September - 2026

Joy of Reading

I've always been an avid reader, a passion that has only intensified over the years. During long expeditions, books are my faithful companions, offering solace and entertainment on storm days, rest days, and those moments when sanity seems to slip away. To this day, one of my life’s simple pleasures is visiting the library and checking out a book.

Why I Share My Reading List

My decision to start posting about the books I read stems from a somewhat selfish motive. If these recommendations inspire even one person to set aside their smartphone, power down their laptop, or turn off their TV in favor of losing themselves in a good book for an uninterrupted period, I'll consider it a success. The benefits of reading are truly abundant and far-reaching.

Most of the books I encounter come recommended by fellow readers, admirers, or through magazine reviews. While not every book captivates me—and those that fail to hold my attention often go unfinished and unmentioned—most of the ones that do make it to my list are worth exploring.

An Invitation to Read

I encourage you to embrace the simple pleasure of reading. Find a quiet spot outdoors, perhaps under the shade of a tree or settled in a cozy tent, and immerse yourself in a good book. The world within its pages awaits.

Skål,
Sean

The books discussed below are from my evening, before-bed, reading list.

In addition to my nighttime reading, I devote hours to exploring books, magazines, and clinical research papers on wellness, mental fortitude, and fitness applications. Every day is an opportunity to learn and grow as a human being.

In The Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means To Be a Man, Tom Junod

Junod’s memoir blends intimate family memoir with journalistic investigation. A celebrated magazine writer known for profiles like his Esquire piece on Mr. Rogers, he turns his skills inward to reckon with his larger-than-life father, Lou----a WWII veteran, handbag salesman, and charismatic philanderer who embodied a midcentury ideal of swaggering masculinity reminiscent of Don Draper. The book excels in its sensory prose, emotional honesty, and revelations about family secre

You With The Sad Eyes, Christina Applegate

Her memoir that strips away the gloss of celebrity. Instead it reveals the raw, often grueling reality of her life. She directs the reader through the highs of her storied career and the lows of her health battles. The narrative serves as a vulnerable meditation on resilience and the complex process of mourning the person you used to be. Her voice is conversational yet brutally honest, making the reader feel like a confidant during her most private moments of struggle and sel

The Rest of Our Lives, Ben Markovits

The novel follows Tom Layward, a law professor in his fifties living in New York, whose wife Amy had an affair years earlier. He vowed to leave her once their youngest child left home, and when that moment finally arrives, he drives his daughter to college in Pittsburgh and simply keeps going west, embarking on an unplanned cross-country road trip that carries him through encounters with old friends, an ex-lover, his brother, and his son. It seemed to me to be a meditation on

Brawler, Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff's nine-story collection is upsetting, uneven, and veers off in unexpected directions. If the stories have a shared theme, it is how the bedrock of family crumbles and its members are forced to shift into new formations. They repeatedly return to the covert textures of women's inner lives. A throughline of feminism runs through the collection, from the title story about an unruly teen diver with a dying mother to quieter tales of young women navigating absent or e