Status
Call number
Genres
Publication
Description
Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 is a selection for young people of the best literature from mainstream and alternative American periodicals: from the New Yorker, Jane, Rolling Stone, Zyzzyva, Vibe, The Onion, Spin, Epoch, Time, Little Engines, Modern Humorist, Esquire, and more. Dave Eggers has chosen the highlights of 2001 for this genre-busting collection that includes new fiction, essays, satire, journalism -- and much more. From Eric Schlosser on french fries to Elizabeth McKenzie on awful family to Seaton Smith on how to "jive" with your teen, The Best American Nonrequried Reading 2002 is the first and the best.… (more)
User reviews
But this forum seems fit for Eggers. The pieces that found their way
I am an unabashed fan of the Best American Nonrequired Reading series. (This, in spite of generally disliking or only tolerating any of the other Best American series publications.) They bring together a quirky blend of discoveries
This, the very first of the series, didn’t work so well. I’m sure that part of the reason is that it was rushed. In the introduction, series editor Michael Cart indicates that the book was started later than it should have been. The second reason the subsequent volumes may be better is that Dave Eggers becomes the actual editor rather than just the guest editor. And the final reason may have to do with the overall approach in subsequent volumes. In this volume, Cart goes on at some length about writing for “young adults” (his quote marks). It is almost as if the first volume was intended to speak to that audience, and subsequent volumes were allowed to just speak for themselves.
Whatever the cause, this first one does not really get off the ground. The non-fiction pieces don’t really go anywhere. The exceptions include Rodney Rothman’s “My Fake Job” in which he just starts showing up at a business and, in a Krameresque set of events, becomes one of the gang, and Eric Schlosser’s “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good” which explains how scents for fast food are developed and make up more of the taste than the actual product. It should be noted that this second piece eventually became a part of Fast Food Nation and the first actually earns a warning in the introduction to the book. (Because one section was made up, The New Yorker repudiated the entire article.)
The fiction is better – most of them entertaining, but none jump out as the next great thing. The high points of the entire collection are two pieces from The Onion and one from McSweeneys.net that are hilarious. But, a collection cannot live and die on the strength of three humor pieces. And it is not that you will go wrong with this collection. There is something different here. However, it is only a hint of what the subsequent volumes will bring.