In 2009, in order to sublimate myself to the essay as a form, I began reading each volume of The Best American Essays
, one volume a month, in reverse chronological order. This lasted for
about a year, or until I got to 2000; I now satisfy myself with just a
handful of essays each month from the remaining volumes. While I was reading a volume a month, I began writing "Sideways Reviews" for Hunger Mountain in which found something novel in an essay or series of essays and responded to it in whatever ways I saw fit. My wonderful editors Cynthia Newberry Martin and Claire Guyton then did their best to get the reviews to make some sort of sense. I now have those reviews, nine in all, with a convenient Table of Contents from Hunger Mountain's website, in my Critical Work section.
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