of comics in it (and I am a comic fan). But there were some very strong pieces - Especially the nonfiction pieces. Here are what I thought were the strongest pieces:

* War Dances by Alexie Sherman - She story of his sick father and the self-destructive heritage that modern Native AMericans struggle with.

* Burying Jeremy Green by Nora Bonner - A story of a group of school aged students reenacting a traumatic event that happened at their school.

* Man of Steel - by Bryan Furuness - The story of a boy that has the power to see the future and he tries to use that power to avoid disaster.

* Gentleman, Start Your Engines by Andrew Sean Greer - About a gay couple who go to a NASCAR event and learn to fit in, with the help of his butchier husband.

* What, of this Goldfish Would you Wish? by Etgar Keret - The fable of a boy who decides to interview people about what wishes would they dream for until he meets a distrusting recluse man who happens to have a magic Wish Granting Goldfish.

*Fed into the Streets by Courtney Moreno - Episodes for aa young rookie Paramedic.

* Vanish by Evan Ratliff - A true story about a man who tries to disappear from the grid and then try to reappear as another person.

* Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity by David Rhode - The story about a reporter who was captured and held prisoner by the Taliban. The longest piece of the book and perhaps the center piece.

* Tent City by George Saunders - A reporter goes out to try to live amongst the homeless in San Francisco. Both a clinical description and yet also the writers voice is clear and distinct.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of skipped around and read what sounded interesting–really loved the Best American front section compilation of random names, cover letters, lawsuits, illustrated missed connections, etc. so much fun to skim!

as for the second section of longer work:
- Sherman Alexie's War Dances was compelling esp the ending (15. Exit Interview for My Father was really interesting structurally)
- Burying Jeremy Green was very haunting, does a great job of illustrating childrens' ability/inability to process events and what they do with that
- The Carnival was a super surreal comic, I didn't really get it
- The Encirclement: skimmed this one, rather frustrating but getting to the final "plot twist" made it all make more sense
- Man of Steel: really depressing but ending was melancholically sweet

[Mandy Klehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed most of the stories in this volume.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really great pieces mixed in with a few that are staggeringly mundane.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 edited by Dave Eggers with an introduction by David Sedaris is one of the better collections. I still think the first section is usually unnecessary with silly lists, the second section is what I come back for--the inventive short stories and excellent journalism that I may have missed. I realized with Sherman Alexie's compelling "War Dances," that I need to keep up with him since I haven't read anything since The Business of Fancydancing. There were also great stories like "The Encirclement" by Tamas Dobozy about a tortured man who disrupts lecture by a history professor about the Siege of Budapest in WWII, "Man of Steel" by Bryan Furuness about an adolescent trying to come to terms with his mother's abandonment of him and his father, "Gentleman, Start Your Engines" by Andrew Sean Greer about a gay couple's unlikely wedding anniversary spent at a NASCAR race, and Etagar Keret's modern fable "What of This Goldfish, Would You Wish."

There are fabulous pieces of nonfiction in the collection as well. The most fascinating piece for me was Rana Dasgupta's look at money and how it is changing New Dehli in "Capital Gains." The piece opens with the discussion of a the drunk driving case of a son of a wealthy and well-connected business man that tries to get his son off drunk driving and manslaughter charges after he has killed six people. Dasgupta sees this as endemic of a cultures that worships wealth and has mutated traditional values. He identifies several interesting cultural observations, for example he interviews a crusading journalist who explains: "Hinduism is very pliable. it rationalizes inequality: if that guy is poor it's because he deserves it from his previous lives, and it's not for me to sort out his accounts. Hinduism allows these guys to think what they get is due to them, and they have absolutely no guilt about it." Elsewhere he states that, "Delhi is a city of traumas...Delhi was destroyed by the British in 1857. It was destroyed again by Partition in 1947. It was torn apart by the anti-Sikh rampages in 1984. Each of these moments destroyed the culture of the city, and that is the greatest trauma of all." Later he talks with a prominent psychologist who discusses the Rama complex: "in the epic poem Ramayana, Rama gives up the throne that is rightfully his and submits himself to enormous suffering in order to conform to the will of his father. Indian men don't wish to kill their fathers, they wish to become them..." Some the other standout pieces include Evan Ratliff's piece for Wired, "Vanish," where he undergoes an experiment to see if someone can disappear in the internet age, and the compelling "Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity" by David Rohde who chronicles his kidnapping at the hands of the Taliban in Pakistan. There's also a great piece by GQ regular and fiction writer George Saunders, "Tent City, U.S.A." It is an entertaining story and nonscientific study of life among the homeless in Fresno, California.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another year, another great BANR. It's hard to review this kind of thing as a whole volume, because for me at least every year some articles are good and others don't quite cut it. Here are some of my favorite stories from this volume, and a bit about each:

