Okay, so now this is all messed up. I read this book, quite a while ago, at some point and I don’t really remember when. It is tough because I am now so far behind, that I hardly remember when I read these things, or what order they went in. So I am going to catch up this month, by just posting a ton, sometimes all right in a row.

So, with the help of amazon I can see what is actually in here. There is of course the lovely “Tiger Mending” by Aimee Bender, two George Saunders pieces, “Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri, and Jeff Gordinier’s “The Lost Boys” as well as the interesting “Five Forgotten Instincts” by Dan Choan. I of course recommend this book as always because Dave Eggers and his school-children (that sounds or torturously perverted) put together an always entertaining collection. So go read this and I will attempt to figure out which books I have read this year.

Now I am certainly in an order that is off from reality. But here is Dave Eggers book of Short Stories. And it is unlikely that I really read two books of short stories back to back, but I can’t seem to figure out what I read in between. So, I am just gonna post this up here anyway.

I liked this book. I realize a lot of people won’t. Eggers has a very experiemental feel, especially in this book, some stories being only a page, some stories going on for what seems like half the book: with talking horses and clouds and characters from his other novels. If you are a dedicated Dave Eggers reader you will enjoy this thoroughly, if you are just starting to read him, you might as well start with A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (I wish I could make this a link but no one has posted it up here yet) which will be a lot easier to get in to.

I will say there was a particular story in this book that found me in the right time and place (as Eggers tends to do to me) and so I am biased into fond memories of this collection of stories.

Did you know “nonrequired” was one word? I certainly did not. I also am not quite sure if my order is correct from here on out, but I will do the best I can.

Look! The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004. Which means you don’t have to read this book. But you can! Because you will like it! Certainly not every short story, graphic excerpt, and essay, but enough of it that it is worth it. And the introduction by Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame is also quite good. I highly recommend this, becuase it covers everyone’s interests. And it lets you know what the good American writers are writing. If they are writing, and if they got selected. But it is still a good general idea. You could also read 2005 if you want to be real current. But I am not that current. Yet.

I picked this up at Daedalus because I wanted another book and couldn’t find anything I wanted. And I was going to attempt to buy something by one of the authors selected, but instead just bought this, and it really is a good read. It highlights a few great authors and has some really good pieces in it. Some of my favourites: Mark Bowden’s essay on Saddam Hussein (“Tales of the Tyrant”), David Drury’s “Things We Knew When the House Caught Fire” and Judy Budnitz’s “Visiting Hours.” It also has a neat little piece by Jonathan Safran Foer (who is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors for his constantly strong and clear voice that you just melt into trusting.) which if you have your friends read you can begin to adapt the punctuation from – I constantly hear myself saying ‘Empty Box’, ‘Empty Box’, ‘Black Box!’.

Anyway this is great, especially when you are looking for some new authors to read and track and follow and hunt and stalk.

Everything within takes place after Jack died and before mom and I drowned in a burning ferry in the cool tannin-tinted Guaviare River, in east-central Colombia, with forty-two locals we hadn’t yet met. It was a clear and eyeblue day, that day, as was the first day of this story, a few years ago in January, on Chicago’s north side, in the opulent shadow of Wrigley and with the wind coming low and searching off the jagged half-frozen lake. I was inside, very warm, walking from door to door.

That is what the cover says. And this is possibly all the introduction the book needs. Our narrator Will is destroyed by the death of his friend Jack, he will be born and die with his mother, and he will spend the rest of his story not inside and warm, but constantly walking and moving. Chasing a life that is not his own.

I can only tell you that I enjoyed this story, its pace, and its application of concept in both plot and expression.