During the week, we consume words in snackable, tweetable bites. But on the weekends, we have the time to take a dive into the murkier, lengthier depths of the Internet and expand our attention spans beyond 140 characters. We can brew a cup of coffee and lie back with our iPads, laptops, smartphones and Kindles.
Since you're bound to miss a few things during the daily grind, we present to you, in our weekly installation of Mashable Must Reads, a curated list of can't-miss stories from around the web to read and reflect on. (You can find last week's must reads here.)
Authors are actively choosing to self-publish books, giving them better control over rights, distribution, pricing and resurfacing trends like serialization. Amy-Mae Elliott examines the rise of self-publishing as not only a viable career path for many independent authors, but also as a major disruptor for the entire publishing industry.

Image: Flickr, Annie Mole
Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books and the publishing industry? Many don't realize that results generated by Amazon’s search engine are partly determined by promotional fees. "Amazon has successfully fostered the idea that a book is a thing of minimal value," George Packer writers. And Bezos will fight indie publishers tooth and nail — he even suggested that "Amazon should approach these small publishers the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."
Megan Garber delves into the social history and culture of the area code, those three little numbers that we use every day without a second thought. New York, as the most densely populated area, got 212 — the lowest number of clicks possible on the rotary phone, and thus the easiest to dial.
One doesn't exactly equate Yahoo with putting a top priority on search. But that will change if Marissa Mayer gets her way. "When I look at things like contextual search, I get really excited," the Yahoo CEO said at a technology conference this week. Jason Abbruzzese explains what that actually means, and why it's so crucial to Yahoo's future.

Yahoo president and CEO Marissa Mayer, picturing speaking at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, in Las Vegas, has said the company is pursuing contextual search.
Image: Julie Jacobson/Associated Press
What happens when a business is built on the foundations of racism and cheap labor? The hive mind of wearing shirts with Abercrombie emblazoned across the front has spiraled downward into a disillusionment and disgust with the brand. A fascinating dive into what happens when a retailer refuses to adjust to the marketplace and loses its mojo as a result.
Like any good story, the tale of Flappy Bird has a beginning, a middle and an end. While things started out nice and slow for the popular mobile game, the plot quickly catapulted into a confusing, overwhelming mess — at least for its creator. And for its millions of devotees, the end was far too abrupt. Here, a look at how the simple but addicting game became a global phenomenon seemingly overnight.
Sochi is close to Russia’s disputed border with Georgia and to the political tinderbox of the north Caucasus. Just how secure can the Winter Olympics be?
Don't have time to read them all now? In our Readlist below, export this week's must reads to your tablet to save for a time you have no distractions. Simply click the "read later" button alongside each story or or click "export" to send the entire list of articles to your preferred device.