"Like I Was Jesus" by Rachel Aviv
- At first I thought this was going to be a cynical take on an overly evangelistic organization, but Aviv shone a humanistic light on leaders of what I first perceived to be a cult-like offshoot of Christian fundamentalism. It defied my expectations, which I liked.

"Capital Gains" by Rana Dasgupta
- It's hard to summarize the entire colonial legacy of India and connect current events to deep-seeded roots in a relatively short article, but Dasgupta paints a pretty decent picture of the incredible amount of wealth and power the rich minority elite possess in a burgeoning world power.

"Ideas" by Patricia Pron
- Children in a small community start going missing one by one, inexplicably drawn away from their homes by a growing number of their fleeing peers. Pron channels philosophic adolescence into broad reaching topics to ponder, namely that adults view children more conceptually than pragmatically.

"Tent City USA" by George Saunders
- Great piece on a tent city in Fresno, CA. At first I was thrown by the third person narration, but it works as a great literary device in this piece about being an outsider among those on the very outside of society. Look this up on GQ for some pictures that compliment the story.

"Freedom" by Amy Waldman
- An international prison doesn't know what to do with convicts that are being released but denied entrance to any country on the planet, and so an island dubiously dubbed "Freedom" is created. Social experiment gone horribly wrong, valid solution to a complex problem or perhaps a little of both? Waldman succinctly weaves a tale of being free within the confines of larger systems.

[Tiny Pants · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blast you, Eggers, you've foiled me again! After the absolute rock bottom that was Best Nonrequired 2008, and my subsequent two-year hiatus from reading these, I was lured back in with a heavily discounted copy of B N 2009 and now, with B N 2010, you've actually done it -- this collection is readable, engaging, funny, and for the first time since the very first collection, not overly heavy-handed. Once again, I am tempted to give credit for this not to the ever heavy-handed Eggers, and certainly not to the overly-precious Bay Area teens who help compile these, but to the young Michiganders who for the second year in a row have made contributions to the selections here.

And really, this is a solid collection. Save for the usual crap ("Best American New Band Names," which always just reminds me that all new band names suck, and that nearly all new bands suck), the intro section was great -- the contributions from Wendy Molyneux (a writer for Bob's Burgers, the best show you aren't watching!) and Joey Comeau were especially worthy. The long-form journalism was all unfamiliar to me, and really strong -- I especially liked the pieces from Harper's (Rachel Aviv) and Granta (Rana Dasgupta), but the sort of is-it-memoir-is-it-fiction-is-it-journalism piece from L.A. Weekly (Courtney Moreno) was especially compelling. Really, the only pieces I disliked in here were the ones that rang of 'stunt' journalism -- Evan Ratliff's 'disappearance' for Wired and George Saunders' piece for GQ, which was part bad journalism, part bad social science, and all in an annoying, contrived style. Oh gosh, and I have to mention the Vonnegut story! I don't usually like him that much, but this was part Ray Bradbury, part The Twilight Zone in the best possible way.

So yes, you win, Eggers. I'll buy your 2011 collection.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendid compilation overall. My favourites included the following:

-'War Dances' - Sherman Alexie : a rambling tale of illness, family history and relationships, from an intellectual Native American's perspective

-'Burying Jeremy Green' - Nora Bonner : a moving tale of youth versus adulthood; of how greatly we can change, how little separates guilt from innocence, and how quickly we are forgotten

-'The Carnival' - Lili Carre : a poignant, yet adventurous graphic short story

-'Capital Gains' - Rana Dasgupta : an excellent non-fiction look at life in Delhi, India, focusing on the varieties of rich people, established rich vs. nouveau riche vs. poor vs. the law, and the caste system in modern context

-'Gentlemen, Start your Engines' - Andrew Sean Greer : Two gay men experience a NASCAR race weekend and extoll the hidden virtues of redneck racing

-'Vanish' - Evan Ratlifff : the true story of a Wired magazine employee who vanished and initiated a contest with the goal being to find him somewhere in the US.

