“The older Mario gets, the more confused he gets about the fact that everyone at E.T.A. over the age of about Kent Blott finds stuff that’s really real uncomfortable and they get embarrassed. It’s like there’s some rule that real stuff can only get mentioned if everybody rolls their eyes or laughs in a way that isn’t happy. The worst-feeling thing that happened today was at lunch when Michael Pemulis told Mario he had an idea for setting up a Dial-a-Prayer telephone service for atheists in which the atheist dials the number and the line just rings and rings and no one answers. It was a joke and a good one, and Mario got it; what was unpleasant was that Mario was the only one at the big table whose laugh was a happy laugh; everybody else sort of looked down like they were laughing at somebody with a disability. The whole issue was far above Mario’s head…”
― Infinite Jest
― Infinite Jest
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
“This was the home of the great god Pain, and for the first time I looked through a devilish chink into the depths of his realm. And fresh shells came down all the time.”
― Storm of Steel
― Storm of Steel
“We are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.”
― The Poetics of Space
― The Poetics of Space
Sebastian’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Sebastian’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Polls voted on by Sebastian
Lists liked by Sebastian

















