I admit I bought this books only because David Foster Wallace was this year's guest editor. Although I really likes several of the essays in this collection, there were many that I skimmed or didn't read. From now on, I'll stick with the Best American Magazine Writing collection, which never fails to impress. But that makes me wonder what qualifies a piece of work for one collection or the other. All of the essays are from magazines...all of the magazine articles are essays. I guess the thing that separates them are the editors: Magazine is edited by magazine editors (presumably a panel of selectors), Essays is edited by Robert Atwan. Clearly Mr. Atwan and I don't agree on what essays should make the short list. ( )

Honestly, not my favorite collection. I guess I prefer the Best American Nonrequired Reading books because they have more diverse contents. For me, the highlight of the collection was the introduction. That's not to say that I didn't think several of the essays were pretty stunning, I just thought the collection as a whole didn't grab me as I thought it would.

Breathtaking collection of essays assembled by David Foster Wallace. Werner by Jo Ann Beard and Operation Gomorrah by Marione Ingram are must-read standouts in a collection of must-reads. Not to be missed. ( )