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The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 (2002)

by Dave Eggers (Editor)

Other authors: Sherman Alexie (Contributor), Lynda Barry (Contributor), Ryan Boudinot (Contributor), Mark Bowden (Contributor), Michael Buckley (Contributor)21 more, Judy Budnitz (Contributor), David Drury (Contributor), Jonathan Safran Foer (Contributor), Lisa Gabriele (Contributor), Amanda Holzer (Contributor), Chuck Klosterman (Contributor), K. Kvashay-Boyle (Contributor), Dylan Landis (Contributor), Andrea Lee (Contributor), J. T. Leroy (Contributor), Douglas Light (Contributor), Nasdijj (Contributor), The Onion (Contributor), George Packer (Contributor), ZZ Packer (Contributor), James Pinkerton (Contributor), David Sedaris (Contributor), Zadie Smith (Introduction), Jason Stella (Contributor), John Verbos (Contributor), Daniel Voll (Contributor)

Series: The Best American Nonrequired Reading (2003), Best American (2003)

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Recently added bysedeara, maribou, cait815, d2dusk, Mad_Mac, alclay, evanroskos, Ryndie, private library, craignew
  1. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004 by Dave Eggers (2004)
  2. McSweeney's Issue 10: Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales by Michael Chabon (2003)
  3. The Best American Short Stories 2002 by Sue Miller (2001)
  4. The Better of McSweeney's, Volume 1 by Eli Horowitz (2005)
  5. The Future Dictionary of America: a book to benefit progressive causes in the 2004 elections featuring over 170 of America's best writers and artists. by Jonathan Safran Foer (2004)
  1. Speaking with the Angel by Nick Hornby (2000)
  2. McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories by Michael Chabon (2004)
  3. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures from the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn't Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out by Ted Thompson (2005)
  4. Barrel Fever / Naked by David Sedaris (1994)
  5. Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules by David Sedaris (2005)
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Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
J.T. Leroy's "Stuff" was wonderful.
  karends | Jan 16, 2011 |
This had some really good pieces, and a number of bad ones. I thought Jonathan Safran Foer inventing punctuation to tell his story was pretty silly. I didn't get the point of that at all. Pinkerton's piece on writing a suspense novel was hysterical, and Leroy's piece on Saddam Hussein was a very good piece. Most of the rest of it was somewhere in between. ( )
  pecochran | Nov 21, 2008 |
When I read the 2006 Best American Non-required Reading collection, I knew I’d stumbled on something special (see the review). So, when I saw the 2003 version in a bookstore, I grabbed it quickly. And, an interesting set of comparisons ensued. First would be the comparison to its younger sibling. But, a more interesting comparison arises from my just having finished the 2003 Best American Essays (see the review.) Everything that was wrong with that collection – the pretentiousness, the rambling, the “art-or-art’s-sake” feel - disappears when someone just tries to collect good stories, essays, and etc. (And, yes, I meant to say “and etc.”) These collections seem to show that Eggers (whose McSweeney’s I have never been able to embrace) does not care so much about what the critics want, instead finding what might be considered popular (in the best spirit of the word) choices that you probably missed.

In this collection, standouts include Ryan Boudinot’s “The Littlest Hitler” about the Halloween he dressed as Hitler; Mark Bowden’s “Tales of the Tyrant”, an insight to Saddam that, while it might be what we expect, is more than we knew; and David Drury’s story “Things we Knew When the House Caught Fire” which works at the level of kids not accepting the new kids, the new kids not accepting their roles, and trying to determine who really is better for their misunderstanding of what is going on around them. By the way, those are just the runners-up. “A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease” mixes symbols with words (aren’t they really the same thing) to tell the story of families and impending deaths. “Touching Him” by Nasdijj is… Look, I can’t come up with the right words. It is about a foster father caring for a foster child with Aids. It talks about the fears and it talks about the pains. But it also talks about the intimacies of the two – about love. If I could explain it, I would have written it.

There’s more, too. David Sedaris is always great, and “Lost Boys” by John Verbos is just strange and, while I’m not sure what it was, I liked visiting it. And all this leads to the comparison to the 2006 version. Would you believe me if I said I didn’t like it as much? I guess that just goes to show the strength of the 2006 version because, this is good. The only real difference I can find is that, the weak items were weaker in 2003 than in 2006. And with the list of standouts I just provided, you can guess that the number of weak items is very small. ( )
  figre | Jun 17, 2007 |
I really wanted to like all these selections, but to me this was a hit or miss collection. My favorites, which of course includes David Sedaris, were George Packer's story of used clothing and Chuck Klosterman's story about a Guns n' Roses cover band. ( )
  annodoom | May 7, 2006 |
I was surprised at how TEDIOUS some of the selections are - more like typing than writing. Part of the "writing for the sake of writing" epidemic that Eggers seems to encourage in a certain population of writers.

Some good stuff hidden among the dross, however. ( )
  Johnruexp | Apr 30, 2006 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Eggers, DaveEditorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Alexie, ShermanContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Barry, LyndaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Boudinot, RyanContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bowden, MarkContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Buckley, MichaelContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Budnitz, JudyContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Drury, DavidContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Foer, Jonathan SafranContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Gabriele, LisaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Holzer, AmandaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Klosterman, ChuckContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kvashay-Boyle, K.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Landis, DylanContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Lee, AndreaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Leroy, J. T.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Light, DouglasContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
NasdijjContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Onion, TheContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Packer, GeorgeContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Packer, ZZContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Pinkerton, JamesContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Sedaris, DavidContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Smith, ZadieIntroductionsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Stella, JasonContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Verbos, JohnContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Voll, DanielContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
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In the future, every U.S. citizen will get to be Sacagawea for fifteen minutes.
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This LT work is for copies of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 only. Please do not combine it with copies from other years, or with copies that cannot be distinguished by year. There are separate LT works for each year's edition. Thank you.
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0618246967, Paperback)

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by an editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field, making the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
Dave Eggers, who will be editing The Best American Nonrequired Reading annually, has once again chosen the best and least-expected fiction, nonfiction, satire, investigative reporting, alternative comics, and more from publications large, small, and on-line -- The Onion, The New Yorker, Shout, Time, Zoetrope, Tin House, Nerve.com,and McSweeney's, to name just a few. Read on for "Some of the best literature you haven't been reading . . . And it's fantastic. All of it." (St. Petersburg Times).

Lynda Barry Jonathan Safran Foer Lisa Gabriele Andrea Lee J. T. Leroy Nasdijj ZZ Packer David Sedaris

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:27:40 -0500)

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