Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 by Dave Eggers et al

The Best American books have become one of the best rackets in publishing. I used to stand in the bookstores at year's end, and be guilted into the idea that I hadn't read nearly enough good essays/sportswriting/short stories throughout the year. Then, when the series grew to about fifty different books every November, I gave up on the guilt-induced buying. Best American Poetry by Monkeys 2007 is just never going to fit into my book budget or my limited fun-reading time. But I do make it a point to pick up Best American Nonrequired Reading each year, mostly because it fills me in on the quirky essays/topical writing that I would have enjoyed reading in the first place. Plus it's got the Eggers/McSweeney's stamp of approval. And what good Park Slope-ite doesn't support her neighbors?

Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 was actually better than its lackluster predecessors from the past few years. More brief and funny pieces, fewer wankfest essays from super-literary journals that no one outside of the Iowa Writers' Workshop has heard of. Also, the intro, traditionally from a celebrity who goes out of his way to sound literary, was less boring this year. Sufjan Stevens (whom, admittedly, I know only from recommendations from friends who have much hipper music taste than I) had the honor this year, and he didn't try to be too writerly. He told an entertaining story about growing up in the hippiest of hippie schools in the 1970s--and it could have been the work of any NPR clique member.

One of the things I like best about Nonrequired Reading is that it gives a taste of the genres I can't tolerate in large doses, but should make a nominal effort to know. Like graphic novels. This year's selection is from Fun Home, which was the edgy comic du jour (am I allowed to call it a comic?) about a year ago. I'd avoided it, because it seemed too trendy--but was nicely surprised by the depth of story. I can still look askance at webcomics, though, right?

The cutesy elements get tiring ("Best American Beginnings of Ten Stories About Ponies," "Best American Names of Television Programs Brought to Their Logical Conclusions"), as does the annual segment where scientists are polled about their "dangerous" political ideas. This is the edgy Best American, we get it.

The good parts more than make up for the tedious bits. Scott Carrier's Rock the Junta looks at censorship and rock-and-roll in the uber-repressive Myanmar. Spin sends a writer to cover a goth music fest in the Midwest (three years ago, you know it would have been Chuck Klosterman). Several stories, including a charming one by Miranda July, show why yuppies shouldn't have kids. And the post-Katrina pieces are starting to be less shellshocked and more interesting. Plus, there's a commencement speech from Conan O'Brien that's pure Conantastic joy, especially when you've gone without him for a while (52 days, not that I'm counting).

I don't think I'd trust all (or most) of my reading to a cabal of high schoolers from California, but I'm certainly content to let them weed out some of the wit and grit from the year's literary morass.