The Best American Nonrequired Reading

I’m just coming to the end of the loveliest book I’ve read for ages. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005 is a collection of small writings, not all short stories, and every single one is brilliant. I think it may be even better than Granta although to be fair it is drawing from a much wider range of material and is only produced once a year. In any case, it challenges any preconceptions one might have about the state of intellectual life in the US. The authors in here are witty, sophisticated, wise and outward-looking, it’s like George Bush never happened. I’m going to be so sad when I get to the last page. But then, of course, there’s always this year’s edition to look forward to.