A “category-defying [and] engaging” collection of short fiction and nonfiction by Phil Klay, George Saunders, Jess Walter, Nora Krug, and more (

Kirkus Reviews

).

Chosen by Dave Eggers and a freewheeling discussion group of passionate student readers, this edition of the annual anthology includes selections ranging from novelist Mona Simpson’s eulogy for her brother Steve Jobs to a piece by prize-winning historian Adam Hochschild first published in the

Occupied Wall Street Journal

to short fiction from Louise Erdrich and Julie Otsuka. They are not on the syllabus. There will not be a test. You are not required to read them. But you’ll probably be glad you did.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012

 also features works by Sherman Alexie * Kevin Brockmeier * Judy Budnitz * Junot Díaz * Robert Hass * Eric Puchner * Said Sayrafiezadeh * Adrian Tomine * Wesley Yang * and others“An excellent literary compilation . . . Eggers deserves credit for another first-rate collection.” —

Publishers Weekly

Theauthor of

The Average American Male

and

The Lie

returns with ashocking, salacious, and surprisingly subtle new novel of the average Americanfamily. Like Neil Strauss and Nick Hornby, Chad Kultgenhas the capacity to enthrall and astonish even the most ardent readers ofcontemporary literary fiction. In

Men, Women, and Children

, his incisivevision, unerring prose, and red-light-district imagination are at their mostambitious and surprising, as he explores the sexual pressures of junior highschool students and their parents navigating the internet’s shared landscape ofpornography, blogs, social networking, and its promise of opportunities,escapes, reinvented identities, and unexpected conflicts.

From the award-winning author of Burntcoat and The Electric Michelangelo, one of the most decorated young British writers working today, comes a literary masterpiece: a breathtaking work that beautifully and provocatively surveys the frontiers of the human spirit and our animal drives.

For almost a decade, zoologist Rachel Caine has lived a solitary existence far from her estranged family in England, monitoring wolves in a remote section of Idaho as part of a wildlife recovery program. But a surprising phone call takes her back to the peat and wet light of the Lake District where she grew up. The eccentric Earl of Annerdale has a controversial scheme to reintroduce the Grey Wolf to the English countryside, and he wants Rachel to spearhead the project. Though she’s skeptical, the earl’s lands are close to the village where she grew up, and where her aging mother now lives.

While the earl’s plan harks back to an ancient idyll of untamed British wilderness, Rachel must contend with modern-day realities—health and safety issues, public anger and fear, cynical political interests. But the return of the Grey unexpectedly sparks her own regeneration.

Exploring the fundamental nature of wilderness and wildness, The Wolf Border illuminates both our animal nature and humanity: sex, love, conflict, and the desire to find answers to the question of our existence—the emotions, desires, and needs that rule our lives.

Jack Madigan is, by many accounts, blessed. He can still effortlessly turn a pretty head. And thanks to his legendary rock star father, he lives an enviable existence in a once-glorious, now-crumbling Boston town house with his teenage son, Harlan. But there is one tiny drawback: Jack is an agoraphobe. As long as his dad's admittedly dwindling royalties keep rolling in, Jack's condition isn't a problem. But then the money runs out . . . and all hell breaks loose.

The bank is foreclosing. Jack's ex is threatening to take Harlan to California. And Lucinda, the little girl next door, won't stay out of his kitchen . . . or his life. To save his sanity, Jack's path is clear, albeit impossible—he must outwit the bank's adorably determined real estate agent, win back his house, keep his son at home, and, finally, with Lucinda's help, find a way back to the world outside his door.

Nine “darkly funny, profoundly compassionate” short stories exploring the nature of loneliness and human interaction in contemporary society (

More

).

“The stories in Daniel Orozco’s debut collection convey a sense of workplace alienation that would make Karl Marx cringe. . . . A treat.” —

The New York Times Book Review

A

Kirkus Reviews

Best of 2011 Short Story Collections title

Breakfast’s boiled egg, the overhead hum of fluorescent lights, the midmorning coffee break—daily routines keep the world running. But when people are pushed—by a coworker’s taunt, a face-to-face encounter with a woman in free fall form a bridge—cracks appear, revealing alienation, casual cruelty, madness, and above all a simultaneous hunger for and fear of the unknown. Daniel Orozco’s

Orientation

introduces a writer at the height of his powers, whose work invites us to reassess the landscape of American fiction.

“

Orientation

remains a tour de force. . . . There isn’t a lemon or an extraneous word in Orozco’s nine stories, which boast not just cleverness but complexity, subtlety and range.” —

San Francisco Chronicle

“A gem and a killer. . . . Orozco manages to convey [Henry] James’s psychological acuity with one-tenth of his clauses, mingling it with Steven Milhauser’s sense of lunatic joy.” —

The Boston Phoenix

“The moment you begin this comparable debut, you’ll discover why Daniel Orozco’s fans have been shouting his praises for years. . . . This may be Orozco’s first collection, but he’s nothing short of a master.” —Julie Orringer, author of

The Invisible Bridge

and

How to Breathe Underwater