-'Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity' - David Rohde : the true story of an American journalist who was held hostage in Pakistan. Insights into the life of a hostage and his captors abound.

-'Tent City USA' - George Saunders : an author goes undercover and lives in a tent city in Fresno, California. In a sort of anthropological study, George deals with crackheads and crazies and finds the definition of truth more subjective than meets the eye.

-'The Nice Little People' - Kurt Vonnegut : a doormat husband, a strong wife, and a micro spaceship...

-'Freedom' - Amy Waldman : a US agency establishes an island nation called 'Freedom;' for convicted terrorists. Plays on freedom and imprisonment, US culture vs islamic terrorism etc. ensue.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was full of stories and things I didn't think I was going to like, but that it turned out I loved when I actually made myself read them. I only skipped two stories in the entire thing, which is saying a lot because I'm not usually willing to read a short story longer than, say, a page and a half.

Favourites:

-"Best American Comedy Piece Written By a Woman" I thought this was sarcastic and hilarious. Ken did not. Maybe it's a lady-anger thing?

-"Best American Gun Magazine Headlines" I continue to giggle about these in my head if someone is talking about guns.

-"Best American Lawsuits" I tried reading the best one of these out loud to Ken but failed because I was laughing way too hard and couldn't breathe.

-"Best American Poems Written in the Last Decade or So by People Living or Fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan" Poems: they are good sometimes!

-"War Dances" (by Sherman Alexie) About halfway through I came to a bit I was sure I had read before and had to search all over the internet to find it. I still don't remember how I happened upon the one passage I had read, but the rest of the story was sad and funny.

-"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines" (by Andrew Sean Greer) This one was my all-time-in-this-collection favourite. At first I was thinking "Oh no. A gay couple at a NASCAR. This cannot turn out well." But it ended up being nice and sweet and made me feel good about the world for a few hours. I recommend this story even if you don't read anything else in the entire book.

[Janel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My finance LOVES this series and after hearing him describe some of the stories in this collection I decided to read it. I wasn't too impressed with the first part which focused on ephemera, poems, patents, etc. From the second part I enjoyed the following stories:

Burying Jeremy Green by Nora Bonner (from 'Shenandoah') - story of 5th graders acting out scenes after a runaway prisoner escapes and has a standoff with police in their playground. Interesting look at children processing a traumatic event like that.

Man of Steel by Bryan Furuness (from 'Ninth Letter') - story of a boy who see's a commercial about coincidences and starts to have "superpowers" seeing visions. He predicts his father is going to die one night which causes events that make him realize these visions aren't real.

Vanish by Evan Ratliff (from Wired) - story of Evan disappearing for a month while Wired offered a contest & $5k prize if a reader found him. In the end Evan's love of soccer & gluten free pizza leads the readers to him.

Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity by David Rohde (from New York Times) - story of how David was kidnapped and escaped by the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[Brian]

I think 2007 was the best I've read so far. That's because Mattox Roesch ? and Nam Le absolutely killed it with their short fiction. Conan's contribution was golden. Made me go out and buy their books. 2008-2009 had a few gems. "Y" and Patrick Tobin's "Cake" were great. 2009 reminded me that DFW passed and that was tough, but otherwise no story really stuck out. The intro section was great this year, but since 2007 was my first foray, it will be tough to beat. Still 4 years and still buying the books. Not a bad purchase. But i'm still holding out on a McSweeney's subscription.

Damn I wish I was a Bay Area english high school nerd, back when I could have been.

OH! and Elisabeth Sheffield was my creative history teacher, for intermediate fiction. And I fucking killed that class. Good to see that she not only got best american sentence in a novel, but also, best american character name. All for a book I havent read yet. Fort Da: a report. Going to search Goodreads now to find out what the fuck that books about.

[Benbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year's collection is an amazing set of selections. Excellent work students!!! It is my favorite volume since the first one I read in 2006. Every selection brings you out of your comfort zone and into an entirely new world, fictional or real, challenges your expectations and leaves you ready for more. Highlights: Evan Ratliff's account of his publicized attempt to vanish and the pursuit by a collective on-line manhunt, George Saunder's account of his time in tent city in Fresno, David Rohde's account of his time as a prisoner of the Taliban, Andrew Sean Greer's account of his and his partner's anniversary at a NASCAR event, and two excellent fictional pieces by Tea Obreht and Amy Waldman. The downside of this year's collection is that the front section with the Best Xs of 2010 was not as humorous or eye-opening as in past editions (though the Best Fast-Food Related Crimes of 2010 was a notable exception). But overall, fantastic!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanda was a woman of uncertain ethnicity between thirty and fifty years of age whose face consisted of a series of sun-darkened red-and-purple rounded structures, like rosy cheeks, but located in places on her face where cheeks would not normally be found.

