The Best American Essays 2013

Guest editor Strayed (Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) has selected 26 titles from hundreds of essays gathered by longtime series editor Atwan, chosen from national and regional literary magazines. In her compelling introduction, Strayed admits that the essays she loves the most are the ones "that made me feel…as if the rest of the world had fallen away." The pieces are outstanding—descriptive, intimate, thoughtful. Contributors Richard Schmitt describes the reality of joining a circus, Walter Kirn confronts Mormonism, Marcia Aldrich agonizes through the birth of her daughter, Charles Baxter survives a terrifying limo accident, and Steven Harvey ponders his mother's suicide. The essays are very personal and reveal, as Strayed describes, the author's desire to know more about the known world. Many of these essays had this reviewer nod in recognition or shake her head in disbelief; most will suspend readers in a state where the world does indeed fall away.