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Just finished this. Pnin (pronounced P-Neen) is somehow delightfully sad and a joy to spend time with. He experiences things so warmly, and deeply and yet he‘s all alone with no one to share it with. This is exaggerated as he an awkward Russian scholar in the US without a family and with only comically passable English. I adored him and this book but have no idea what to make of it. Have to look for some help.

Back on the Nabokov track. Started this morning.

For the most part this book is mildly comedic, with stints into tragicomedy, but then it just up and hits the reader with this.

I read this for book club (our meeting took place on Zoom this time), and although Pnin's extreme awkwardness made this a bit of a painful read at first, it was ultimately a charming and touching story. Pnin, a Russian immigrant teaching at a fictional college in the US, brings a quirky disarray to every encounter, but he has a good heart and he deserves a happy ending. I had previously avoided Nabokov (Lolita seems creepy) but this was great.

I forget how funny Nabokov is!

Poor Pnin landed in the middle of a strange town

Well, I went in to pick up one hold and it turns out i had a few more than that. 🤷🏼‍♀️

More breakfast at RoscoeBooks.

Me irl

I really appreciated Nabokov's clever observations and use of language in this novel about a somewhat hapless Russian, Timofey Pnin, who teaches at an American University. Nabokov also throws in some satire on academia. Leaves me wanting to read more Nabokov (I read Lolita many years ago). Letter N for #LitsyAtoZ.

Currently reading. So far I really like it! This is my Letter N for #LitsyAtoZ. I won't be participating in the #24in48 readathon this weekend. As much fun as it is, this weekend is the first full weekend my hubby is home after being away a month for work. AND we're completely kid-free! Youngest is at Boy Scouts Jamboree. I think the two of us may do dinner and movie this weekend 😊.

Pnin is Russian immigrant in the US who teaches Russian a Waindell University. The book starts as a satire, with Pnin being some kind of caricature; his English is bad, his classes are empty, he missed his train etc. I felt he was being made fun of.

And then suddenly there is this moment it is no longer funny. The moment when I started to feel deeply sorry for the lonely man, building his life as best as he can far away from home.
#1001books

Hello my Litsy Friends! How're all of you? This past week was a good and busy one, with my parents visiting us, along with their Scottie dog, Sadie. They left yesterday and my hubby left today for a month-long stay in Brazil for work 😭😭😭. Feels very quiet around here now. Didn't do much reading. This book arrived yesterday from Book Depository for my #LitsyAtoZ Letter N. Also, just a few more days until we open our Summer Santa packages 😊.

Not my favorite Nabokov book, but it's the one that really launched him to literary fame. It's an intriguing look at an exiled Russian teacher living in 50s era America.

"'Reality is Duration,' one voice, Bolotov's, would boom. 'It is not!' the other would cry. 'A soap bubble is as real as a fossil tooth!'"

Another lovely textured quilt of pure pathos and nostalgia from Nabokov. This wouldn't be the ONE novel I would recommend for anyone to read by him, nor their first, but it would make the list. For me, this book brings thoughts of washing dishes in a dark kitchen with the saddest sink light on.

"He never attempted to sleep on his left side, even in those dismal hours of the night when the insomniac longs for a third side after trying the two he has." Thought this was pretty clever without being too conspicuous. (IG: dedalus_photo)