‘The Best American Nonrequired Reading’: Compilation includes range of writing

Each year, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishes its 'Best American Series,” a set of books collecting notable work published in the last year. Some of the collections are form based, including the oldest book in the series, 'The Best American Short Stories,” which was first published in 1915. Others are genre or topic based, like 'The Best American Mystery Stories” or 'The Best American Travel Writing.”

'The Best American Nonrequired Reading,” first published in 2002, differs from the other books in the series in that it collects a wide range of writing - stories, essays, plays, comics, hard-to-define experimental writing and more. It also boasts a unique selection process. The works are chosen by high school students writing programs in San Francisco and Ann Arbor affiliated with 826 National, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping students with expository and creative writing at seven locations.

The latest entry in the series is filled with intriguing and challenging work. 'The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014” takes readers all around the world for both fictional and non-fictional explorations. Among the highlights are two short stories by graduates of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

'The Chinese Barracks” by Rebecca Rukeyser features women working in a fish cannery where their friendships and rivalries are driven by sleeplessness, noise, stench, and danger. Rachel Swirsky's 'If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” which won a Nebula Award, begins with whimsy and ends with sorrow. The story, only two pages long, is as moving as it is quirky.

Also included is a story that first appeared in 'The Iowa Review.” 'Charybdis” by Cole Becher is a story about soldiers back from Iraq, including a man who simply can't make the adjustment civilian life. It's a story of comradeship and dislocation, both physical and mental.

The collection may feature 'nonrequired reading,” but taken together, the work in this book seems to have something essential to say about this particular moment in time and the ways in which writing of all kinds can respond to it.