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#VladimirNabokov
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shawnmooney
Strong Opinions | Vladimir Nabokov
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blurb
Graywacke
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#12Booksof2021
#December

I spent two years on a Nabokov theme, reading all of his novels, with 2021 reading his English language novels. This biography, which is really special, was so meaningful to me in that context. It was possibly my favorite book of my Nabokov theme. It‘s a great book to complete this #12Booksof2021 list.

Andrew65 Looks good. 3y
Graywacke @Andrew65 thanks so much for running this, and, impressively and kindly, staying on top of everyone‘s posts! 3y
Andrew65 @Graywacke Try my best. 😊 It has been good to review reading from last year and picking new books from others posts to read next year. 3y
50 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
Graywacke
Strong Opinions | Vladimir Nabokov
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Panpan

I got a 100 pages in. This is a series of interviews. In a nutshell, interviewer is trying to understand VN and sometimes asking really considerate thoughtful questions, and VN then proceeds to not answer - dodging, being clever, changing the topic. It‘s really irritating. I can‘t…

SRWCF Oh, buy you CAN! 😄😄😄 3y
Graywacke @SRWCF no ☹️… 😁☺️ 3y
SRWCF @Graywacke 🤣🤣🤣 3y
batsy 😂😂 3y
Graywacke @batsy ☺️ 3y
40 likes5 comments
review
Graywacke
Look at the Harlequins! | Vladimir Nabokov
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Mehso-so

This was a tough read. It seemed clear until I realized I was getting lost. And most of it is a narrator talking crazy, which gets tiresome. There is complexity and it calms down in the last 100 pages. But, i was happy to be done.

This was his 17th and last novel and I have now read them all, plus a novella, a kind of autobiography, a small biography and a longer one of his wife - maybe my favorite of all this. Anyway, closing this chapter.

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Graywacke
Look at the Harlequins! | Vladimir Nabokov
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Struggling with this book, but it‘s nice to have the day off and be lazy with a sleepy kitty.

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Graywacke
Look at the Harlequins! | Vladimir Nabokov
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“I met the first of my three or four successive wives in somewhat odd circumstances, the development of which resembled a clumsy conspiracy, with nonsensical details and a main plotter who knew nothing of its real object but insisted on making inept moves that seemed to preclude the slightest possibility of success.”

Something to chew a few times before the implications of that sentence all come out.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

DivineDiana 😳 3y
Leftcoastzen 😂that darned Nabokov! 3y
bnp Definitely hooks me! 3y
36 likes3 comments
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Graywacke
Look at the Harlequins! | Vladimir Nabokov
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I‘m not enjoying Nabokov‘s book of interviews, Strong Opinions. So I picked this up, his last novel. I really enjoyed the first 20 pages.

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Graywacke
Strong Opinions | Vladimir Nabokov
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(In the car waiting waiting for the end of Hebrew school.)

My next book, a collection of interviews of a known-to-be-unreliable author, selected by the same author. Well, will see what‘s here. I‘m attempting to cram a few last Nabokovs into December. In January I‘ll move to a new theme (Boccaccio and Robert Musil are my planned 2022 themes)

vlwelser Have you been reading Nabokov all year? I don't know if I could take that much Nabokov. 3y
Graywacke @vlwelser two years! 2020 was on his 12 Russian novels (in translation) And this year his English novels. Well, I read other stuff too. (edited) 3y
36 likes2 comments
review
Graywacke
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Pickpick

Schiff is at her best writing slow and immersive, and with a subject complicated and fascinating enough to adapt to that. She pulled it off with Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and she does it here with the strikingly intelligent, proudly Jewish, fiercely humble partner of Vladimir Nabokov. She was his muse, caretaker, typist and his first and best reader. A really beautiful book.

vivastory When I saw Schiff in '16 she was speaking mostly about her book on the Salem witch trials, but she also spoke about her other works, including this one. It sounded fascinating! 3y
Graywacke @vivastory cool that you got to see her speak and glad she was still talking about this one ~17 years after she originally published it (1999) 3y
batsy Lovely review. This sounds like it would be fascinating just to learn about their relationship, even I've only read just the one Nabokov. 3y
Graywacke @batsy thanks. I think it‘s a biography that works even if you haven‘t read anything by him. (Of course it might nudge you to read something…like Pnin…everyone should read Pnin 🙂) 3y
38 likes1 stack add4 comments
quote
Graywacke
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“he believed God looks after entomologists as he does drunkards.”

Flaneurette love this quote! stacked

3y
Graywacke @Flaneurette the whole paragraph is entertaining, but that one line really charmed me. This book is terrific. So you know, it‘s slow, but a really nice kind of slow. A lets-spend-some-time-with-these-people slow. 3y
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