I've always had a strange fascination with Lohan. She's just a year older than me so I paid a lot of attention to her when her star was growing - lamenting that I wasn't a pretty, teenaged movie star instead of being the class weirdo in rainy Ireland.

It's insane how much her life has changed over the years. She now looks as if she could be my mother (there's a reason young people don't need fillers!). She has legal troubles spewing out the wazoo. She's a professional pariah. Her family are idiots, plain and simple. Her father and her seem to be competing for the most mugshots. Her mother is an horrific enabler and her little sister seems to be getting sucked into the same vicious cycle that Lindsay started out in. She has financial issues that won't start getting better until she does.... And she's only 25.

Now I wouldn't want to trade my life with her at all. I'm a sensible, law-abiding citizen. I look my age, if not younger. I'm still in college preparing for a career in a tough industry, which coincidentally is the movie business - but I have been in college for the past six and a half years preparing myself for it. I have an incredibly supportive, stable family and friends who only ever support and look out for me (as I do for them too). I'm poor (as many students are) but I appreciate money and use it wisely when I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to do so.

I may be poor and I may be in my forties by the time that I become "successful" (not in a Hollywood sense but just financially stable) but I still wouldn't trade my life for hers. I can see a future for myself, I'm not so sure that I can say the same for her.

It's the only book I've read of his actually! I keep meaning to look for more of his books but kept forgetting. Thank you for reminding me.

I envied his use of English and now hearing that it's his fourth language.... Well. Colour me impressed. I definitely want to read more from him though, his phrasing makes me travel to another plane.

I don't really understand what you're trying to say to be perfectly honest. Though I will admit that I think it's one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read, especially considering that English wasn't Nabokov's first language.

The language of the book is sumptuous and it's an incredibly clever book. The sexual abuse is disturbing particularly in the way that Nabokov describes it but it's not like it was an auto-biography. If we ignore "touchy" subjects in the arts, then everything will degenerate into vacuous rom-coms and Disney movies (and I say this as a Disney fan, rom-coms can rot in hell though).

Art is often a reflection of the society in which it is created and perhaps it was simply a subject that interests him. Maybe he was trying to decipher what goes through a paedophile's mind in order to justify their actions.

To sum up - it's a great book. Disturbing yes but there's no denying the quality of language used. It's a book I enjoy reading simply because of how it's written.

You have a good point. I've never considered myself a horror fan but I love Japanese horror, especially anything from Miike. Shock for shock's sake entertains me rather than scares me. I saw A Serbian Film recently and thought it was the most hilarious film I'd seen in a while so maybe it's just my sense of humour. Something more realistic like Irreversible haunts my dreams though. Seriously - I was traumatised for almost a week afterwards.

I'm considering a Lynch movie tonight. I have Eraserhead and Lost Highway so I'm debating between those two. I haven't seen either before so I'm sure either will be a treat. My harddrive is pretty full at the moment so can't afford to download all of the movies that have been recommended to me so far.

I just watched the trailer. I never thought I'd be creeped out by an Audrey Hepburn movie but here I am - creeped out.

I love Japanese shock films so that's why I'm considering them. No one does shock and gore like the Japanese.

Just watched the trailer for Wait Until Dark and that's definitely a contender now. I found two trailers for two movies called The Uninvited. The first is an American remake of a modern Korean movie which I've already seen (and was great, the US one looks... not so much). The second version is the 1944 movie which is the one I think you're talking about - that looks fantastic and genuinely creepy. Think I'll have to make this week a Hallowe'een week and watch all of the movies I'm recommended.

Oh good god, that looks creepy! 'Cos I'm something of a scaredy-cat though, I may have to watch that one while the sun is still up. And the curtains open. And with someone else in the room with me.

I was raised Catholic (I'm Irish so of course I'm Catholic) and went to Mass every week until I was 17 when my family finally accepted that religion wasn't for me. I still don't find it scary. It's an amazing movie - don't get me wrong - but considering I am much more an atheist than a Christian, maybe it just doesn't have the same resonance as it would for someone with even a faint religious belief.

Because it's too late to edit my original message, I'll just say that I've been contemplating Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer too.

That looks pretty good! Definitely a movie for a dark night and lightning.