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cinchona's review
2.0
This anthology was fairly mediocre. I expected more short stories--but instead, the most interesting and memorable pieces were a couple wordy nonfiction essays. There seemed to be no reason why these particular writings were collected together, either thematically or in quality. And the introductory chapter, composed mostly of funny newspaper headlines and Facebook group names reprinted from the Internet, was irritating and dull. Was not surprised to find out that this was collected by a committee of high school students.
alexisrt's review
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 by Dave Eggers (2008)
ericfheiman's review
3.0
If not quite as consistent as the 2007 volume, Eggers and his kids have put together another solid, if not quite indispensable, collection of fiction and nonfiction that is especially appealing if you like your leisure reading in short, compelling bursts.
asurges's review
4.0
An eclectic collection of magazine pieces, a list of the strangest Facebook groups, and my current favorite, the Kensington Police Blotter. I was shaking from laughing so hard.
Update: This book reminds me of Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Great ideas, great introduction, and then wah wah wah. I had my favorite pieces: "Cake," which had some heart, unlike many of the other pieces, the previously mentioned pieces (the Kensington Police Blotter is a scream), and a blog by someone trapped in a city full of zombies, which was hilarious. The fiction often left me cold at times--not my style, but I'm giving this four stars because the writing is obviously still very good and executed well.
Update: This book reminds me of Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Great ideas, great introduction, and then wah wah wah. I had my favorite pieces: "Cake," which had some heart, unlike many of the other pieces, the previously mentioned pieces (the Kensington Police Blotter is a scream), and a blog by someone trapped in a city full of zombies, which was hilarious. The fiction often left me cold at times--not my style, but I'm giving this four stars because the writing is obviously still very good and executed well.
nssutton's review
2.0
have been a die-hard devotee since 2003 - this is the weakest collection yet. only george saunder's bill clinton, public citizen and gene weingarten's pearls before breakfast earned it a second star. lauren van den berg's where we must be was decent, although i'm sure my interest is in the fact that bigfoot plays a central role - otherwise it's a lukewarm mixture of carver & moore.
dogtrax's review
5.0
What can I say? I look forward to this collection every single year and my wife gets a little upset if I buy it before Christmas because she buys it for me. I love how high school kids choose what goes in here and that is reflected in the quality and the variety of material. I love it.
solitarysoul's review
2.0
The second half was better than the first but there were only 3 entries I found worth while. My favourite was George Saunders piece about travelling with Bill Clinton in the press junket on one of his trips to Africa.
shanameydala's review
3.0
Another great collection of essays, short stories, odds and ends in creative writing.
renatasnacks's review
3.0
I was a little disappointed with this year's BANR actually. It seemed kind of hit-or-miss, which I guess is always going to happen with collections like these. I felt like it had more "misses" than previous years, or not even "misses" really, so much as just mediocre pieces. Some great stuff, though, including Judy Blume's introduction.