The Best American Essays 2005

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The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very 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.

The Best American Essays 2005 includes

Roger Angell • Andrea Barrett • Jonathan Franzen • Ian Frazier • Edward Hoagland • Ted Kooser • Jonathan Lethem • Danielle Ofri • Oliver Sacks • Cathleen Schine • David Sedaris • Robert Stone • David Foster Wallace • and others

Susan Orlean, guest editor, is the author of My Kind of Place, The Orchid Thief, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, and Saturday Night. A staff writer for The New Yorker since 1982, she has also written for Outside, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Vogue.

La vie en rose / Roger Angell --
The sea of information / Andrea Barrett --
Storm county / Paul Crenshaw --
Joyas voladoras / Brian Doyle --
Sister Bernadette's barking dog / Kitty Burns Florey --
The comfort zone / Jonathan Franzen --
If memory doesn't serve / Ian Frazier --
Against exercise / Mark Greif --
Small silences / Edward Hoagland --
Small rooms in time / Ted Kooser --
Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn / Jonathan Lethem --
Mastering the art of French cooking / E.J. Levy --
Contributor's note / Michael Martone --
My friend Lodovico / David Masello --
Living will / Danielle Ofri --
Dog days / Sam Pickering --
Speed / Oliver Sacks --
Dog trouble / Cathleen Schine --
Old faithful / David Sedaris --
Six seconds / Paula Speck --
Skill display in birding groups / Bert O. States --
The prince of possibility / Robert Stone --
Dining with robots / Ellen Ullman --
Consider the lobster / David Foster Wallace --
Satin worship / Holly Welker