Nabokov - which one should I read next?!

[Basil Valentine]

So far I've read:

Pale Fire - loved it
Lolita - liked it a lot
Despair - quite liked it
Pnin - wasn't too sure about this one, though it often seems to be ranked as one of his best...

I like the look of his autobiography 'Speak, Memory' but does anyone have any strong feelings about any of his other novels?

[Geumjassi]

I think "Laughter In the Dark" really merits a read. After reading "Pale Fire" and "Lolita" it probably won't impress/pack as much of a punch for you but it's still a very interesting piece. The theme has some similarities to "Lolita" but none of the complex unreliable narrator psychodrama. In other words, the main character is sort of like H. Humbert if he were not mentally ill and possessing of a fractured identity. The main character is very straightforward and somewhat boring, his tale told in the third person. What makes the book interesting is how neatly Nabakov manages to hand the reader a little slice of the desperation and absurdity of ordinary life.

[mortalterror]

Read The Defense. After Lolita, it's my favorite of his. Then The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. The Eye was an amusing novella, but not essential reading.

[Bitterfly]

Nobody has mentioned Ada or Ardour yet? In my opinion it's Nabokov's best, a very dense and beautiful piece of writing (sorry, can't be more explicit than that, since I read it quite a long time ago).

And I really loved Laughter in the Dark: it's sad, moving, and rather cynical, if memory serves me.

[johann cruyff]

I always recommend Invitation to a Beheading. It's fantastic.

[Inderjit Sanghe]

If you want to complete his English masterpieces collection, then go for 'Ada', a brilliant novel. His best Russian novels are-"The Gift" and "Invitation to a Beheading".

[kelby_lake]

I have the same problem! I thought Lolita was brilliant and what to know what other Nabokov books I should read (a synopsis would be helpful)

[Inderjit Sanghe]

Given that Nabokov's novels rely so heavily on language, intricate plot details and 'detective story type surprise endings/clues' a synopsis for any Nabokov novel, would be kind of like desribing the earth as being round and blue.

My favourite Nabokov novel, and his best one, is 'Pale Fire'. TBH, it is best to go in with a open mind when it comes to 'Pale Fire'-any kind of snyopsis would ruin the plot, it is kind of like the 'Usual Suspects' of books. The basic premise is that a Slavic scholar is writing a commentary on another poet's final, unpublished, poems, which he wrote just before he died. It is easily one fo the greatest novels of the 20th century, IMO one of the top 3, and superior to 'Lolita'.

'Ada' is prob. his most 'complicated' work-the constant jejunish references, to other literary works, and sly digs at critics and writers, can get a bit tedious, but it is prob. his third best English language novel. A basic plot synopsis would be that it was a love story between two characters, Ada and Van Veen, but like all of Nabokov's novels, a snyopsis would not do it enough justice: it would be kind of like saying 'Madame Bovary' is just a novel about an adulterous woman.

'Invitation to a Beheading' is, along with 'Bend Sinister', Nabokov's most 'political' novel. It is an (unintentionally) Kakfaesque novel about a man who is due to be executed by the state for (in essence) being different, or three-dimensional, for being real.

'The Gift' is a novel about the 'coming-of-age' of a talented young writer, who is also writing an idiosyncratic biography about Chernyevsky, a Russian author/polemicist-it is widely regarded as Nabokov's best Russian language novel, and compliments Lolita insofar as it is a homage to the Russian language/literature, just as Lolita is a homage to the English language.

I have not yet read 'The Defense', or any of his late English novels, though he has many first rate short stories, most notably 'Solus Rex', 'Lance' and the 'Vane Sisters' .

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

I just finished Pale Fire by Nabokov and I loved it as well. 'Lolita' was an amazing read too. So now I think I'm going to start with 'Invitation to a Beheading' and then move onto 'Ada or Ardour'. Thanks fellows!

[huck]

You should read Nabokov's autobio Speak, Memory.
If you're a big fan it'll give you perspective on some of his works.
I think it was one of those Book Of The Month books during the eighties so you will most likely find this book at a used bookstore for cheap.

[Psynema]

If you want to complete his English masterpieces collection, then go for 'Ada', a brilliant novel. His best Russian novels are-"The Gift" and "Invitation to a Beheading".

Did he translate them himself to English anychance?

[March Hare]

Another plug for Ada. Perhaps better than Lolita but definitely needs an annotated version.

[kelby_lake]

Can you recommend one most like Lolita? Pale Fire is kind of hard to read.

[meh!]

What's Pale Fire like? (no spoilers please)

I just read Lolita and Pale Fire is on my reading list for next year so, yeah.

[General Urko]

What's Pale Fire like? (no spoilers please)

Pale Fire is written as if it's a nonfiction book. A famous poet has died, and his friend and neighbor has taken it upon himself to publish the last poem he wrote, "Pale Fire," along with his own commentary of it.

And to say any more would spoil the fun.

[Mariamosis]

I always recommend Invitation to a Beheading. It's fantastic.

I second this!

[billl]

Can you recommend one most like Lolita? Pale Fire is kind of hard to read.

I think Pale Fire is the best (I read maybe seven or eight of Nabokov's, but not Invitation to a Beheading...). I'm not sure why you'd be finding it hard to read, that's too bad, maybe it seems boring after Lolita (with it's summertime adventures and sickly charming narrator). It's been a long time since I read Pale Fire, but I remember getting wrapped up in it, and really wishing it were longer. If you feel a little out-to-sea to begin with, I think that's normal, btw.

Anyone thinking about reading Ada should try to read the first page or two in the bookstore, then flip to a couple of pages in the middle, and try to decide if it's really what they're looking for--it's not necessarily a good choice for every Lolita fan. Someone made an excellent suggestion that you should get an annotated version--maybe THEN I'd be able to get into it and appreciate the beauty that so many are attributing to it here in this thread...

But Ada is a big book, kind of Joycean, and a little more expensive, so I just wanted to give a heads-up.