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What Is a Body For?

One desire felt like it would make me more of who I already was, and the other would unmake me entirely.

by Diana Saverin

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Let’s celebrate the reads that resonated this year.

Our favorite nonfiction stories on the web, recommended by the Longreads editors.

Browse this year’s collection

Weekly Top 5

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending stories from Kate Mossman, Luke Winkie, Lou Stoppard, Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne, and Rosa Lyster.

December 19, 2025

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Recommending stories from Yasmin Tayag, Elliott Woods, David Ramsey, Larissa Diakiw, and A.S. Hamrah.

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Showcasing stories from Naomi Klein, Sam Kriss, Lily Scherlis, Johanna Winant, and Oliver Egger.

December 5, 2025

Editors’ Picks

The Dead Mall Society

Lana Hall | Hazlitt | December 10, 2025 | 2,889 words

“Standing in the wreckage of these spaces unlocks a sensation people often crave, but can’t name.”

The Last Good Thing

“DVDs, streaming, and the price of nostalgia.”

If a Tree Falls

Rosa Lyster | Harper’s Magazine | December 17, 2025 | 6,939 words

“The trial of the Sycamore Gap killers.”

The Birth Keepers

Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne | The Guardian | November 22, 2025 | 8,556 words

“Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births–now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world.”

The Strange Fate of Flight 2069

Kate Mossman | The New Statesman | December 11, 2025 | 6,764 words

“Months before 9/11 a passenger seized control of a Boeing 747 and nearly crashed it into the Sahara. Everyone survived but no one quite recovered. How do you measure the…

Feast Your Eyes on Japan’s Fake Food

Lauren Collins | The New Yorker | December 15, 2025 | 2,826 words

“However persuasive they might be as facsimiles, shokuhin sampuru are subjective interpretations, seeking not only to replicate dishes but to intensify the feelings associated with the real thing.”