BOOK REVIEW: This Is My Best

Oh, the treasures that can be found in used bookstores! The anthology, THIS IS MY BEST, edited by Whit Burnett was published in 1942 and is a really great find for the reader of American classics.

The authors represented in this collection were chosen by readers of books and magazines. Polls were taken among subscribers to The Atlantic Monthly, Harpers’ Magazine, and The New Yorker. Ballots were sent to libraries, literary critics, and persons connected to the writing world such as teachers, publishers, etc.

These individuals were asked to vote on the top living authors. The list was narrowed down to ninety-three authors. Burnett said that it was interesting that the public, editor, and publisher were all in agreement of the first fifty names receiving the most votes for inclusion .

The book is a representation of our country before the Second World War. Since each author gives us a glimpse of his or her world, we see the New England of Frost, the South of Rawlings and Faulkner, the Middle West of Tarkington, and the Far West of Steinbeck.

I was delighted to find what some of my favorite authors considered to be his or her best work. John Steinbeck has a beautiful short story titled The Leader of the People, a story that I had never read before. ( I guess Of Mice and Men was too long.) Ernest Hemingway’s choice was The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, a story about big game hunting in Africa--no big surprise there.

Dorothy Parker has always been a very special writer for me. If you know her only as a poet, her short stories are warm and touching. Here she has listed her favorite, the story The Standard of Living.

Anthologies are always hard to review and this one is especially difficult. My space would be filled with just a listing of who is included. Believe me, all of the known authors are represented, plus some that I had never heard of. (I may have to do some research on Wolcott Gibbs.)

I am not finished reading the book yet because I have been forcing myself to read the stories in order, when what I really want to do is rush to my favorites first.

This anthology should be on the library shelf in each serious reader’s home. It is a delight.