Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by Deerskin of Aberystwyth, Wales United Kingdom on 7/14/2003
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10 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Deerskin from Aberystwyth, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, July 14, 2003
Currently reading - will probably bookring when finished.

From the back cover:
"Witty, sensuous and profound, Nabokov's story of a middle-aged college professor's passion for a honey-skinned, pubescent girl is one of the most evocative depictions of unrequited love in the language."


Journal Entry 2 by Deerskin from Aberystwyth, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 16, 2003
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."

Just finished this book - it is so beautifully written that it manages to evoke sympathy for the narrator and his doomed love for Lolita. The character of Humbert Humbert becomes very 'real', and often seems so very reasonable that it is difficult to know where to draw the line between understanding and disgust.
Not a read that everyone would enjoy but I loved it!

I won't be releasing this one but have started a bookring. Members are listed below.

Elina (Finland)
Theresa-A (UK)
weeblet (USA)
nillabreen (USA)
PrairieFirefly (Canada)
thejuiceisloose (Australia)
Wandeca (Canada)
twinkpuddin (USA)
kymberlie (USA) *****
raynebair (USA)
2id (USA)

...and back to me!

Journal Entry 3 by Deerskin from Aberystwyth, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, July 28, 2003
Posted today to Elina. Hope you enjoy it!

Journal Entry 4 by Elina from Espoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Saturday, August 16, 2003
Lolita was waiting for me (with three more books) when I got back from my vacation last night. Thank you Deerskin. :) I'll start reading it tonight.

Journal Entry 5 by Elina from Espoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Wednesday, September 3, 2003
I really liked this book and the beautiful way it was written. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone though.
Thank you Deerskin for sharing this book with us.
I'll mail the book to Theresa-A this week.

Journal Entry 6 by Theresa-A on Friday, October 24, 2003
'Lolita' has arrived. I should be able to start reading it in the next day or two. Thank you Deerskin and Elina.

Journal Entry 7 by Theresa-A on Saturday, November 1, 2003
I have just finished reading ‘Lolita’, and have to say that I loved the way it was written.
The book reads like someone’s memories, or autobiography, in which he knows that what he is doing is wrong; but thinks that perhaps if he explains why he does/thinks/feels as he does, then maybe people will realise that it all made perfect sense, and wasn’t so bad after all.
This is one of those books that I have heard a lot about, so I was a bit apprehensive and unsure of what to expect. None of what I had heard was actually true, however; and I am glad I’ve had the chance to read this for myself. Thank you Deerskin.

Journal Entry 8 by Theresa-A on Friday, November 14, 2003
'Lolita' is on the way to weeblet - hope you like it!!

Journal Entry 9 by weeblet from Jacksonville, Florida USA on Monday, January 26, 2004
got it- thanks!
i shall have her moving again ASAP :)

Journal Entry 10 by weeblet from Jacksonville, Florida USA on Tuesday, February 3, 2004
i'm about half way through, and i am enjoying it so much more than i thought i would! for some reason, i thought it would be more pendulous language, and devoid of humor, but it is neither. i'm feeling oddly conflicted, however...
more later....

Journal Entry 11 by weeblet from Jacksonville, Florida USA on Friday, February 6, 2004
still conflicted, but isn't that what art is about? to make you think... challenge what you think you know?
i loved this book. thanks for sharing, Deerskin.
mailing today to nillabreen, as md100 had already read it.

Journal Entry 12 by nillabreen from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, February 19, 2004
I have received the book. I started it this morning and already, wow, this is good. Picnic, lightning. More later.

Journal Entry 13 by nillabreen from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts USA on Saturday, March 6, 2004
Last night I finished reading Lolita, and I have been puzzling over it. What I wonder is: why is this book so great? I'm trying to think of any insights into human nature and the human condition that my have been elucidated, but I'm coming up short. Lo's ultimate fate gives us a little glimpse of what her life must have been like, though we never get her point of view. I never thought Humbert Humbert was in any way a sympathetic character. He was relentlessly narcissistic from start to finish. It feels like I just spent a lot of time with someone I don't like at all.

For HH, part of the allure of young girls was their unattainability. When he actually attained one he was unsure of himself and the outcome was unpredictable. He had never loved before Lo, only desired. In order to love, you have to be aware of other people as people, not just as objects of desire or annoyances that stand in the way of your access to those objects. For all HH's rapture, he had no idea of love.

