The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014

Oh dear. A new editor and they've gone and removed my favorite part of the book. Not a great sign. But Nathaniel Rich's "The Man Who Saves You from Yourself" was a good read, at least. ( )

Being a collection of various styles made it tough for me to enjoy this completely. I suppose each of the "Best American" collections has some pieces that I skip, don't finish, or read through and wonder why I did. This one had a few more of those than usual. I did not enjoy most of the chapbook works. I make no claim to being a fan of poetry, and the chapbook entries didn't make me any more of one.

In any case, I'm glad these writers, and the student reviewers, are doing what they enjoy and wish them success. ( )

There were a ton of absolutely amazing pieces in here about all manner of things from the person who gets you out of a cult to articles on Dave Chappelle, to a podcast transcript and some amazing graphic novel pieces. I think my biggest issue ended up being the poetry. So many times the poetry was right after a really strong heavy moving piece and it was just very difficult to switch gears. One thing that this did make me think about is whether we, as a culture, just don't find humor important. There were almost no pieces that were only funny. If this is the best shouldn't there be at least one funny something in here? Do we as a society not think that humor can be the best? Just something to think about. ( )

There were a ton of absolutely amazing pieces in here about all manner of things from the person who gets you out of a cult to articles on Dave Chappelle, to a podcast transcript and some amazing graphic novel pieces. I think my biggest issue ended up being the poetry. So many times the poetry was right after a really strong heavy moving piece and it was just very difficult to switch gears. One thing that this did make me think about is whether we, as a culture, just don't find humor important. There were almost no pieces that were only funny. If this is the best shouldn't there be at least one funny something in here? Do we as a society not think that humor can be the best? Just something to think about. ( )

There were a ton of absolutely amazing pieces in here about all manner of things from the person who gets you out of a cult to articles on Dave Chappelle, to a podcast transcript and some amazing graphic novel pieces. I think my biggest issue ended up being the poetry. So many times the poetry was right after a really strong heavy moving piece and it was just very difficult to switch gears. One thing that this did make me think about is whether we, as a culture, just don't find humor important. There were almost no pieces that were only funny. If this is the best shouldn't there be at least one funny something in here? Do we as a society not think that humor can be the best? Just something to think about. ( )