@@saintdonoghue I bet he will, haha. As for Barth, I just finished the Floating Opera, which I really enjoyed. Probably going to try and read his first four or five books in order, including the story collection. Are you a fan?
Your stories sound good and well worth pursuing, reading Nabokov's Pnin currently. A dear friend of mine introduced me to Lolita. Haven't tackled Pale Fire or Invitation To a Beheading as yet.
I love your struggle with forming a final opinion on Lolita. I don’t think it’s a failure to be bothered by a book, to dislike it, or to have conflicting thoughts about it. I felt the same way about all the Murakami books I read-disliked them, yet I still kept reading more of his work. I tend to stop books that don’t interest me, so I guess books that anger me are still interesting in some way. I really enjoy your videos!
Great point, if you have a strong emotional reaction to a book I suppose that says it struck a chord. I would definitely rather dislike something than be bored by it.
Congrats on finishing the semester! You really were thrown into the deep end with having to read all those Nabokov books one after the other. Honestly, I think I'd be done with him for a while, too, after that haha. Thanks for the Pale Fire review, though! I'm glad we ended on a positive one. You had me laughing at Kinbote's line-by-line interpretation of Shade's poem. I'm definitely keen to read it now - it's been on my list for a while. I still can't comprehend how Nabokov thinks and comes up with all these things. That's quite a mind! Would love to hear your short story if you ever feel like sharing it. I liked your final thoughts on Lolita. I agree, the popularity seems to have skewed the interpretations of it, which is unfortunate. I'm definitely not in favour of it being a romanticised love story. But yeah, having to sit with being uncomfortable is an interesting experience, even if it's unpleasant. Can't wait for the winter break videos! I hope you get time to rest, too, and have a wonderful festive season. I'm so happy to have discovered your channel this year, so thanks for all the effort you've put into it and for sharing your thoughts. :)
I was so happy to like the last book. Definitely crazy to think about how someone could write it, but he seems like he was born to. Nabokov at his best, in my opinion. And thanks so much, I'm glad you've enjoyed the channel, it's always great to see your thoughts on each video. Happy holidays!
wonderful installment as usual Alex!!! i have had 3 nabokov books (pale fire, pnin and lolita) on my storygraph TBR since lockdown but i'm starting to think i might never get to it tbh (the tbr is 276 books long 😬). Anyways, your last video on lolita has motivated?? me to add it to my priority list for 2025. I look forward to rewatching that video afterwards lol.
I read pale fire last year and also rlly liked it. The themes of parasocial relationship and celebrity obsession felt so relevant to current day media it was kinda uncanny. By the end I felt like I was falling down a rabbit hole of questioning where Kinbote's delusions ended and where the "reality" within the story began, which I guess is sort of the point!
AHH that's such a great point, I can't believe I didn't talk about it. It really does take on a whole new meaning within the context of today's world. So true about the ending--as much as I hated him towards the beginning, it began to strike me different towards the end in terms of both how comical everything was and also what might actually be real or significant.
Eloquently spoken as always, nice sweater too! Well done Alex 👏
Thank you!!
I bet the 2050 Alex will smile at that line “final take on Lolita”!
… bit I’m naturally much, much more curious what you’re thinking of John Barth …
@@saintdonoghue I bet he will, haha. As for Barth, I just finished the Floating Opera, which I really enjoyed. Probably going to try and read his first four or five books in order, including the story collection. Are you a fan?
Your stories sound good and well worth pursuing, reading Nabokov's Pnin currently. A dear friend of mine introduced me to Lolita. Haven't tackled Pale Fire or Invitation To a Beheading as yet.
I love your struggle with forming a final opinion on Lolita. I don’t think it’s a failure to be bothered by a book, to dislike it, or to have conflicting thoughts about it. I felt the same way about all the Murakami books I read-disliked them, yet I still kept reading more of his work. I tend to stop books that don’t interest me, so I guess books that anger me are still interesting in some way. I really enjoy your videos!
Great point, if you have a strong emotional reaction to a book I suppose that says it struck a chord. I would definitely rather dislike something than be bored by it.
Congrats on finishing the semester! You really were thrown into the deep end with having to read all those Nabokov books one after the other. Honestly, I think I'd be done with him for a while, too, after that haha.
Thanks for the Pale Fire review, though! I'm glad we ended on a positive one. You had me laughing at Kinbote's line-by-line interpretation of Shade's poem. I'm definitely keen to read it now - it's been on my list for a while. I still can't comprehend how Nabokov thinks and comes up with all these things. That's quite a mind! Would love to hear your short story if you ever feel like sharing it.
I liked your final thoughts on Lolita. I agree, the popularity seems to have skewed the interpretations of it, which is unfortunate. I'm definitely not in favour of it being a romanticised love story. But yeah, having to sit with being uncomfortable is an interesting experience, even if it's unpleasant.
Can't wait for the winter break videos! I hope you get time to rest, too, and have a wonderful festive season. I'm so happy to have discovered your channel this year, so thanks for all the effort you've put into it and for sharing your thoughts. :)
I was so happy to like the last book. Definitely crazy to think about how someone could write it, but he seems like he was born to. Nabokov at his best, in my opinion.
And thanks so much, I'm glad you've enjoyed the channel, it's always great to see your thoughts on each video. Happy holidays!
I am reading Pale Fire now, and it is one of the books that I really want to read slow.
wonderful installment as usual Alex!!! i have had 3 nabokov books (pale fire, pnin and lolita) on my storygraph TBR since lockdown but i'm starting to think i might never get to it tbh (the tbr is 276 books long 😬). Anyways, your last video on lolita has motivated?? me to add it to my priority list for 2025. I look forward to rewatching that video afterwards lol.
That's a crazy long list, but awesome, of course, to have that many books ahead of you. Let me know what you think if you get to it!
@agwriting I will 🌸
I read pale fire last year and also rlly liked it. The themes of parasocial relationship and celebrity obsession felt so relevant to current day media it was kinda uncanny.
By the end I felt like I was falling down a rabbit hole of questioning where Kinbote's delusions ended and where the "reality" within the story began, which I guess is sort of the point!
AHH that's such a great point, I can't believe I didn't talk about it. It really does take on a whole new meaning within the context of today's world. So true about the ending--as much as I hated him towards the beginning, it began to strike me different towards the end in terms of both how comical everything was and also what might actually be real or significant.
agree w ur opinion on lolita. great to see a new update. excited for next week's video