The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 (Best American R) [Paperback]

Dave Eggers (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2011 | Series: Best American R (Book 2011)

The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling

The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by a leading writer in the field, making the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 includes

Daniel Alarcón, Clare Beams, Sloane Crosley, Anthony Doerr, Neil Gaiman, Mohammed

Hanif, Mac McClelland, Michael Paterniti, Olivier Schrauwen,
Gary Shteyngart, and others

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Required reading is the stuff that’s supposed to be on the test. Nonrequired reading often is more interesting. That’s the case with this quirky collection” (USA Today )

From the Back Cover

The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling

The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by a leading writer in the field, making the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 includes

Daniel Alarcón, Clare Beams, Sloane Crosley, Anthony Doerr, Neil Gaiman, Mohammed

Hanif, Mac McClelland, Michael Paterniti, Olivier Schrauwen,
Gary Shteyngart, and others

[INSERT AUTHOR PHOTO] DAVE EGGERS, editor, is the editor of McSweeney’s and a cofounder of 826 National, a network of nonprofit writing and tutoring centers for youth, located in eight cities across the United States. He is the author of six books, including What Is the What, Zeitoun, and The Wild Things.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO, guest introducer, is an Academy Award–nominated writer, director, and producer. He is the creator of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Cronos, and The Devil’s Backbone, among other films. Pan’s Labyrinth earned prizes worldwide, including three Oscars.


Look for the other best-selling titles in the Best American series:

THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES
THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING
THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES
THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING
THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 Original edition (October 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547577435
• ISBN-13: 978-0547577432
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Collections & Readers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something for Everyone, November 25, 2011

By 

L. Jackson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 (Best American R) (Paperback)

The BANR 2011, besides having the most interesting and fun short fiction, non-fiction and assorted other offerings, is unique in its creation, being the product of lots of time and effort by high school students. They have chosen a little something for everyone: a wonderful essay about Roger Ebert, two funky and interesting story length cartoons, many short stories that make you think, and, of course, the best "wikileaks revelations" of 2011!! Based on your personal taste, you may not like everything in this book, but I know you will like a lot of it. Let's hear it for non-required and fun reading!!

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST BOOK OF SHORT STORIES, January 22, 2012

By 

Roy Berger "Everyman" (Pismo Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 (Best American R) (Paperback)

There are only 2 or 3 stories that I didn't find engaging. This is 1000 percent better than all the other short story books I have read in the past several years.
I just read the true story by and of James R Spring and his avocation of finding lost children south of the border. ( You can google him and read about him and his past-time.) Just an example of the variety of well-written stories in this book.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Distracting typos in Kindle version, December 20, 2011

By 

James Aaron - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011: The Best American Series (Best American R) (Kindle Edition)

I'm not sure if the typos are unique to the Kindle version, but they are frequent and distracting. They seem to be the sort of typos caused by OCR, which is weird, since the publisher presumably had the text itself.