Loved the front section, was quite intrigued by Eula Biss' "Relations," quite liked Philip Connors' "Diary of a Fire Lookout." Jonathan Franzen's remarks delivered at David Foster Wallace's memorial service were very touching, and David Grann's "The Chameleon" was great, as was K.G. Schneider's "The Outlaw Bride." More hits than misses, this time. ( )

Another wonderful anthology. Some are interesting, some blah, but it is engaging to reach such a varied assortment of stuff. My favorites this year were "The Chameleon" and "The Briefcase". ( )

Reading a review of the most recent Best American Nonrequired Reading collection (2011 as of this writing), the reviewer ripped the collection apart while lauding other Best American collections. I have always felt just the opposite – that Nonrequired Reading is usually the pinnacle of these collections, and all others are wannabes. However, the last few I read, while good, didn’t live up to my expectations.

As I read the2009 collection, I dived in with a slight worry. The first section (dedicated to small subjects and strange things) was as eclectic as ever – some good, some bad – but never a gauge for the entire collection. It is the hors d’oeuvres to the full meal. But the first item in the second section put me in a tailspin – a story that went nowhere and did nothing. Were my past readings an indication of decline? Was the reviewer correct? Had I lost one of the few “sure things” in reading?

Continuing on, my fears were groundless. This is an excellent collection with a good mix of essays, stories, and graphic novels that are entertaining, thought-provoking, and just worth the time. From “Relations” by Eula Biss which explores the issue of race relations using the birth of twins – one white, one black – as the jumping off point, to a strange tale of triplet girls in a small town who meet a man with strange tastes in “Triplet” by Susan Breen, to “Everything I Know About My Family On My Mother’s Side” by Nathan Englander which, in a contrived but incredibly successful approach, explores how much or how little the teller of the tale knows about his family, to “Monster” by Rebekah Frumkin to “Your Exhausted Heart” by Anne Gisleson to a whole lot more, finally ending with Nick St. John’s fascinating “mini-comic” “Further Notes on my Unfortunate Condition”. There are a couple of false notes beyond the first story, but few and far between.

As I’ve come to expect, a collection that entertains and makes you ponder just a little bit ( )

Just can't get into these. It's fairly obvious, from my where I'm standing, that these stories were chosen by a particularly precocious group of youngsters (no, I'm not 70). I mean, in the long run that's actually a good thing; if any little percentage of new readers start reading because of these books, that's well and good. But, from the constant inhibition to resort to recent world headlines, i.e., Iraq, Katrina, economic recession, rinse and repeat, this collection is accustomed to hopping right on the train of eccentricity ad nauseum. Why can't I just read a story about a human being? Why does it always have to be sugarcoated with a bombardment of bellicose peculiarities? Alas, these collections just might not be for me (although, the opening pages are usually the most interesting and amusing). I just kept on wanting one of these stories to pick up some pace and really spark some life into otherwise neglected literary elements, such as the actual writing. I'm not asking for Faulkner, but just a little creativity beyond character and story; I mean, obviously these stories follow proper writing protocol and are full of blinding white clarity (not always a good thing). But that's just my prerogative. "The Chameleon" was pretty good, anyway.

2010's collection is staring me down on my bookshelf, but it's going on the perpetual back burner. Their otherwise day job collection, The Best American Short Stories, and then, The Pen/O. Henry yearly roundups, seem to be biting at the heels more often nowadays. ( )

This compilation could stand as a kind of sidelong snapshot of early 21st-century American life: by turns amusing and doleful, BANR '09 is an evocative report assembled from book & poem titles, festival names, karate tributes, perplexing comics, short stories and off-kilter news.

The campsite was overgrown with poison ivy, and many legs were covered with weeping red blisters. It was the first time in weeks I hadn’t felt self-conscious about being filthy, but now I felt self-conscious about not being punk enough, and I worried I was being eyed with suspicion. Almost none of the kids were older than twenty-five, as if there was a sell-by date on radical social philosophy, a legal limit after which one must surrender lofty ideals and shave off dreadlocks. CrimethInc’s core function is the creation of propaganda, mainly in the form of books and zines, and they held a swap of such anarcho-classics as Days of War, Nights of Love; Evasion; and Fighting for Our Lives. One of my favorite free pamphlets was ‘Wasted Indeed: Anarchy & Alcohol,’ a searing indictment of the revolution-sapping properties of the demon drink, which offered potent slogans: ‘Sedition not Sedation!’ ‘No cocktail but the Molotov cocktail!’ ‘Let us brew nothing but trouble!’ (Matthew Power, "Mississippi Drift")

Avery Karma Ale
Spaten Oktoberfest