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The Best American Non-Required Reading (2000)

by Dave Eggers(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 3

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English

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review 1: I love the Non-Required Reading series. If you want to spend several hours learning about random things you have never heard of, but that are completely fascinating, this book is for you. The 2008 edition features lists of Kurt Vonnegut Quotes, Ron Paul Facts, and Things This Guy on the Internet Will Sell You, as well as fiction about birthday cakes, large sums of money, and Bigfoot, and non-fiction about modern-day pirates, Bill Clinton, and the relationships between black people and Jews. And the Introduction is written by Judy Blume, where she is asked to comment about a piece called, "Are You There, God? It's Me, and a Bunch of Zombies." Another hidden gem in this collection is a story from the Washington Post called "Pearls Before Breakfast", which you may think ... moreyou've never heard of but I bet you have. It's the original story of the people who convinced Joshua Bell to play in the DC subway to see if anyone would notice (spoiler alert: they didn't.) It's a compelling story no matter how you tell it, but this article is also an excellent piece of journalism. There are also two excerpts from graphic novels, which break up the collection nicely, and a disconcerting little Stephen King piece about miracles, if that's more your speed. Basically, there's something in here for everyone, and even if it is non-required reading, I would recommend taking a look.
review 2: 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. less

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