The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 [Turtleback]

Dave Eggers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002 | ISBN-10: 060625613X | ISBN-13: 978-0606256131

This collection is the product of many heads. The writers included herein are from every background imaginable, and their stories create a crazy quilt of lived time in and around 2001.

This is The Best American Nonrequired Reading, intended to combine the best intentions of the other Best American volumes to create a collection with slightly younger readers. To that end, guest editor Dave Eggers worked with the students who attend and help teach at 826 Valencia, his writing lab in San Francisico, giving them hundreds of stories and articles to read and choose among. All of the selections inside have been read and found worthy by a small committee of readers in high school and college, and while there are patterns in what they chose -- for example, a stroing interest in goings-on not just in school but all over the world -- they've also guided this collection toward its utter undefinablility.

There are some really funny things, from the likes of David Sedaris, The Onion, and Modern Humorist, and some lighter fiction, as in David Schickler's "Fourth Angry Mouse" and Elizabeth McKenzie's "Stop That Girl," about a hellish trip to Switzerland that a twelve-year-old takes with her grandmother, but there's a seriousness throughout, with stories about immigrants from Mexico in Manhattan, young Afghani men vacillating between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, and the black coach of a Pennsylvania Amish basketball team.

This collection is barely cohesive and often confusing. And this is good. Your own life, we bet, is barely cohesive and often confusing. And given how confused and wayward you are, we will help you do the right thing: read this and love it. The makers of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 insist that you enjoy it and then tell your friends to enjoy it. This will give structure to your life and bounce to your steps.

You're welcome.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Many will be drawn to this anthology for the enormous popularity of Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), who helped young adult literature expert Cart compile the fiction and nonfiction pieces presented here. But this inaugural title in Houghton's newest "Best American" series deserves at least as much attention for the remarkable scope and quality of its works. The 20-plus pieces-some shorter than two pages, some longer than 20-were previously published in various American periodicals (e.g., The New Yorker, Vibe) and cover just about any subject that today's youth (defined as "the under-25 set") would be most interested in reading when not reading a "required" text for a class. These include pop culture and music topics, explorations of identity crises or dysfunctional families, and a poignant tale of surviving culture shock. Then there are the less predictable essays, which include hard-core investigative reporting on politics and international affairs. Much of the writing resembles Eggers's, but it doesn't lack originality and the necessary wit. There is enough rareness here to provoke heavy circulation in both public and academic libraries.
Mirela Roncevic, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Although the inaugural issue of this hip, eclectic anthology is marketed at 15- to 25-year-olds, the editors are leery of condescending to "young adults" (a term they dislike). Cart goes so far as to deploy self-consciously casual language in his foreword; Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) mostly replaces the introduction with a memoir of pool-hopping and awkward desire. Earnest posturing aside, this is a strong collection that includes short bursts of reportage, feature writing, fiction, satire, and even a comic strip (Adrian Tomine's moving, dead-on teenage portrait "Bomb Scare"). Two pieces from The Onion seem a little thin in this context, since they're easily outweighed by works like "The Lost Boys" (Sara Corbett's elegantly direct article about young Sudanese refugees who relocate to Fargo, North Dakota); "My Fake Job" (Rodney Rothman's hilarious and mostly true report about showing up to work at a dot-com that never hired him); and "Higher Education" (Gary Smith's rousing, almost too-good-to-be-true account of a black coach in Amish country). Sharp under-25 readers may still flee if they feel they're being targeted, but they sure don't have to. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 060625613X
• ISBN-13: 978-0606256131
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT ONLY FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES, December 12, 2002

By 

S. Calhoun "rhymeswithorange" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

Editor Dave Eggers explains that this inaugural edition of THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2002 is targeted for 15 to 25-year-olds. However, I can testify that individuals outside this predetermined age bracket can also gain enjoyment from this book. The wide variety of stories ranging from fiction to nonfiction satisfied me and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed a great majority of the stories and only disliked two (which is rather remarkable considering that short story compilations seem to contain an equal share of winners and losers, in my own opinion.)

The journalistic entries were phenomenal and shed light on current events such as methamphetamine addiction in Asia, undocumented Mexican laborers in NYC, and Afghanistan soldiers fighting their civil war. Some of the comical pieces made me laugh out laugh such as "The Fourth Angry Mouse" and "My Fake Job" and The Onion entries were also notable (I'm already a fan of that publication.)

Sure, there were some stories intended for a 15 to 25-year-old audience but I could still relate even though it's been a decade since graduating high school. Who can forget what it's like during those delicate years? Overall, I very much enjoyed this book and will be looking forward to the 2003 edition.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If I were in charge, I wouldn't require it either., January 7, 2003

By 

Jeff Adelberg (Belmont, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

I enjoyed most of the work in this compilation. I sort of wonder what the heck it was compiled for, but I I'm glad it was, since I would never have come across any of this stuff otherwise. Favorites include Rodney Rotham's hilarious "My Fake Job" and "The Nice New Radicals" by Seth Mnookin, a piece which I might argue SHOULD be required for some people. Eric Schlosser's "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good" was fascinating, but I seem to be the only person on the planet who hasn't already read his work. Many pieces discuss certain cultural struggles: good pieces, but why so many? One piece is "graphic" in both meanings of the word. I am glad it is included, if only to act as a precedent for other compilations. The only notably awful work is "Hubcap Diamondstar Halo" which is as difficult as its title. And even though most of the pieces were engaging, few of them have remained with me. Maybe you should get this book if you like magazines, but not enough to actually subscribe to them. Maybe you should get it if you have a short attention span, like me. Or maybe you shouldn't get it. Don't worry, it's not required.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great collection, check it out!, November 6, 2003

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

This was a fascinating collection. Most of the "Best American" collections are straight forward. You have a good idea of what you're going to get, and if you are widely read in those subjects (sports writing, science writing, short stories, etc), you may have come across most of those essays/stories. In this first collection of Non-required reading, you get the best stories and essays that would never be assigned in school and are from alternative magazines (rather than the large respected newspapers like the New York Times). The pieces collected very from short fiction, to political essays, to a graphic story (as in a story told in comic panels), to humor. It is a varied collection and most of the work is top-notch (I was less impressed with "Hubcap Diamondstar Halo").

Some highlights are "Speed Demons", "Journal of a new COBRA recruit" (yes, COBRA as in from G.I. Joe....this may be my favorite of the collection), "My Fake Job", "Fourth Angry Mouse", "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good", the two short pieces from the Onion, "Higher Education", and "Bomb Scare" (Bomb Scare is the graphic story). Just browsing through the table of contents, I was able to list 9 pieces that I would highlight and recommend. If there was nothing else in the collection, that would be enough to recommend it. But, there are other quality pieces in this collection. If you want to read short pieces (both fiction and nonfiction) that you might not ordinarily run across every day, this is the collection for you.