Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

Good language in my diet, plus other pleasures of Nabokov

Been reading my second Vladimir Nabokov: his novel King, Queen, Knave, which I'd glommed onto at some point in recent years. I'm still reading as many of my so-far-unread books as possible, to see if I'll keep them or sell/donate them. Seemed like a good time to read something richer-languaged than much of what I've read lately; I mean, Larry Niven's fun (I just read his SF detective fiction The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton), but his language isn't rich. And there's the pleasure in this book of Nabokov describing scenes in ways that never would've occurred to me to write. Helps that he was a genius. Also a funny genius. He referred to "senile mosquitoes" and I get what he meant.

It also helps that, this time, this is a Nabokov novel where the sexuality doesn't make me deeply uncomfortable. Yes, the first Nabokov I read was Lolita: great novel, classic for a reason, and I remember feeling the slime practically oozing off of Humbert Humbert. Tough read, but I'm glad I read it. And so far, 87 pages in, I'm glad I'm reading this.
Tags: books
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