Hello, happy brunch-time and a big welcome back to everyone except La Niña, who I resent even when she’s watering my garden. This is Five Great Reads, a weekday summertime wrap of interest, service and sweet, sweet juice picked out by me, Alyx Gorman, lifestyle editor of Guardian Australia.
You may notice today’s reads are arriving a little later in the morning. That’s because my esteemed colleagues over at the Morning Mail are back on tools and summarising the news first thing, just for you. And if you’d like to read through the day’s events as they unfold, you can do so at our live blog.
Finally, a paragraph later than expected, comes a reminder that if you’re reading this as an article, you can also receive it as an email by putting your address in the box below.
To the people who are already receiving this as an email, I am sorry I keep saying this, and even more sorry you can’t see the box. It’s a very nice box.
Now we’re done with the box chat, onto the reads.
1. How does it feel to fight off a predator in the wild?
Five people who survived terrifying wild animal attacks share their stories and the way these incidents shaped their lives.
Which terrifying animals? A mountain lion, a shark, a bear, a hippo and an otter.
An otter? An otter.
Otters aren’t terrifying. “The otter kept torpedoing underwater to bite my legs,” says Leah Hiller. “It would come up, track where I was, and attack again. I knew I couldn’t outswim it, so I just had to brace for the bites and try to protect my neck because, if it hit me there, I would have drowned.”
“These sharp, searing bites were coming from every angle,” she continues. “It bit me 25 times. Some of them were two inches deep and one pierced my ankle bone.”
How long will it take me to read? Like many of the animals mentioned, this is a big one. It’ll take about nine minutes to read. But if you can’t be tempted into reading 4,000 words of personal experience on animal attacks (with a gently eco bent) then honestly, you just can’t be pleased.
Bonus read: Okay, one last attempt to please you with a very good boy instead: a dog that saved a hiker’s life in the Croatian mountains.
2. The slow, overlooked art of recovery
As millions around the world grapple with long-Covid, “we need to respect the process of healing” writes GP Gavin Francis.
Notable quote: “Convalescence is anything but a passive process,” Francis writes. This realisation came to him while he worked on a brain injury rehabilitation ward as a junior doctor. “Though its rhythms and its tempo are often slow and gentle, it’s an act, and actions need us to be present, to engage, to give of ourselves.”
How long will it take me to read? Eight minutes. But it’s a must for anyone who has ever fallen and taken a while to get up.
3. The year in underrated actors
Film critic Guy Loge on the best performances this award season has overlooked.
What’s in it for me? You’ll end up with a long list of movies to watch, from Norwegian dramadies to spiky road trip flicks to a horror movie so scary-sounding I can’t watch the trailer.
How many movies? 16
4. Is civil war fomenting in the US?
Stephen Marche certainly seems to think so. In an extract from his new book the Next Civil War, he makes his case.
Notable quote: “The right has recognised what the left has not: that the system is in collapse,” Marche writes. “The right has a plan: it involves violence and solidarity. They have not abjured even the Oath Keepers. The left, meanwhile, has chosen infighting as their sport.”
How long will it take to read? About four minutes.
Bonus read: After finishing Marche’s piece, you might just forgive the Americans for trying to be rid of the phrase “no worries”. They do seem to have worries.
5. An easy win: drink a little less
Finally, here’s Celina Ribeiro on how a couple of dry nights a week have helped change her relationship with alcohol.
