Every story we selected for the number five slot in our weekly newsletter, in a handy digest.
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Best of 2023: All of Our Number Five Story Picks
Each story we chose as our number five piece of the week in 2023, all in one place.
The Novelist Disguised As a Housewife
An excerpt of Ruth Franklin’s biography of Shirley Jackson, the author of seventeen books and many short stories including “The Lottery,” the bulk of which were written while she was immersed in raising—and being influenced by—her four children.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our top stories of the week, as chosen by the Longreads editors.
Great Reviews Of Movies I Have Never Seen: A Reading List
Sometimes, the review is better than the film it reviews.
The Great American Housewife Writer: A Shirley Jackson Primer
“Her storytelling is incredibly modern. She is a writer to read right now.”
Colson Whitehead: An Appreciation
Black Cardigan is a great newsletter by writer-editor Carrie Frye, who shares dispatches from her reading life. We’re thrilled to share some of them on Longreads. Go here to sign up for her latest updates. * * * I was skipping around Google the other day and was reminded of a piece by Colson Whitehead called “How To Write.” You may […]
The Cowboy Image and the Growth of Western Music
How did cowboy hats and boots become the visual iconography of American rural music?
The Summer People of Shirley Jackson and Kelly Link
Black Cardigan is a great newsletter by writer-editor Carrie Frye, who shares dispatches from her reading life. We’re thrilled to share some of them on Longreads. Go here to sign up for her latest updates. * * * There’s a wonderful, creepy Shirley Jackson story—you may already know it—called “The Summer People.” It’s about a couple from New York […]
Alexander Woollcott and Harpo Marx: A Love Story
“Our friendship was a lifeÂlong game of ‘Who Am I?’ It was frustrating, exasperating, and sometimes downright silly, but it was a good, rewarding game.”

