Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ and the Inspiration of Aspiration
Full disclosure: A) Lolita is one of my favorite books of all time B) This is a re-read -I have know read Lolita 2.6 times (I started and for some…
Women’s World Cup (of Literature)
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…
On Reading and Taking Breaks
I’m currently reading David Foster Wallace’s comically weighty novel “Infinite Jest’. Since the only thing more sanctimonious than a 25-year-old white guy reading Infinite Jest is a 25-year-old white guy…
Father’s’ Day Special: Three Tomes of Questionably Excessive Masculinity That You (And/Or Your Dad) Should Absolutely Read
(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…
Dave Eggers’s “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and another incarnation of my cynical misanthropy
I didn’t like this book. I found it irritating, twee, and everything wrong with the post-Wallace obsession over authenticity. I became irritated multiple times while reading it. This does not…
“Naked Lunch”: In Defense of the Irredeemably Obscene and the Blatantly Pornographic
My friend told me that he read this book when he was 20, on the recommendation of a buddy who described it as his favorite book of all time. “I…
“Rabbit Redux”, Or, John Updike is The Man (and you are free to interpret my use of the phrase “The Man” however you like)
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!
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
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
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…