I love anthologies for a couple of
reasons: the stories or articles are easily read in a short sitting
and no matter how it was edited I usually find a couple of pieces I
like. Today I'm writing about one that sets a whole new standard.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2007, edited by Dave Eggers
produced not just a couple of passable stories, but an entire volume
of the most thought-provoking powerful writing I've ever encountered.
The premise is simple – San Francisco
high school students scour through literary magazines, independent
publications, and on-line journals for articles, stories, vignettes,
and memoirs that they consider the best. They share their findings
with each other and with their editor, Dave Eggers, until they've
parsed it down to a few pieces to publish in this NonRequired Reading
volume.
Who would've thought that high schools
students would have the ability to spot stories to move me
emotionally. Me, a jaded forty-one year old man who heaps cynicism
on top of his morning cereal the way some spoon out blueberries, or
sugar. But they did. Story after article after first-hand account
all pulled emotions from me and sat stewing in my mind for days
afterward. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch.
The first section is assorted lists and
memes, which I consider filler. It was fun I suppose, but the heart
of the book lies in Section Two.
The best of it all was from my all-time
favorite essayist, Scott Carrier. He weaves an account of his time
in Burma before the crackdown. When reading it I was struck by the
obvious – how could we have been surprised?
After that brilliance the next story
that caused me to ponder for days after reading was by Lee Klein. He
put our entire society into perspective with the most amazing sports
essay I can remember reading since Joyce Carol Oates wrote about Mike
Tyson. His All Aboard the Bloated Boat: Arguments in Favor of Barry
Bonds is required reading for anyone complaining about unfair
competition in sports.
Another favorite was by Stephen Elliott
who knows what it's like to be a thirteen year old boy, homeless,
sleeping wherever misfortune allows, and by reading Where I Slept, I
feel as if I have some understanding as well.
Others that stand out: Joshua Clark
brings the reader into New Orleans first hand for the disaster. It's
terrifying and mesmerizing simultaneously. James Ames, a reporter
from Spin penned a piece about being out of place at GothicFest 2005.
In it he comes to an understanding of a new culture and appreciates
it for what it is, not for how it's similar to what he knows. Alison
Bechdel's graphic comic tragedy is one of the finest pieces of
writing I've seen in comic book form. Well-known writer, Jennifer
Egan was included with a piece of short fiction, Selling the General,
that satirizes our P.R. obsession and makes me want to pick up one of
her books. Also, Miranda July weaves a story as well-crafted and
surprising as any I've read this year in How to Tell Stories to
Children. Finally Conan O'Brien's commencement speech to Stuyvesant
High School is the best of its kind I ever heard.
Here is the table of contents from the
Book's Second Section.
Jonathan Ames. Middle-American
Gothic
Alison Bechdel. A Happy Death
D. Winston Brown. Ghost
Children
Scott Carrier. Rock the Junta
Joshua Clark.
American
Edge Foundation. What Is Your Dangerous Idea?
Jennifer
Egan. Selling the General
Stephen Elliott. Where I Slept
Kevin
A. González. Lotería
Miranda July. How to Tell
Stories to Children
Matthew Klam. Adina, Astrid, Chipewee,
Jasmine
Lee Klein. All Aboard the Bloated Boat: Arguments in Favor
of Barry Bonds
Nam Le. Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and
Compassion and Sacrifice
Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, and Adam
Shapiro. Darfur Diaries
David J. Morris. The Big Suck: Notes from
the Jarhead Underground
Conan O'Brien. Stuyvesant High School
Commencement Speech
Mattox Roesch. Humpies
Patrick Somerville.
So Long, Anyway
Joy Williams. Literature Unnatured
I really enjoyed this book. It's a
small volume with a series of essays that Tony Hillerman submitted as
part of Master's work in journalism. They read just as you'd expect
from the premiere Southwest mystery writer of our time – slow,
lazy, and full of humor. They're true tales woven to feel like
fiction and the characters step right out of the terrain of New
Mexico. Funny antics and folk wisdom are interspersed with character
quirks.
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