May 25, 2008

Quickie Book Commercial

Friends,

While in Madison, we stopped by a feminist bookstore. What is in a feminist bookstore? Same stuff as any other indie bookstore, but with a whole heap more lesbian stuff. By the barrell full too. And while they will sell books by guys, they only sell CDs by women (including on group called Dykapella). Anyway, while there, I stumbled on a real interesting book that I bought.

It is the non-fiction equivalent of the Scribner Anthology. I didn't even know they made that. It is edited by the same people (Michael Martone and Lex Williford), but it's called the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative NonFiction Work from 1970 to the Present. They assembled this book the same way the did the Scribner Anthology, with an emphasis on making a cheap book (this thing sells for 20 bucks retail, cheaper via Amazon) and the democratic selection process of sending a survey out to over 2,000 writing professionals, then picking the highest ranked essays they could afford. Here's the results:

  1. Jo Ann Beard - The Fourth State of Matter
  2. Wendell Berry - Getting Along with Nature
  3. Eula Biss - The Pain Scale
  4. Mary Clearman Blew - The Unwanted Child
  5. Charles Bowden - Torch Song
  6. Janet Burroway - Embalming Mom
  7. Kelly Grey Garlisle - Physical Evidence
  8. Anne Carson - The Glass Essay
  9. Bernard Cooper - Burl's
  10. Michael W. Cox - Visitor
  11. Annie Dillard - Living Like Weasels
  12. Mark Doty - Return to Sender
  13. Brian Doyle - Leap
  14. Tony Earley - Somehow Form a Family
  15. Anthony Farrington - Kissing
  16. Harrison Candelaria Fletcher - The Beautiful City of Tirzah
  17. Diane Glancy - Sun Dance
  18. Lucy Grealy - Mirrorings
  19. William Harrison - Present Tense Africa
  20. Robin Hemley - Reading History to My Mother
  21. Adam Hochschild - World on a Hilltop
  22. Jamaica Kincaid - A Small Place
  23. Barbara Kingslover - Hight Tide in Tucson
  24. Ted Kooser - Small Rooms in Time
  25. Sara Levine - The Essayist Is Sorry For Your Loss
  26. E.J. Levy - Mastering the Art of French Cooking
  27. Phillip Lopate - Potrait of My Body
  28. Barry Lopez - Flight
  29. Thomas Lynch - The Undertaking
  30. Lee Martin - Sorry
  31. Rebecca McClanahan - Interstellar
  32. Erin McGraw - Bad Eyes
  33. John McPhee - The Search for Marvin Gardens
  34. Brenda Miller - The Date
  35. Dinty W. Moore - Son of Mr. Green Jeans
  36. Kathleen Norris - Celibate Passion
  37. Naomi Shihab Nye - This Is Not Who We Are
  38. Lia Purpura - Autopsy Report
  39. Richard Rhodes - Watching the Animals
  40. Bill Roorbach - Shitdiggers, Mudflats, and the Worm Men of Maine
  41. David Sedaris - Repeat After Me
  42. Richard Selzer - Imelda
  43. Sue William Silverman - The Pat Boone Fan Club
  44. Floyd Skloot - A Measure of Acceptance
  45. Lauren Slater - Black Swans
  46. Cheryl Strayed -The Love of My Life
  47. Amy Tan - Mother Tongue
  48. Ryan Van Meter - If You Knew Then What I Know Now
  49. David Foster Wallace - Consider the Lobster
  50. Joy Williams - Hawk

viva este book

2 comments:

Diana said...

I have been WISHING for this book. The very first essay listed--the one by Jo Ann Beard--is freakin' BRILLIANT.

I'm off to order this book.

Anonymous said...

The only one I've read before is the Amy Tan essay. And it's a good'un.