Long Reads #23

It has been ages since I did a long reads post. I haven't been reading much essays lately, and my Saturday nights (where I normally type and post this) have been taken up with various stuff. So here's a hodgepodge of long for essays that caught my eye.


Who Killed Lois Duncan's Daughter? - Louise Duncan wrote the book (turned movie) "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Sadly, her daughter was murdered, and they haven't been able to find out what happened to her.

Buzzfeed's Founder used to write Marxist theory and it explains Buzzfeed perfectly - Funnily enough, the piece above was from Buzzfeed. But, this piece is talking about those never ending lists "25 signs that...." that supposedly have link to marxism in making a collective identity.

Funworld by Kevin Moffett - The author didn't intend to end up working at a magazine targeted at amusement parks, but he did. I'm not sure if I'll ever want to read the magazine (it sounds really technical), but his description of his work was fascinating. It just goes to show that not all magazine jobs are alike (comparing his description to descriptions about fashion magazines)

Cinema Tarantino: The Making of Pulp Fiction by Mark Seal, Annie Leibovitz - I'm not sure why I picked this up, since I can't recall a single film by Tarantino that I've watched, but this article made me want to watch Pulp Fiction. It's a look at how the movie came to be, how the actors were cast, and how it was promoted when it came out.

How To Not Be The Biggest Asshole In Media by Deadspin.com - The actual title was really long (it contains a colon followed by "4 lessons I learned from meeting Jay Mariotti and reading his awful book"), but the piece is entertaining. I don't watch ESPN, so as an outsider, I found this to be interesting. I'm not sure what ESPN fans would thing though.

Royal Bodies by Hilary Mantel - Did you read Wolfhall? I did and I quite liked it (it seems like I didn't do a review - time for a re-read!). Hilary Mantel tackles the modern day royalty in this piece, and her disapproval of what Princess Kate is like (too perfect and not human enough). I personally quite like Princess Kate, although I don't follow news about her fanatically. So hmm.... I'm not sure where I stand on this piece.

Have you been reading any long form essays lately?