Janet Fitch | White Oleander, Little, Brown and Company | 1999 | 19 minutes (4,640 words) Our latest first chapter comes from Longreads contributing editor Julia Wick, who has chosen Janet Fitch’s 1999 novel White Oleander. If you want to recommend a First Chapter, let us know and we’ll feature you and your pick: hello@longreads.com.
Story
Posted inNonfiction, Story
On Muppets & Merchandise: How Jim Henson Turned His Art into a Business
“He viewed money as energy, the energy that makes concrete things happen out of worthy ideas.”
Posted inMember Pick, Nonfiction, Story
‘He’s Our Baby’: What Happens When a Child Is Placed in Foster Care
“Who should get to keep a child: the parents who nurse and tend him, or the parents who brought him into the world?”
Posted inBooks, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
What Life Was Like for an Executioner’s Family in the 16th Century
Joel F. Harrington | The Faithful Executioner, Farrar, Straus and Giroux | March 2013 | 15 minutes (3,723 words) Below is an excerpt from the book The Faithful Executioners, by Joel F. Harrington, which was recently featured as a Longreads Member Pick. Thanks to our Longreads Members for making these stories possible—sign up to join Longreads […]
Posted inBooks, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
The Woman Who Counted Fish
Conservation, domestication and the future of the animal kingdom.
Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
‘Like Being in Prison with a Salary’: The Secret World of the Shipping Industry
Rose George | Metropolitan Books | August 2013 | 17 minutes (4,213 words) The following is the opening chapter of Rose George’s new book, Ninety Percent of Everything. Our thanks to the author for sharing it with the Longreads community. * * * Friday. No sensible sailor goes to sea on the day of the Crucifixion or the […]
Posted inBooks, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
How a Convicted Murderer Prepares for a Job Interview
“In prison Angel thought that it wouldn’t be too hard to find a job once he got out. He believed he had come a long way.”
Posted inMember Pick, Nonfiction, Story
‘My Body Stopped Speaking to Me’: The First-Person Account of a Near-Death Experience
Our recent Longreads Member Pick by National Magazine Award winner Andrew Corsello from GQ is now free for everyone. Special thanks to our Longreads Members for helping bring these stories to you—if you’re not a member, join us here. “My Body Stopped Speaking to Me,” is a personal story about Corsello’s near-death experience, first published […]
Posted inBooks, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
Malrotation
“No one makes it through life unscathed, but you usually get a grace period at the start. My son would not be so lucky.”
Posted inMember Pick, Nonfiction, Story, Uncategorized
Forever Young
A group of Hungarian game developers spent more than 20 years developing a game for the Commodore 64.