>>14
Of course you're going to be disappointed by first reading works written by masters of the Russian language and following it up with Russian-language works by someone who was known far more for his works in English. You seem to be familiar enough with the English language to read a novel written with it so if you ever want to form a real opinion of Nabokov's abilities, you'll want to read Lolita and Pale Fire. Those are his most highly regarded works and their cumulative brilliance outweighs any unremarkability with which he may have scarred the face of literature.