THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2003

Name: THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2003
Author: Dave Eggers
ISBN: 0-618-24695-9

edited by Dave Eggers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2003

Amusing and meaningful, light and yet profound, like the best magazine in the world—which unfortunately comes out only once...

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In his foreword, editor Eggers makes note that the second entry in this particular Best American series is not as limited as other Best series are, “making them whimper and cower in a way that is shameful.”

Making no real claim to be anything other than a gathering of “good work of any kind,” the volume seems like nothing more than a literary mix-tape of stories that Eggers and his committee members thought were really cool. And thank God. Because if there had been any real divining purpose here, a powerful vision of any sort, we most likely would never have seen a book collect Lynda Barry comics, deadly serious articles from The Atlantic, and side-splitting pieces from The Onion, and make them all seem akin: good and definitely not-required reading (Zadie Smith makes a valiant effort, in her introduction, to define what’s so great about non-required reading, but it’s a scattered piece, and should probably be passed by). Of the material itself, the aforementioned Atlantic article is that monster of an exposé by Mark Bowden, “Tales of a Tyrant,” slyly and impressionistically taking the reader inside the twisted, Mao-esque world of Saddam Hussein, back when he had a country. There are skilled forays into fiction, like David Drury’s “Things We Knew When the House Caught Fire,” one of several items here that deals alarmingly well with the cruelty of children to other children. Surprisingly enough, two of the strongest pieces come from Esquire, whose death has been announced perhaps prematurely: David Sedaris’s “Rooster at the Hitchin’ Post” is predictably funny, but nonetheless unique, and Daniel Voll’s “Riot Baby,” an epic piece of reportage on the 1992 LA riots, closes the book with a resounding knell of doom.

Amusing and meaningful, light and yet profound, like the best magazine in the world—which unfortunately comes out only once a year.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2003

ISBN: 0-618-24695-9

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE EVERY
by Dave Eggers

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CAPTAIN AND THE GLORY
by Dave Eggers

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PARADE
by Dave Eggers

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAND OF SWEET FOREVER
by Harper Lee ; edited by Casey Cep

- BOOK REVIEW
GO SET A WATCHMAN
by Harper Lee

- SEEN & HEARD
The Snowy Day Is NYC Library’s Most Popular Book

- SEEN & HEARD
ALA Releases List of 2020’s Most Challenged Books

- SEEN & HEARD
NYT Readers Voting on Best Book of Past 125 Years

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.