Nabokov recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Jimmy Magee]

I've read Lolita, Laughter in the Dark and Despair. All simply marvellous, I'm utterly in love with this guy.

What else?

 

[Jimmy Magee]

Bump

 

[spiritualtramp]

I bought a copy of the Gift in Oxfam today for a mere two euro. When I finish it I'll tell you if it is worth getting or not.

Errr....I'll go look at my bookshelves now and see what is worth reading.

 

[spiritualtramp]

I've read Lolita, Laughter in the Dark and Despair. All simply marvellous, I'm utterly in love with this guy.

What else?

These are his best books, in my opinion. Lolita is my favourite book ever.

the Defence is pretty damn good, as is Invitation to a Beheading.

I've also read Ada, or Ardor and Speak Memory both of which are a hard slog, Pnin which is ok, and loads of his short stories.

Bend Sinister is meant to be amazing. Haven't got round to reading it myself yet though.

 

[One of us]

It doesn't get much better than the three you've already read, but...

King, Queen, Knave is really good- written around the same time as Laughter in the dark and despair, and full of the same black comedy. I'd recommend that one first of all. Mary, the Enchanter, the Defence and Invitation to a Beheading are all good. The short stories are deadly as well- try the collected, it's well worth it.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is shite. His first book in English, and he was playing it safe. Avoid. Pnin is a gentle comedy; nice, but not all that weighty. The Gift is the life story of an imaginary Russian writer in exile; I thought it was heavy going, and demanded a lot of specialist knowledge, but other people rate it. Haven't read Bend Sinister or Pale Fire- Pale Fire is supposed to be amazing, but.

With his later stuff it depends on how far you can indulge his knowingness- the older he gets, the more beautiful and clever the writing is, but the more cramped and airless it feels in comparison to his Berlin books. A lot of people like Ada or Ardor, and it is technically brilliant, but I couldn't warm to it. I did like Glory, though, which is sweet and smart and has a deadly premise- he decided to write an autobiography of what his life would have been like if he'd never written a word. Speak memory is the genuine autobiography. There's parts that are amazing (all the childhood stuff basically), but then there's whole chapters on butterfly collecting and Russian history that are a total slog.

Bottom line is: he's an incredible stylist who also wrote a shitload, and there's some amazing stuff in every book, even the weaker ones. Just don't expect anything to top Lolita and the other two...

 

[Jimmy Magee]

Thanks folkses, youse are heroes of some sort

 

[steveamanakick]

Thanks folkses, youse are heroes of some sort

Pnin is pretty funny, in a Nabokov sorta way... And it's not too hefty either