Brenda and Lyle walked off into the night, seemingly awash in happiness. Although they appeared to be, as Ernesto claimed they were, alcoholics, and were, by their own admission, on their way to panhandle and dig through trash cans until it was time to return home and kiss the rat on the mouth before sitting down to dinner with the rat, still, a significant difference was observed between them and the people living in the Study Area, namely a wacky, buoyant quality the onlooker felt as hope.

They tried every code-cracking technique. The sentences promised knowledge and delivered mystery. Where did literal speech end and metaphor begin?

[Eric W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are an omnivorous reader, like me, this collection is definitely for you. You get lists, humor, letters, a little poetry, some graphic novel excerpts, as well as quite a bit of great fiction and non-fiction. I got my first taste of Sherman Alexie here -- and now understand what all the fuss is about and there's a nice very short story by Vonnegut I think previously unpublished. Other highlights include the title story of The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht, recently released book currently on the best seller list, and the story from Wired where a guy takes a bet that in this era of interconnectivity and wired communication, he can stay off the radar with the entire Wired community looking to find him. Some great stuff here -- and definitely wouldn't have found most of it left to my own devices. Great birthday gift!

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of want to give this three stars, but I won't because the nonfiction was so good. Having reading 2009 and 2010 within the last year, I have to say that BANR definitely has better nonfiction than fiction. I like both genres, but prefer fiction a little more and I think their aesthetic/interest in fiction does not line up with mine which is a bummer. Despite that, I still feel like this collection is a bit more interesting to read than the standard Best American Fiction/Nonfiction books though. Here are the pieces that stood out to me:

Sherman Alexie "War Dances"
Rana Dasgupta "Capital Gains"
Tamas Dobozy "The Encirclement"
"The Photographer" (I've read the entire thing, but it is seriously amazing so it deserves a shout out)
Patricio Pron "Ideas"
David Rohde "Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity"
George Saunders "Tent City"

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. The articles, essays, short stories and cartoons were incredibly diverse and give the reader a glimpse of what's being published outside of the mainstream. There's something for every mood - light-hearted, humorous anecdotes, serious journalistic accounts of what it's like to be on the fringe of society, etc.The great thing about a collection such as this is each selection is completely unrelated to the next: one minute you're reading a silly piece about Craig's List Missed Connections and the next you're reading about a kidnapped journalist. And if you have given up hope on the youth of America, the selections included in this collection were chosen by high school students! Amazing.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this collection. I havent really got a proper shelf, as this is partly non fiction as well. This collection is assembled by several groups of high school students, in San Francisco and Michigan and is apparently an annual event. I strongly recommend this as a brilliant cross section of current writing. The authors are mostly unknown-some big names, but the quality is consistent, readable and often outstanding. I cannot classify the types-some funny, some fantasy and some gritty and real. In the latter category was George Saunders -Tent City USA, an excoriating story of the bottom end of society, and a sad story of the end of a marriage-Man of Steel by Bryan Furuness. The collection even has 2 graphic short stories.

[Xi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this book really entertaining. I have never read a book like that before, cocky, wild yet creative. I like how the stories are written from different authors, actually the short stories are chosen from some actual books. My favorite short story is about a group of terrorists who declared their own territory on an island. It is a political allegory about the relationship between the US and Middle eastern nations. I think the editors must put a lot of works into putting all the pieces together and somehow he made the poems, short stories and cartoons all go together. This book is truly a book of everything. I would recommend anyone who likes creative writing. This is a great source of inspiration.

[Tracy Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like they saved a lot of the best stories for the end, The Nice Little People, Freedom, Tent City USA, though my overall favorite was earlier in the book "Man of Steel". I would individually rate some of the stories as 4 or 5 stars, but there were also a lot of snoozers. There were 3 or 4 stories in the collection where I read the first 4 or 5 pages and couldn't stand another moment of them, so just skipped on to the next. A lot of mediocre ones too, where the minute I finished them I pretty much forgot all about them. Though I'm glad I found a few gems within the pages, I don't think I will be seeking out another Best Americian Nonrequired collection, too much to slog through to find the good stuff.