Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Trigger warning. Also, spoilers.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

September 16, 2023 by ingres77 24 Comments

I don’t consider myself particularly well-read. I’ve never read Faulkner. Only read The Great Gatsby last year (or the year before, I don’t remember). I’ve read Hemingway once, and didn’t particularly like The Old Man and the Sea. I’ve never read Austen, or Waugh, or Virginia Woolf, or Pynchon, or countless other important literary figures. But I’ve long flirted with the idea of being comfortable with books enjoyed by well-educated people with posh British accents who casually insert French into everyday conversation. (For the record, […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction Tagged With: Literature, Lolita, Trigger Warning, Vladimir Nabokov

ingres77's CBR15 Review No:19 · Genres: Featured, Fiction · Tags: Literature, Lolita, Trigger Warning, Vladimir Nabokov ·
Rating:
· 24 Comments

How many ways are there to be tacky?

The Tacky South by Katherine A. Burnett, Monica C. Miller

January 16, 2023 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

Popular scholarship seems to be kind of a newer genre; by this I mean essays by trained scholars that are scaled back a bit in terms of scope and depth, and done in styles that people without academic inclinations might find readable. Often, these kinds of works also tend to be on subject of interest to the general public that have something to do with popular culture. The Tacky South is one such collection. The authors of the various essays use sometimes rather different definitions […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Dolly Parton, gender, Katherine A. Burnett, Katherine A. Burnett, Monica C. Miller, Lolita, Mark Twain, Monica C. Miller, popular sholarship, Race, red velvet cake, The Tacky South

CoffeeShopReader's CBR15 Review No:5 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: Dolly Parton, gender, Katherine A. Burnett, Katherine A. Burnett, Monica C. Miller, Lolita, Mark Twain, Monica C. Miller, popular sholarship, Race, red velvet cake, The Tacky South ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Bringing Life to the Story

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman

March 27, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

I’m not usually one to knock people’s tastes in problematic art. Chinatown is my all-time favorite movie and I’d be hard pressed to never watch it again. So it’s tough for me to judge. Which doesn’t mean that automatically immunizes me from criticism. I may be a “You do you” person but I also believe we should be critiquing our tastes at all time and remember that many of them come at a cost. I read Lolita when I was an 18-year old college freshman. I’d like to say […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #biography, Lolita, Sally Horner, Sarah Weinman, The Real Lolita, true crime, Vladimir Nabokov

Jake's CBR14 Review No:40 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Non-Fiction · Tags: #biography, Lolita, Sally Horner, Sarah Weinman, The Real Lolita, true crime, Vladimir Nabokov ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Controversial but compelling

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

July 17, 2020 by Wanderlustful 1 Comment

My Dark Vanessa is a complicated and controversial book- it is akin to a modern retelling of Lolita from Lolita’s perspective.  Oprah picked it for her book club (cbr12bingo!) and then dropped it when controversy arose- after American Dirt she maybe wasn’t keen for another controversial book so soon (FYI: the controversy was due to allegations that Russell had stolen the real life story of a Latina woman- since disproved via Russell disclosing her own childhood abuse). The story is a first person narrative that […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: book club, cbr12bingo, Kate Elizabeth Russell, Lolita, My Dark Vanessa

Wanderlustful's CBR12 Review No:37 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: book club, cbr12bingo, Kate Elizabeth Russell, Lolita, My Dark Vanessa ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

terrific writing about terrible things

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

May 31, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Trigger Warning: please read the tags before deciding to read this review and/or book. If you feel that you can read this book, then you must. If you feel that you cannot, I will pass no judgement. Perhaps you have heard of the drama surrounding this release. American Dirt was climbing the charts and dominating the controversy  conversation when My Dark Vanessa tip-toed in and threw a hat into the ring. There was an implication of plagiarism from a woman who wrote a memoir about being groomed and […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #metoo, abuse, boarding school, child abuse, debut novel, grooming, guilt, imbalance of power, Kate Elizabeth Russell, Lolita, nabokov, Pale Fire, poetry, Power, responsibility, scandal, Sexual Assault, trauma

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:54 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #metoo, abuse, boarding school, child abuse, debut novel, grooming, guilt, imbalance of power, Kate Elizabeth Russell, Lolita, nabokov, Pale Fire, poetry, Power, responsibility, scandal, Sexual Assault, trauma ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

It’s gross you guys.

January 20, 2018 by tillie 12 Comments

Lolita is a narrative that permeates pop culture, in advertisements, references and romanticizing of things that are not okay. This narrative probably originates from the 1997 film adaptation starring Jeremy Irons:   When I was a teenager this novel was a way to live out my own sexuality and confused feelings about adults around me. These adults were mostly male teachers making Humbert Humbert the perfect stand-in. However engaging with this story as an adult is a bit different. It’s gross you guys. Lolita is […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #CBR10, classics, drama, Lolita, Mathildehoeg, Vladimir Nabokov

tillie's CBR10 Review No:3 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #CBR10, classics, drama, Lolita, Mathildehoeg, Vladimir Nabokov ·
Rating:
· 12 Comments
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