BAND: Nonfiction Anthologies

Blogger’s Alliance of Nonfiction Devotees is a group of book bloggers who share a love of nonfiction. Anyone can answer the question on their blog–we would love to hear your responses! If you can’t get enough of BAND check out our tumblr page. This month it’s my turn to host the discussion, so if you write a post of your own please leave a link to it in the comments.

I’ve been a big fan of nonfiction anthologies since high school. When I wanted to find new writers I might enjoy I almost always turned to an anthology to get a sense of new styles. The Best American Essays series has always been a favorite of mine and I’ve discovered so many wonderful writers from that series. The Best American Essays 2010 is what finally pushed me to give David Sedaris a try, and I’m glad I did. Anthologies for me have almost always been essay collections, but there are lots of nonfiction anthologies. Anthologies about history are quite popular, and you can find them about anything from royal marriages to war stories. The Sexuality Studies section is always swimming with anthologies, and last year I read one about young women’s views on feminism. There are anthologies about the environment, religion, politics, pretty much anything you can think of. I also love anthologies because they are a great way to introduce timid readers to nonfiction. You can check out an anthology from the library and only commit to reading twenty pages or less of nonfiction. Just find the essay or story that interests you most and sit down and read. Chances are you’ll find more than one thing you’re interested in.

Now with all that talk about other kinds of nonfiction anthologies, I’m going to highlight a few essay collections every nonfiction reader needs on the shelf.

1. The Best American Essays. Any year will do, although when I was book shopping this past weekend I saw the 2011 edition is out now. I haven’t picked it up yet because I know they’ll be on sale later this year. I love the Best American Essays, but I can’t go a year without buying the Best American Travel Writing too. The Best American Series is actually full of great nonfiction anthologies: sports writing, science and nature writing, and sometimes the comics series has nonfiction in it as well. You can see all the Best American series online.

2. The Best Creative Nonfiction, edited by Lee Gutkind, is a must have when it comes to essay collections. Lee Gutkind is the guy who brought nonfiction into the light. He is also the founder and editor of the literary magazine Creative Nonfiction. If Gutkind says this is the best creative nonfiction, he’s probably right. There a are few volumes of this series but they are deceptively long. I’ve had all three for almost for years now and I still haven’t finished all of them. The reason? I find an essay I really like and then go read more by that author. I have a feeling I’ll be reading them for a while.

3.The New Kings of Nonfiction is a book I have a love hate relationship with. It’s edited by Ira Glass, host of This American Life, so that obviously wins it points. And it has some wonderful writers in it, like Chuck Klosterman and Michael Pollan. But even though not all the writers in the book are male, the majority are, and this is something I’ve found across essay collections. It often seems like the female writers get pushed aside and the use of the word “kings” in the title does nothing to refute that stereotype. Ever since I bought the book I’ve wanted to create my own collection called The New Queens of Nonfiction. Maybe Penguin will see this and take m up on my offer?

Have you read any of these? What are your favorite nonfiction anthologies? Don’t forget to link your post! 

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