Free Books

Okay. There already is some talk of what book we should read next. And whenever there is a new book, there is a new expense.

Or is there?

Here's a list of free books you can downlaod.

Anything from there we should read?

HH in Wonderland

I just got past page 120, where HH is in a hotel with Lolita. He's close to accomplishing what he's been scheming to get for the longest time. And it seems the closer he is to actually obtaining it, the further away he slips from reality.

At page 129, he writes directly to the reader saying "do not skip these essential pages! Imagine me; I shall not exist if you do not imagine me;"

Then, on page 131, he's next to Lolita who is asleep.

"A breeze from wonderland had begun to affect my thoughts."

It's a line straight out of a Toni Morrison, or Gabriel Garcia Marguez book.

Then, a little further down on page 131, HH observers how Lolita, still asleep "would stir, and I would konw she was farther away from me than ever."

Ladies and gentlemen, HH has left the building (of reality).

Quote of the Day

Is from page 117, where HH refers to Lolita as "my vulgar darling."

Discuss.

After Lolita?

A reader emailed to ask what should we read next?

Since I'm on page 99, it's only fair to ask.

I've already picked up some shorter, uncorrected proofs of various books I've never heard of before.

So, what should we read?

Berkowitz Apologizes

Yes, I'm late on this, but it's worth it.

Barak Berkowitz, the CEO and President of Six Parts, which offers the free blog platform Live Journal, explains why his company breifly suspended blogs they thought were advocating pedophilia. It turns out, some were just discussing the book Lolita.

In other words, a big woops!

But a well-intentioned one.

HH: 'Poets Don't Kill'

Few things are as fascinating as a deranged person defending their derangeness.

Here's how HH defines people like himself.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the majority of sex offenders that hanker for some throbbing, sweet-moaning, physical but not necessarily, coital, relation with a girl-child are innocuous, inadequate, passive, timid strangers who merely ask the community to allow them to pursue their practically harmless, so-called aberrant behavior, their little hot wet private acts of sexual deviation without the police and society cracking down upon them. We are not sex fiends! We do not rape as good soldiers do. We are unhappy, mild dog-eyed gentleman, sufficiently well integrated to control our urge in the presence of adults, but ready to give years and years of life for one chance to touch a nymphet. Emphatically, no killers are we. Poets never kill [pg87].

It's the "control" and willingness to give "years and years" that make him such a dangerous predator. Not to mention that he thinks what he's doing is "private" and "practically harmless."

I stick to my notion that he's a loathsome person who writes better than most people. I'm guessing so does fellow blogger-reader Angelle.

What do you think?

The Pimping of Nabokov

Who made Lolita famous?

According to a rare book dealer-turned author, it was Graham Greene.

it was Greene who brought Lolita to the notice of a reading public when he chose it as his best book of the year in 1955. Lolita had been fairly obscure till then since it had been published by Maurice Girodias in Paris, whose Obelisk Press usually published classy pornography. (emphasis added)

In case you were wondering.

The Genius of Nabokov

Tim O'Brien Angelle of Books Taste Good (devour books. poop words.) is reading Lolita, and had this to say:

Nabokov's writing is lyrical, intelligent, coherent - although obsessive, it is also collected, thus depicting Humbert Humbert as someone, although objectively lecherous, completely sympathetic. I find some of the passages simultaneously disturbing yet erotic. Does that make me a pervert, or does that make Nabokov a great writer?

Which I sorta tried saying here.

Lolita's Birthday

Is January 1, 1947 (pg81).

Read into that what you will.

Tech Note: Tomorrow is the first Saturday I'll be in town since launching this site. I'll probably head to Coffee Shop at Union Square circa 9 a.m., unless there's a groundswell of support demanding I/we go elsewhere.