Uncategorized Archives - Page 3 of 8

Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”: Noir and Homophobia and Slapping Hysterical Women, Oh My…

By seanvansickel August 10, 2015Uncategorized2 Comments

Ah, the other major detective noir. After reading “The Maltese Falcon,” I rather quickly set my sights on reading Chandler’s pulpy-not-pulp Magnum Opus. I had fun. It’s not my normal…

Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

By seanvansickel July 27, 2015Uncategorized

Steinbeck's prose has never been -for me, at least- so strong a thing as to recommend his writing to me in and of itself. Fortunately, the man is a compelling…

Women’s World Cup (of Literature)

By seanvansickel June 30, 2015Uncategorized

Three Percent is a pretty solid podcast that focuses on the world of literature in translation (only 3% of books purchased in the US are works in translation). They are…

Father’s’ Day Special: Three Tomes of Questionably Excessive Masculinity That You (And/Or Your Dad) Should Absolutely Read

By seanvansickel June 20, 2015Uncategorized

(Caution: White Male Overload in the next few paragraphs.) #1: Thom Jones’s ‘The Pugilist at Rest’ Thom Jones is my Literary Jesus ( and by curious and completely beside-the-point and…

“Rabbit Redux”, Or, John Updike is The Man (and you are free to interpret my use of the phrase “The Man” however you like)

By seanvansickel June 13, 2015Uncategorized

John Updike gets a lot of shit. Some of that is very deserved. His preoccupation with white male middle-class identity rubs many people the wrong way. The perspective in much…

Milan Kundera’s “Identity”: Sure, Maybe Not As Good As “Unbearable Lightness”, But Much Shorter!

By seanvansickel June 9, 2015Uncategorized

Kundera’s seminal novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was my favorite book out of last year’s readings and is easily in my top 10 books of all time. “Identity” is…

Reading Log: The Month of May

By seanvansickel June 7, 2015Uncategorized

11 books down in 5/15. Literature in translation, some classics, some light/funny work, assorted miscellanea, and a couple of lit mags (Thrice has officially hooked me). It was a good…

100 Posts

By seanvansickel June 4, 2015Uncategorized

WordPress has just informed me that my last post was number 100 on seanvansickel.com. That seems like a lot of posts since last September... Thanks so much for reading and…

On Editing

By seanvansickel June 4, 2015Uncategorized

Throughout my undergrad writing experience, “editing” simply meant speed-reading my paper out loud to catch any glaring errors (full disclosure -this is also about all the editing I do for…

Adam Rogers’s “Proof: The Science of Booze” and Why a Little Light Journalistic Fun Never Hurt Anybody

By seanvansickel June 2, 2015Uncategorized

“Proof: The Science of Booze” is a wonderfully fun read about alcohol in it’s every context. Wired writer/editor and Übergeek journalist Adam Rogers has a contagious passion for the study…