This week’s theme is definitely Long Reads so beware, if you’re of the TL;DR set. Links this week are few, but of robust construction.

♠ C.S. Lewis on Suffering and What It Means to Have Free Will in a Universe of Fixed Laws. Itself, the article isn’t too long, but then factor in the last paragraph, and you have hours/days of good reading:

“The Problem of Pain is a pause-giving read in its entirety. Complement it with Lewis on duty, the secret of happiness, and writing “for children” and the key to authenticity in all writing, then revisit Jane Goodall on science and spirituality.”

♠ To Burn To Burst Blaze: Making Sense of Suicide with Sylvia Plath. This is a pretty heavy read, and you’re never truly “in the mood” to read about someone’s feelings about suicide, but this is a good, good read. “…what I’m really scared of is that the succumbing wasn’t blissful at all. I’m afraid that you both choked and suffocated…or, worst of all, that you realized too late you didn’t want to do this. ”

♠ And like most BuzzFeed links, the above one has a few others you might be interested in, too, as they pertain to long reads. The Origin of Long Things, I Joined a Telephone Laughter Club, Long Form Stories we’re Reading this Week is from last October, but the stories are still great.

♠ One Weird Old Trick to Undermine the Patriarchy