[sweetbabyjames]

It took me forever to get through the first half of Portrait, with notes, a few months ago. By then I felt like I had a grasp of the language & context, so I dropped the notes and finished the second half in much less time. I loved it. Though I did feel I needed a Joyce break after that.

[KYHeirloomer]

The "Annotated Lolita" Ginger?

Good grief, what about that sleasy book needed an explanation?

Pedaphiles need to be put in the general population of prison, not celebrated in a novel.

[sweetbabyjames]

I've long been on the fence about Lolita...I'd love to hear how others feel about it.

[Deste]

Lolita (1955) is product of its time and the work of a male author in a very traditional marriage in which the wife devotes her life to making her husband's art flourish, so it is not an easy novel for a feminist to read.

Moreover, in the last half-century our culture has come a long way in bringing the sexual abuse of children out in the open; we are more fully aware of its horrors and lingering effect on victims.

Nabokov infuriated me when I first read the novel in the way it implicates his heroine in the seduction because I viewed the characters and plot in a very literal manner. I found Lolita quite implausible, expect perhaps as a mirror upon whose surface the protagonist projects his own desire.

However, it helps to see the book as an Old World Russian expatriate's response to America. Lolita in all her tempting vulgarity is Nabokov's U.S.A. Humbert Humbert is dirty because he can't help but be drawn to what repulses him and us.

Call the author a snob if you will, and indeed he is. However, his novel furthers a long line of works by 19th-century Russians and early 20th-century Europeans (and Americans) who watch Modernity in its variety of forms wear away old ways of life. Post WWII, the rising dominance of America inspires Nabokov's specific terms and it's understandable that a highly educated, gifted man from a Russian family of means might feel both nostalgic (Read "Speak Memory") and horrified by what he comes to embrace in the US.

[Deste]

FWIW, loved "Portrait of the Artist" right off, so I'm not sure what's off-putting or dull. However, I agree with all that was said about "The Dead." Gorgeous, gorgeous story and surprisingly effective as a film.

[KYHeirloomer]

Yeah, Deste. And sometimes a bear is just a bear.

[gingerpale]

sweetbabyjames, I love the book! And The Annotated Lolita filled in a lot of blanks I didn't even know were there, which led to more discoveries, and on and on..
is the *subject matter* the reason you're "on the fence"? I don't have a female child, but I was a female child, and have no problem with the book. To be blunt, she made him, remember?

[Judy]

I'm having a very literary week this week.

Adelaide Writers' Week started today and I wandered along and listened to a bit of Tom Kenneally's opening speech, then grabbed a front seat for ( to me anyway) the star of the show, Audrey Niffenegger. Lovely person, excellent speaker and she signed my copies of her books afterwards.

Tomorrow, Penguin Books is having a photo shoot in Adelaide as part of their photo shoot to celebrate their upcoming 75th Anniversary, so I might get a few of my 15 minutes of fame ... or not

And on Tuesday the First Tuesday Book Club is recording here and I'm going to see the regulars (Jennifer Byrne, Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, names which will mean nothing to anyone outside Australia, but Aussie readers may recognise a couple of them) plus Sarah Waters and Markus Zusak discussing The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and Ian McEwan's new book, Solar.

Marieke has assured me that it doesn't matter if I haven't read the books, and in fact, Solar isn't published here until March 18th.

The rest of the week, I'll do my usual 'literary' thing and sell books.
_________________
Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

www.cupcakerecipebook.com.au

[gingerpale]

Judy how nice to see you here! Sounds like a wonderful outing. I didn't know Thomas Keneally was Australian (author of "Schindler's List" book). Should have seen it like clear light, I know..

Signed books, Penguin 75th anniversary, (do Penguin books always have orange covers in Australia too?) and also (I saw this on an Oz newspaper site) a 50th anniversary for Adelaide Festival of the Arts. You will probably lack sleep, but have fun!

[georgia]

Has anyone read "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova? Fiction--combines art/psychology/mystery...

A good friend recommended it highly to me, but the Amazon reviews swing wildly b/t 1-5 stars. It's currently on the NYTimes best seller list which, frankly, usually sends me running in the opposite direction. However...thinking I could be wrong about this, I'd appreciate input. In theory, it sounds like something I should enjoy, but...

(BTW, I love my friend and would trust her with far more important things than this, but we sometimes don't agree on our reading preferences.)
_________________
So far, so good.

[gingerpale]

I enjoyed "The Historian" (also by Kostova) very much a few years ago. I'd say it was almost a page turner but not quite.

[georgia]

Thanks, GP. Actually, one of the knocks against "The Swan Thieves" seems to be (according to the Amazon reviews) that it does not live up to her earlier work. But, then, my friend is loving it...hence, my confusion.

Think I'll check some other reviews, e.g. the NYTimes, to see if they help.
_________________
So far, so good.

[David]

Judy! I adore Sarah Waters!!

Okay, now this will sound strange but I'm just about to start reading "Small Unit Leadership" by Col. Dandridge M. Malone, USA (Ret.). Told you life was different with my new guy!!
_________________
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[KYHeirloomer]

that it does not live up to her earlier work.

I have to say that of all the criticisms leveled at authors, this one has always struck me as the dumbest. To me this is like saying we shouldn't read "Anthony & Cleopatra" because it doesn't live up to "Hamlet." Ridiculous!

I actually read a criticism once that said "this would be a great book if the author hadn't written X first." Uh, huh.

A book should stand on its own, IMO. It's either worth reading or it isn't.

So, the question arises: Are we judging books? Or are we judging authors? If we're writing term papers that's one thing. But if we're making reading recommendations that's something else altogether.

[Judy]

Wow David, good to see you expanding your literary range.
_________________
Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

www.cupcakerecipebook.com.au