Longreads Best of 2014: Here Are All of Our No. 1 Story Picks from This Year

All through December, we’ll be featuring Longreads’ Best of 2014. To get you ready, here’s a list of every story that was chosen as No. 1 in our weekly Top 5 email.

Author: Editors
Source: Longreads
Published: Dec 1, 2014

Sci-Fi Is for Everyone: Six Stories About Marginalized Groups in Science Fiction

“I’ve included essays about women in sci-fi, as well as queer representation in the genre, because it’s a thrill to see traditionally marginalized groups take on a genre that has so much to offer them. Sci-fi should be for everyone.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 30, 2014

Interview: Former ‘Matilda’ Star Mara Wilson on Leaving Hollywood and Becoming a Writer

“It’s very hard to be a perfectionist growing up in the film world. It reinforces all of your worst fears about perfection and doing things right.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 26, 2014
Length: 15 minutes (3,798 words)

Five Stories About the Way We Sleep

Here are five pieces on different facets of sleep: a short story about sleepwalking, a dispatch from Gaza, a person who can’t help but sleep when he’s stressed, and more.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 23, 2014

Profiling the Difficult Subject: Our College Pick

Hau Chu’s profile of a nontraditional student at George Mason University.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 20, 2014

Mike Nichols: 1931-2014

A reading list on the life and career of the beloved director.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 20, 2014

The Bureaucracy of Death: A Reading List

Although more and more countries are abolishing capital punishment, over half the world’s population lives in four of the countries that continue to use it: India, Indonesia, China — and the United States. U.S. public opinion continues to move against the death penalty, but while some states have overturned capital punishment (or never had it), most still sentence people to die. These four pieces examine the range of flaws in a system whose irreversible outcome can ill afford them.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 19, 2014

It’s Time to Stop Saying ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’: Interview with Jonestown Author Julia Scheeres

“As you’d imagine, the phrase offends survivors. It reduces a mass tragedy to the level of banality. Jonestown residents didn’t willingly drink poison—they were forced to do so. Jones gave them a choice: drink cyanide or be shot to death by armed guards. Living was not an alternative.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 18, 2014
Length: 5 minutes (1,350 words)

1964: A Sidelong View of Sports

New reading list by Daniel A. Gross: “Sports in the 1960s proved a rich arena for writers looking to flex their literary muscle, and Talese and Wolfe tried out unconventional sports writing while still kicking off their careers.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 17, 2014

Women vs. the Internet Trolls: A Reading List

Five stories illustrating the experiences of women who have been harassed online.

Source: Longreads
Published: Nov 16, 2014