Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Ten of the best lakes in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best lakes in literature.

One title on the list:
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

Humbert Humbert has married Lolita's mother Charlotte Haze. One hot week in July, they take a dip in Hourglass Lake. Swimming out with his spouse "into the shimmer of the lake", Humbert has a thought: "The setting was really perfect for a brisk bubbling murder."
Read about the other entries on the list.

Lolita appears among Dan Vyleta's top ten books in second languages, Rowan Somerville's top ten books of good sex in fiction, Henry Sutton's top ten unreliable narrators, Adam Leith Gollner's top ten fruit scenes in literature, Laura Hird's literary top ten, Monica Ali's ten favorite books, Laura Lippman's 5 most important books, Mohsin Hamid's 10 favorite books, and Dani Shapiro's 10 favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue