The Bookhive List: 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov

There was no way this list was going to continue with a Nabokov reference, so here it is. I read Lolita in middle school, which is not normal. I remember distinctly checking out Kafka's Metamorphosis on the same day, so I was definitely in a weird phase. Either way, I read Lolita and really fell for the prose, which sparked a long era of Nabokov obsession in my life, which is thankfully at an end. I loved it so much that I lent it to a friend who rudely never returned it, so I bought a replacement, lent that to another friend, who never returned it, and thus, Lolita is also responsible for my strict no-lending policy.

I associate this novel so strongly with summers and vacations and it really is one of the best American road trip novels out there, so now is a good time to dig in if you haven't read it yet.

he Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Better Beach Read

I have always hated the phrase "beach read," and the notion it represents, that somehow your vacation is the only appropriate time for pleasure reading or genre fiction. It seems like the kind of unrealistic trope that is exacerbated by magazines, like you should buy some sunglasses based on your "face shape" and a swim suit that emphasizes your "small bust" and get a "beach read" for your vacation. I have a tendency to bring on vacation any book on my TBR list that is compact and lightweight, i.e. paperback, and there is usually no rhyme or reason to it. That said, I can concede that people often want good books for vacation time with the implication being that they'll be sitting in a hammock, on a beach, or poolside for long stretches of time and need a book that they can really disappear into. Thus, the following, my recommendations for beach books this summer:

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