Year in long reading 2012

December 21, 2012 10:01 PM

I have an ~18 hour flight ahead of me and I am compiling a DIY ebook of longform journalism/non-fiction for my Kindle to get me through it. So, what is the best thing you read this year?

Must have to be available on the web. My preferences skew towards nonfiction, but stellar short fiction is welcome too! Thanks!

posted by AceRock to writing & language (11 answers total)

Any topics in particular you like?
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 10:05 PM on December 21, 2012

Crime, medicine/healthcare, sports (except baseball stories weirdly), personal essays. Thanks!
posted by AceRock at 10:09 PM on December 21, 2012

Emily Murphy: A pioneer in the war on pot

(posted this to the front page a few months ago, but in case you missed it)
posted by mannequito at 10:30 PM on December 21, 2012

These are not from 2012 but some of my favorites are Atul Gawande's article "Letting Go: Hospice care for dying patients" and the essay "Have You Ever Tried to Sell A Diamond?" from the Atlantic Monthly. Here's a short one from David Sedaris on cigarette smoking - it's David Sedaris so you can't go wrong regardless of the topic... in fact, NPR has this list of David Sedaris essays being read on the radio and if you could download and listen to these (not sure if possible but maybe by downloading them onto a phone and then hooking that up to headphones?), that could entertain you for quite some time!
posted by treehorn+bunny at 10:36 PM on December 21, 2012

Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard - who would have thought that the assassination of James Garfield would turn out to be utterly fascinating? Definitely the best nonfiction I have read in years. I may not have met your requirements to be available on the web though... its a book, available for kindle.
posted by selfmedicating at 11:02 PM on December 21, 2012

There should be something good to be found here: The top ten according to the editors of Longform.org and the ten most clicked stories from the same site.
posted by PaulZ at 11:28 PM on December 21, 2012

I don't think all of these are from 2012 but they're pretty interesting. Most of them I probably got off MeFi.

Crime

The Vanishing
What Laura Ingalls Wilder Left Out Of Little House. May not be quite long enough for your purposes but there's some links to sources that may let you dig in some.
Life on Matinicus Island.
The Truck Stop Killer.

Healthcare/Medicine

Can You Die From A Nightmare?
A self-plug, but I did a post on The Great New England Vampire Panic that has some pretty interesting stories within. (Tuberculosis-related)

Misc
The Expendables (French Foreign Legion)
They Cracked This 250 Year Old Code And Found A Secret Society Inside
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 11:39 PM on December 21, 2012

Second the Vanishing. I was about to mention it when I saw it'd already been mentioned.
posted by professor plum with a rope at 11:49 PM on December 21, 2012

There was a three part series on the Tampa bay newspaper on a micro premie that I found riviting. It was within the last two weeks. (Sorry I can't grab the link on this phone)
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:06 AM on December 22, 2012

Game of Her Life: 14-year-old chess prodigy from Uganda. Excellent writing and intriguing story.
posted by ceiba at 7:49 AM on December 22, 2012

There was a three part series on the Tampa bay newspaper on a micro premie that I found riviting. It was within the last two weeks.

Part 1, 2 and 3
posted by PaulZ at 1:24 PM on December 22, 2012