“When I cooked Indian food, the smallest number I cooked for was four. But the book suggested that I could cook for myself. Meals for one. It advocated gentle ease as a way of making myself a meal.” Is that the weekend knocking at the door? C’mon in! This week we’ve got a thoughtful new […]
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
An investigation into a heinous (and lurid) crime. A look at the spirited world of competitive cheer. A visit to the world’s creepiest motel. An empathic eye on assisted dying. And the true planetary cost of your beloved cat. Our favorites of the week, pulled from all of our editors’ picks. 1. What Happened to Heather […]
The Race That Turned to Ruin
“Fifteen teams lifted off from Switzerland in gas ballooning’s most audacious race. Three days later, two of them drifted into Belarusian airspace—but only one would survive.”
Hope in the Desert and the Week’s Top 5
“Talking with them I realized how many people, like me, had run away from hard conversations. How we did it on purpose, and sometimes without realizing. How people who needed to talk waited for invitations to spit out the hard stuff, and how good it felt when they did.” Happy Friday, y’all. Summer is drawing […]
Galloping Into the Abyss
Andres Beckett dreamed of flying over the crest, down into the long dark track of the Suicide Race.
Musical Rivalries and our Weekly Top 5
“Before hip-hop brought the concept of ‘beef’ into the mainstream, rock and roll’s aggression and excess resulted in many an unfriendly rivalry; decades earlier, the hard life of the traveling jazz musician led to some heady and memorable fallouts. Whether it’s pop stars, country singers, dancehall artists, or Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s recent multi-song war, […]
When Theme Parks Bite Back (and the Week’s Top 5)
“Thrillseekers want their kinesthetic sense disturbed—that’s the whole point. But push the drama too intensely and a person may never come back again.” Happy Friday! With summer in full swing, we hope you’ve got something fun planned this weekend. If you’re an adrenaline junkie like Emily Latimer, that may mean heading to an amusement park. […]
A Note of Holiday Thanks, and the Week’s Top 5
We’ll keep it short this week, folks. With our Best Of package marching on, we have our two latest roundups for you: Our favorite profiles of the year, and a look at the best-performing Audience Award winners of 2023. (On that note: As much as we’ve enjoyed adding the Audience Award, we’ve enjoyed the jockeying […]
Come One, Come All: A Reading List on Parks
The drama within our public spaces.
Best of 2025: All Our Number Five Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number five slot in our weekly newsletter, in a handy digest.


