We’ve finally reached the end of the week, which means it’s finally time to set meaningful hours aside this weekend to read books. That’s all the weekend is for, right?
For the first time in quite a while, I’m actually “in between” books. The last time we checked in I was wrapping up Vladimir Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading . After reading that I thought it was time to finally take on the big challenge: Lolita.
I guess I wasn’t joking when I wrote this on Invitation to a Beheading back in August:
“In beautiful prose, the book follows what appears to be the final days of Cincinattus C., who was imprisoned and sentenced to death. But his prison and those charged with watching over him appear to torture him in untraditional way – in which it seems the character is being slowly destroyed.
“Of course, I’m not finished with it yet so I cannot say how it unfolds. … And maybe then I’ll start reading a real feel-good story, like Lolita.“
Just the title of the book carries a weight to it that I think few other pieces of fiction do – and it conjures up some horrific feelings. And it made for a strange bit of conversation at times. Those who know the book gave an audible “oomph” when they saw I was reading that. Those who didn’t know – and asked about it – well, it was a challenge to not make it seem so awful.
But it’s a truly heartbreaking thing to read as we get to the end. The foreword tells us what’s coming, and it’s reinforced in the end.
It was one of the most difficult books I’ve read, both in its subject matter and in the style it is written. But it’s also an incredible foray into just how masterful Nabokov was at prose. And that made reading Humbert Humbert’s account of his (for lack of a better word) relationship with Lolita so fascinating, because he uses this language both as a form of seduction and also as an imprisonment.
I’m glad I read it because it’s a fantastic book and study of this modernist and surrealist prose. However, I think it is a book I will not read again unless I engage in a critical literature review of Nabokov. And while I do have a copy of Ada, or Ardor on my bookshelf, I don’t think I’ll be writing a lit review anytime soon. It might be time for a break from Nabokov, actually
Now, for the first time in quite a while, I’ve got nothing on my list to read. I’ve got a few books on my shelf but after reading Lolita, Invitation to a Beheading, The Angels Die and Dracula back-to-back-to-back-to-back, it might be time for some lighter reading.
Then again, I have expressed an interest in The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago.
Stay tuned.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Infernal Dance from The Firebird, by Igor Stravinsky, performed by Sir Simon Rattle & London Symphony Orchestra
And now for your links:
The Athletic ($$): “Mourinho, Amorim and the wisdom of coaches willing to ‘die’ for an idea”
The Guardian: “Champions League roundup: Kairat Almaty’s long journey goes unrewarded”
BBC: “Mourinho back at Benfica 25 years on – revered but a risk?”
Independent: “West Ham identify new managerial candidate as pressure grows on Graham Potter”
