IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. The life of Ronnie O’Sullivan
Who does profile pieces better than the New Yorker? No one.
(New Yorker, approx 33 mins reading time, 6728 words)
O’Sullivan, who is thirty-nine, loves the anonymity of running. About ten years ago, he discovered that it was one thing that truly takes him out of himself—more than the drink and the drugs and the antidepressants—and suspends the otherwise unavoidable fact that he is the most talented snooker player of all time.
Alcoholic’s Anonymous is famous for helping millions to deal with addiction. But this longread argues that other treatments are much more effective. What do you think?
(The Atlantic, approx 41 mins reading time, 8348 words)
For J.G., it took years of trying to “work the program,” pulling himself back onto the wagon only to fall off again, before he finally realized that Alcoholics Anonymous was not his only, or even his best, hope for recovery. But in a sense, he was lucky: many others never make that discovery at all.
What’s it like eating while incarcerated? Kevin Pang goes to Westville prison to find out – and discovers that the most coveted items are the salt and pepper packets.
(Lucky Peach, approx 25 mins reading time, 5064 words)
“They know y’all coming, that’s why they served fish,” Kimbrough says. Apparently fish is one of the better-tasting offerings the prisoners see, in the way that canker sores are the best kind of ulcers. “That’s a top-notch tray right there. But that fish patty, it ain’t meat. It’s just breading.”
A look inside the US paralympic wheelchair rugby team, and the fight one young man fought to get on it.
(SBNation, approx 39 mins reading time, 7850 words)
Delvin, 35, is 5′8″, 152 pounds, with the broad-shouldered, muscular frame of an athlete. He has closely cropped hair and a short goatee, soft brown eyes, and a softer voice. When he is lost in thought, he rubs his chin thoughtfully with the nub of his left hand, a palm without fingers. He taps his smartphone screen with a prosthetic hook and grasps things with a pincer he controls with his shoulder.
Clarence Harrison walked out of jail exonerated of his alleged crimes (rape and robbery). But even with a clear name, things didn’t go easily for him.
(Buzzfeed, approx 33 mins reading time, 6761 words)
In the story they don’t hear, the $1 million is gone, the future annuity checks aren’t coming, Harrison is jobless and depressed and broke, can’t get disability payments, owes the government tens of thousands of dollars in taxes, and has no idea how to get his life back on track.
After 10 years, David Staller’s girlfriend left him, which also left him having to find a new apartment. And, oh boy, was that an adventure.
(The Millions, approx 19 reading time, 3923 words)
I remembered seeing something on an episode of Oprah once about how prisoners that appealed to their captor’s humanity had the greatest chance of escape so I told them that I was just getting out of a 10-year relationship and then followed Anthony into the bedroom. The only reason I knew it was the bedroom was because there was a blow up mattress on the floor.
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
The film The Bling Ring wasn’t the stuff of reality-nightmares, it was also based on a true story. This story, in fact, by Nancy Jo Sales, about a group of LA teens who burgled celebrity homes.
(Vanity Fair, approx 21 minutes reading time, 5390 words)
Neiers, 18, said that she was drunk and “not sure what was going on” as Prugo parked his white Toyota on the road by a house in the Hollywood Hills. Later, she said, she would find out that it was the home of Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom. Her friends knew that Bloom was in New York shooting a movie; they researched this kind of information on celebrity Web sites like TMZ.
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