THE BEST NONREQUIRED AMERICAN READING 2003-2004 {FerraBit}

THE BEST NONREQUIRED AMERICAN READING 2003-2004Editor . . : Dave EggersPublisher . : Houghton MifflinFormat . . .: MP3. (263 MB total)Bitrate . . : ~100 kbps (iTunes 9, VBR (highest), Mono, 44.1 kHz)Genre . . . : Short Stories, Fiction, Non-FictionUnabridged .: Unabridged~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~THE BEST NONREQUIRED AMERICAN READING 2003 Dave Eggers (Editor)ISBN . . . .: 9780618390731Format . . .: MP3. 14 tracks, 117 MBSource . . .: 3 CDs (~3 hrs) Author:		 Title:			 Read by:Dave Eggers-		Foreword- 		(the author)Zadie Smith-		Introduction Dead Men Talking-	(the author)Lisa Gabriele-		The Guide to Being a Groupie -	(the author)David Drury-		Things We Knew When The House Caught Fire- (the author)Chuck Klosterman-	The Pretenders-		(the author)James Pinkerton-	How To Write Suspense-	(the author)J. T. Leroy-		Stuff-			Tatum O'NealK. Kvashay-Boyle-	Saint Chola - 		(the author)The Onion- 		I'll Try Anything With A Detached Air Of Superiority- Shelly Bolman~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~THE BEST NONREQUIRED AMERICAN READING 2004ISBN . . . .: 9780618497430Format . . .: MP3. 9 tracks, 144 MBSource . . .: 3 CDs (~3 hrs) Author:		 Title:			 Read by:Dave Eggers-		Foreword-		(the author)Viggo Mortensen-	Introduction-		(the author)Gina Ochsner- 		Hidden Lives Of Lakes-	(the author)Ben Ehrenreich- 	What You Eat-		(the author)David Mamet-		Secret Names- 		Peter KovnerLance Olson- 		Sixteen Jackies-	(the author)Cheryl Printup-		The Promise Of Something-(the author)Paula W Peterson- 	Big Brother-		Jacqui ParkerDavid Sedaris- 		Full House-		(the author)~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Combined some CD tracks, nicely tagged and labeled, cover scans included.Thanks for sharing & caring.Cheers, FerraBitAugust 2010 Links:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_American_Nonrequired_Readinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_American_Serieshttp://www.bestamericannonrequiredreading.blogspot.com/ Originally posted:http://thepiratebay.org/user/FerraBithttp://www.demonoid.com/users/FerraBithttp://www.kickasstorrents.com/user/FerraBit/Taken the time to read this? Take some more and leave me a nice note of encouragement there.Got your FPL card?_____________________________________________________ From Wiki:The Best American Nonrequired Reading is a yearly anthology of fiction and nonfiction selected annually by high school students in California and Michigan. The volume is part of The Best American Series and is edited by Dave Eggers. [2003] From Publishers WeeklyIn his deliciously kooky foreword, Eggers (You Shall Know Our Velocity) describes this excellent literary compilation as a gathering of "good writing from contemporary writers," but it's much more than that. The 25 pieces, previously published in glossies (the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's) and smaller outlets (Tin House, Alaska Quarterly Review, Nerve.com) were selected by San Francisco high schoolers, and all are worthy of the reprint they get here. The eclectic assemblage of fiction, nonfiction, humor and comics alternates between serious articles, such as Mark Bowden's elaborate, exhaustive examination of Saddam Hussein ("Tales of the Tyrant"), and the comic brilliance of illustrator Lynda Barry, the charmingly goofy sentimentality of David Sedaris and the flippancy of the Onion's "I'll Try Anything with a Detached Air of Superiority." Last year's collection was aimed at young adults, and several selections here address themes of peer pressure and children's cruelty: Ryan Boudinot's Halloween-themed "The Littlest Hitler," David Drury's story of suburban misfits in "Things We Knew When the House Caught Fire" and Judy Budnitz's disturbing family tale "Visiting Hours." The street-smart spunk of J.T. Leroy's "Stuff" and K. Kvashay-Boyle's "Saint Chola" combine with Daniel Voll's unflinching view of life in South Central Los Angeles to give the collection a dash of grit. Readers of all ages should be delighted with this literary smorgasbord. Eggers deserves credit for another first-rate collection. - - -[Random Amazon review]:]I bought this for a plane ride and I loved it. The fact that it mixes so many different genres is great. There are so many pieces in this collection that I never would have been exposed to had I not purchased this book, and I'm thankful I did. Without getting into specific essays, I enjoyed almost everything featured in this book. It is a diverse group of readings, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to broaden his or her horizons but doesn't know how to do it. You'll feel enriched after reading this. - - - [2004] From Publishers WeeklyEggers explains this series, now in its third year: "The purpose of this book is to collect good work of any kind—fiction, humor, essays, comics, journalism—in one place, for the English-reading consumer." The editor founded a San Francisco writing lab, where Bay Area high school students "seek out back issues of periodicals, make copies of things they like, and bring them in for everyone to read," and it's these selections that make up this hodgepodge. With subject matter ranging from clowns and popes to transsexualism and zoanthropy, this is an assemblage of diverse delights from Web sites, literary magazines and the mainstream press, with small-circulation publications getting a bigger boost than in previous volumes. Contributors include David Mamet, David Sedaris, Christopher Buckley and Michelle Tea. Mortensen's introduction, one of the strongest contributions, is a haunting lament for lost words, a "painful sense of losing ideas," after his backpack of journals and screenplays is stolen. The book is a zesty bouillabaisse of nonrequired reading that should be required, and Adrian Tomine's multi-paneled cover illustration effectively captures its essence.  From BooklistWith the help of a group of teenage readers, Eggers has collected an eclectic mix of short fiction, magazine features, and a couple of comics in the third annual edition of the series. This collection manages to be meatier than its predecessors--fewer Onion articles, more New Yorker stories--without sacrificing the series' commitment to engaging reads. The fiction ranges from Daniel Alarcon's brilliant "City of Clowns," which follows a young reporter in Lima researching a story on clowns in the wake of his father's death, to Christopher Buckley's outlandish "We Have a Pope," in which an amoral publicist tries to build enthusiasm for electing an American pope. Equally compelling are such nonfiction pieces as "Transmissions from Camp Trans," a travelogue of an annual transsexual protest/social event/party in Michigan that was originally published in the Eggers-funded Believer. Aside from the rambling, borderline-incoherent introduction by Lord of the Ringsster Viggo Mortensen, there's not a weak piece in this anthology, and with Eggers' name and such solid selections, this volume will appeal to more than the usual fans of story anthologies. John Green - - -Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.The Best American Short Stories has been in publication since 1915 making it the oldest continuous series of its type. Starting in 1986 additional titles were added covering the best in essays, sports writing, nature writing and more - all of which now fall under the general title of The Best American Series.