the best american
nonrequired reading

edited by dave eggers; intro by viggo mortensen

The great thing about The Best American Non-Required Reading of 2004 is that it compiles a group of possibly underexposed but worthy pieces of contemporary writing and presents them to a possibly underexposed but worthy group of people. It’s Matchmaking 101. Judging from the tenor of most of the pieces in the collection, the ideal reader is the late high school-early college student who isn’t getting enough contemporary literature in their diet. The pieces are compiled by Dave Eggers and a group of bright high schoolers from his 826 Valencia, a non-profit tutoring/writing workshop that connects its students with a vibrant and young literary scene all their own.

The latest in the annual anthology, 2004 has an impressive collection of literary finds. The majority of the stories focus on the projected needs of the audience for whom they were chosen: a combination of

critical and emotional writing, both new and familiar. And most of the stories hit their mark. At times the collection reads like a thematic workbook, an emotive guide to late adolescence but, surprisingly, this doesn’t really work against it. The stories are varied enough—and novel enough—that slight emotional pandering makes the book that much more inviting.

With 23 stories and just under 400 pages, this edition is perfect for travel or a little at-home variety. It might work best for the reader who has a taste for the sometimes exquisitely painful and deliciously pathetic. And if the prospect of a group of unknown writers scares off the uninitiated, a few old hands have been thrown in to the contributing author’s list to make the transition to non-required reading a little bit easier.


-beza merid

personified thoughts

Dear You (my own imprisoned thoughts),
It troubles me so..
the way you move.
So candid in the moonlight,
So decadent in the sun’s rays,
So invisibly quiet,
But louder than summer,

Bolder than lighting,
But like thunder you roll.
The more that I catch you,
The more that I find,
That you’re volatile, but lovely,
You’re caught in my mind.

-marianna jamadi