But in the end HH learned to loved Lo a little, and so realized a small portion of the horror of what he had done. Before he loved, he was unable to kill, and after, he didn't hesitate. And poor Lo, she will be isolated and lonely for year upon year upon year. What am I supposed to learn here? Deviant desire, crushed spirit, broken heart, lifeless body.

And it's so over-written! I've heard people say they didn't like Lolita because it's just Nabokov showing off how well he knows English, but I think we shouldn't confuse Nabokov and HH. The complicated stylings were, I thought, part of HH's character ("It is not the artistic aptitudes that are secondary sexual characters as some shams and shamans have said; it is rather the other way around: sex is but the ancilla of art." p.257), though I've read nothing else by Nabokov with which to compare the style in Lolita. I don't know.... it just seems like for all the complicated syntax, diverse vocabulary, and obscure references, there ought to be a little more payoff. In the afterward Nabokov scorns didactic fiction, but isn't all fiction didactic to some degree? I'm still no further toward answering the question - so what was that about? Why did it hold my interest all the way through to the end? Why did I read this book? Why do I read?

Will mail to PrairieFirefly on Monday.

Journal Entry 14 by PrairieFirefly from Ottawa, Ontario Canada on Saturday, March 20, 2004
this arrived in the post today and I am really looking forward to reading it - I have a couple of books to get through first, but will endeavor to get to it soon...

Journal Entry 15 by PrairieFirefly from Ottawa, Ontario Canada on Friday, April 23, 2004
Lolita...well, it was not what I expected, but I am not disapointed. I thought it was amazingly well written, I truly enjoyed Nabokov's use of language. That being said, I hated HH, found him completely narcissistic, and agree with the last journaler, that I did not find him sympathetic. I hated what he did to Lolita, and felt that anger close to me throughout the book. Now, let it be said that the impact of sexual abuse and assault is something that I am confronted with regularly, as I volunteer at a sexual assault centre, so for me, even though the book really did not, beyond a glimpse, explore implications for Lo, I was unable to read it without feeling enraged.
Irrespective, I have been curious about this book for a long time and am happy that I have read it. Thanks for sharing!

Sorry about the delay on sending this on its way - there was a problem with my PMs and I was not getting responses - all is well, and I will send this on its way tommorow!

Journal Entry 16 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Friday, May 28, 2004
Received, but previously read during the course of the bookring.

Found it to be a little bit of a dry read, but exceptional use of language! Not nearly as erotic as I thought it would be, but I suppose my love of Mills & Boon has severely numbed my mind. Definitely a must for the bookshelf -- if only just to seem like a lit-head. ;)

Journal Entry 17 by Wandeca from Kitchener, Ontario Canada on Friday, July 9, 2004
The book arrived in Canada safe and sound thanks for mailing it thejuiceisloose. Thanks for sharing, Deerskin. I'm planning on reading the book in the next couple of weeks.

Journal Entry 18 by Wandeca from Kitchener, Ontario Canada on Saturday, July 17, 2004
I just can't get into this book. I'm sure it's not the story itself, it's just me. But I have watched both movie interpretations of the book and I was looking forward to reading the book, but it's just not doing it for me. So instead of hogging the book, I'm passing it along to the next person in the bookring.

Journal Entry 19 by twinkpuddin from Seattle, Washington USA on Saturday, August 7, 2004
Just got in the mail today - thanks Wandeca! Will get started and journal again when finished.

Journal Entry 20 by twinkpuddin from Seattle, Washington USA on Monday, August 23, 2004
Finished this past weekend. I enjoyed the book - enough humor to balance my moments of disgust. I would agree that HH is not a sympathetic character, but found a few times seeming to understand where he was coming from. And, although there were many moments of disgust, it was never to the point of actually becoming angry with his character.

Just waiting for kymberlie's address and will get the book out. Thanks for sharing Deerskin!

Journal Entry 21 by twinkpuddin from Seattle, Washington USA on Monday, August 30, 2004
Dropped off at the post office this morning - on its way to Kymberlie!

Journal Entry 22 by kymberlie from Spring, Texas USA on Thursday, September 9, 2004
I received this recently but forgot to journal it. Oops! Going on my to be read pile.

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