Recommendations for Nabokov readings?

[Ramsey Campbell]

Since this thread has been revived, may I add Laughter in the Dark, which has one of my favourite opening paragraphs of all time? Ada, on the other hand, I tackled several times before I got beyond the first couple of chapters. My old friend John Brunner enthused about the book so much that I determined to give it another try, and took it with me on an eight-hour transatlantic flight. I'm glad I persevered - it has much to offer.

Elsewhere I've owned up to pinching the trick from "The Vayne Sisters" for a tale of my own.

[Bleak&Icy]

Quote Originally Posted by Ramsey Campbell

Elsewhere I've owned up to pinching the trick from "The Vayne Sisters" for a tale of my own.

Only a brave author, Undeed, would pinch a trick from "The Vane Sisters"! As Nabokov himself once put it, with tongue characteristically in cheek: "This particular trick can be tried only once in a thousand years of fiction. Whether it has come off is another question." But it's the words that count. ;)

The opening paragraphs of Laughter in the Dark beg to be read aloud--which is a sign of great fiction.

[Ramsey Campbell]

Quote Originally Posted by Bleak&Icy

Only a brave author, Undeed, would pinch a trick from "The Vane Sisters"! As Nabokov himself once put it, with tongue characteristically in cheek: "This particular trick can be tried only once in a thousand years of fiction. Whether it has come off is another question."

Damn, I should have done it in a future incarnation...

[Ruina]

Nabokov is one of the few Russian writers I really like. My tastes here are quite "simple" and "mainstream" though, with Lolita and Camera Obscura being favourites. I also like Pale Fire, which I strongly recommend to everyone who likes Ligotti.

[Molly Grue]

Quote Originally Posted by Ruina

Nabokov is one of the few Russian writers I really like. My tastes here are quite "simple" and "mainstream" though, with Lolita and Camera Obscura being favourites. I also like Pale Fire, which I strongly recommend to everyone who likes Ligotti.

I read Lolita early in the pandemic, mostly because it showed up in my LFL and I live a stone's throw from Cornell (where Nabokov taught), so it seemed obligatory to give it a whirl. A couple week's back, I picked up and read Pale Fire with great enjoyment, based on James Tiptree, Jr. gushing praise about it in a letter to Joanna Russ I was reading. I am now in the middle of Pnin, which I also like so far. I've also read a handful of his short stories, most memorably Signs & Symbols.

So my question is, where next? I'm tempted to go for Speak, Memory. Are any of his other novels worth the time?

[Michael]

Penguin put together some lovely hardbacks of Nabakov a few years ago. I don't know if it was intentional or not but I thought the order was perfect. For example "Mary" was the first book in the series. I think it's a wonderful intro to Nabakov. Short book, precursor to larger themes he works on in the future and gives you a sense of what he looks like when he's warming up.