THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING: 2005 Forward by David Eggers Introduction by Beck Edited by Dave Eggers List Price: $14.00 Pages: 368 Format: Paperback Genre: Literature/Anthology ISBN-10: 0618570489 ISBN-13: 9780618570485 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Year after year, The Best American Series succeeds in delivering literature worthy of its titular superlative. As its name and slogan suggests, the series offers its readers the highest quality, most widely read, and most successful pieces by leading writers in categories ranging from short stories and essays to recipes and spiritual writing. However, with THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING, editor Dave Eggers bends these rules just a little bit --- he, along with the help of some extremely discerning high school students, has compiled undoubtedly the "best" mix of what we're not reading.

In this fourth installment, Eggers and a committee of students from a San Francisco Tutoring Center have scoured hundreds of periodicals --- large and small alike --- for standout pieces that "are engaging, direct in approach, and have something to say about the world at the moment." The anthology consists of 24 selections of creative fiction and nonfiction, focusing on lesser-known writers from lesser-known publications like Swink. Zoetrope, Black Book, and Swivel. Peppering these new voices are already-established writers like Jhumpa Lahiri, Al Franken, and William T. Vollman with their short stories, essays, and articles from The New Yorker, Mother Jones, and Harper's.

In addition to these provocative works, Dave Eggers offers a witty, humorous, and random forward to this very eclectic collection explaining the process behind this undertaking, while also managing to sneak in a few cartoons and short stories that just couldn't fit in the actual body of the anthology.  Also, in the book's thought-provoking introduction by musician, Beck, the performer parallels the "mix-tape aesthetic" of this Best American compilation with his own reading habits, and explains the profound effect of literature on his upbringing.

With subjects ranging from politics and sibling rivalry to ruminations on frequent air travel, THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING: 2005 challenges readers to look beyond the bestseller shelves at their local bookstores and sample the compelling and eye-opening miscellany offered by other genres and publications.

   --- Reviewed by Marisa Emralino


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