The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction.  This special edition contains selections from the following 2017 Best American Short Stories edited by Meg WolitzerThe Best American Essays edited by Leslie JamisonThe Best American Mystery Stories edited by John SandfordThe Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Sarah VowellThe Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Charles YuThe Best American Travel Writing edited by Lauren CollinsThe Best American Science and Nature Writing edited by Hope JahrenThe Best American Sports Writing edited by Howard Bryant  Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. The special guest editor then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish.  This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected – and most popular – of its kind.

I gotta admit that the only reason why I have read this book, is because it was free on amazon for kindles. So here I am reviewing this book after I tried and failed reading this book. But as always I will explain everything in this review.

This book involves 16 short stories and essays. I made it halfway through this book before I decided to DNF this book. Because all of the short stories and essays in this book are super boring and uninteresting for me at the very least. 

The short stories and essays in this book are about fiction, science, science fiction, sports and travel. Which are the topics which I tend to enjoy in books. But all of the short stories and essays in this book are very shallow and narrow. Which really made it seem to me like the authors of those short stories and essays in this book weren’t even interested in their short stories and essays to make them actually good.

The writing in those short stories and essays are of course different from short story to short story and from essay to essay because all of those short stories and essays in this book have been written by different people. But I gotta admit that the first short story in this book had the best writing out of all the short stories and essays in this book. All the writing styles in each short stories and essays in this book felt like I was reading a high school textbook because in my opinion those authors behind the short stories and essays in this book didn’t care enough to make those short stories and essays fun or interesting. 

The first half of this book wasn’t even half bad, but the second half of this book where I had DNF-ed this book felt like reading a mix between a high school textbook and a social media post which annoyed me. Because if I wanted to read a social media post I would have opened instagram and do my reading there. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5