Rating: 
Summary: some really good stories
Review: There are a few really good stories in this book. The COBRA journal is awesome.
Rating:
Summary: some really good stories
Review: There are a few really good stories in this book. The COBRA journal is awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: a great collection, check it out!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: a great collection, check it out!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Inaugural Edition
Review: This year the Best American Series created a new volume: The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Michael Cart (My Father's Scar) is the series editor, and Dave Eggers is the guest editor. And considering it's Eggers, this volume should do well. It contains some good stories and articles. What hurts it the most is a lack of continuity. It's hard to figure out just what falls into the category of 'nonrequired reading,' even after reading the introductions and the collection. It is a combination of fiction and essays, and seems to have a humourous and experimental slant. It also seems to be directed, as the editors say, to the younger generation, those that fall between 15 and 25 (but good essays and fiction are good for all ages). Most selections come from 'alternative' sources, but there are a few that first appeared in The New Yorker and Esquire and the likes. Still, it is tough to figure out exactly what the criteria for being chosen for this volume is. Even so, it is a good volume of work, well worth reading (like the Best American series tends to be). The essays/articles in the volume cover a wide range. There is humor (Jenny Bitner's "The Pamphleteer"; Seth Mnookin's "The Nice New Radicals"; "Jiving With Your Teen" by Seaton Smith; and two selections from The Onion). There's an essay ("Generation Exile") about Tibet, drugs ("Speed Demons" which concerns methamphetamine use in Thai), illegal aliens (Kamber's "Toil and Temptation") and their adjustment to America. Sara Corbett's poignant essay "The Lost Boys" (from The New York Times Upfront) about refugees from Africa, and their culture shock and adjustment of coming to America (Minnesota no less). Eric Schlosser's "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good" is here. And there are the essays that don't quite fit (Finkel's essay from the New York Times Magazine about the battle in Afghanistan- pre Sept 11; Gary Smith's "Higher Education", which is an article from Sports Illustrated about a high school coach who comes to a small Mennonite community and opens their eyes and hearts ). Overall the essays shoot for a younger audience and one that is more Eco or Libertarian. I found the essays to be pretty weak, overall. There are some good ones, but these feel like rejects for the sister publication, Best American Essays. And for fiction there is Sam Lipsyte's "Snacks" about a youth's alienation because of obesity; Elizabeth McKenzie's great story "Stop That Girl" which covers a child who feels she is being replaced by her mother's new husband and baby, and this story has a great ending; Keith Pille's "Journal of a New COBRA Recruit" from McSweeneys.net, which is a hilarious short about a youth joining COBRA (from G.I. Joe) and his training, and this one is very funny; Rodney Rothman's "My Fake Job" from The New Yorker is a hilarious account of a man pretending to work somewhere-you have to read it to truly appreciate it (and it caused a bit of controversy from the New Yorker; David Schickler's "Fourth Angry Mouse"; "Blood Poison" by Heidi Jon Schmidt (which contains a dark undercurrent, probably of molestation); the always hilarious Dave Sedaris with his "To Make a Friend, Be a Friend" from Esquire. The final two selections, both fiction, of the volume definitely fall under the experimental. Adrian Tomine's comic, "Bomb Scare" from Optic Nerve #8 is here. It is somewhat disjointed and the title doesn't fit, but it is a story of troubled teens. And then there are selections from "Please Don't Kill the Freshman" written by a h.s. freshman girl, who goes under the pseudonym 'Zoe Trope.' This one is self published and pretty bad. Very disjointed, and once again, troubled teen. The fiction runs the range from the bad to the really good, but most fall in the middle range. They seem like the selections that didn't quite made the Best American Short Stories cut (except for Sedaris, Rothman, and Pille). And there is just bad work in here: Camden Joy's "Hubcap Diamondstar Halo." But the volume is only [$$$], and for your money, you do get some good reading in.
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