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A review by pattydsf
The Best American Essays 2008 by Robert Atwan, Adam Gopnik
3.0
"The breath of things as they are, I think, runs through these pages, and all of the writers included achieve what Dr. Johnson said was the essayists' only real ambition: to be masters of our common life." p. xxiii
I couldn't include a quote from just one of these twenty essays. First of all, it had taken me six months to finish this collection, so some essays were fresher in my brain than others. And then, how would I pick? These twenty essays were considered the best of the year. They were all wonderful in their way. I guess I cheated - I let Adam Gopnik, the editor, speak for everyone else.
I thoroughly enjoy most essays and this kind of collection. I usually just stick with The Best American Spiritual Writing since as far as I can figure out, I will not be able to read everything. However, I had the opportunity to buy this book cheap and so it became one of my "boat" books. I will not take any book that I care about on our boat since water and books do not always get along.
This fulfilled my other requirement for boat reading - it can be easily interrupted. Although some of the essays are longer than others, I could always go back and find my place.
If you are interested in learning a lot of odd facts, told to you by some excellent authors, I recommend any of these "best of" collections. There are about ten of them published every year - there must be one that you would find interesting.
I couldn't include a quote from just one of these twenty essays. First of all, it had taken me six months to finish this collection, so some essays were fresher in my brain than others. And then, how would I pick? These twenty essays were considered the best of the year. They were all wonderful in their way. I guess I cheated - I let Adam Gopnik, the editor, speak for everyone else.
I thoroughly enjoy most essays and this kind of collection. I usually just stick with The Best American Spiritual Writing since as far as I can figure out, I will not be able to read everything. However, I had the opportunity to buy this book cheap and so it became one of my "boat" books. I will not take any book that I care about on our boat since water and books do not always get along.
This fulfilled my other requirement for boat reading - it can be easily interrupted. Although some of the essays are longer than others, I could always go back and find my place.
If you are interested in learning a lot of odd facts, told to you by some excellent authors, I recommend any of these "best of" collections. There are about ten of them published every year - there must be one that you would find interesting.