Lolita!

Because I waxed lyrical about it in a thread in the main forum and now I need to wax lyrical some more.

There are a few books that I enjoy reading simply because they are so stunningly beautiful. One is Phantom of the Opera, one of my personal favourites. But the best and most beautiful written in English (Phantom was French, of course) is Lolita by Nabokov.

Nabokov is verbose. I think he intentionally uses longer and longer French sentences as he goes along just to cause me difficulty. But it is the most beautiful prose I have thus far come across. Every sentence is a lilting masterpiece. Every sneaky Poe reference a joy. (Humbert particularly enjoys 'Annabel Lee', one of my personal favourites.) One can't help but feel sorry for Humbert, despite his crimes. His joy when he is happy is tangible, delicious, nonetheless bittersweet. His agony as his world crumbles and his poignant self-hatred touch the soul.

I. LOVE. This. Book.