Lolita(and MJ)

I'm adding this to my post today--It's not been confirmed, but I just heard in the car that Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest today-or is in a coma-I hope it's not true. JUST FOUND OUT IT IS-HE PASSED AT 3:15-I don't know much of what his personal life entailed, but he's certainly touched all of us with his music.

I'm thinking of him today.


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OK- WRITERS!(and readers, artists, peasants, whateva!)

I have a question: Has anyone read Lolita?!
AND- If you have, do you consider it a "predatory" book that condones sex offenses towards children- OR -Do you consider it an acceptable-tho controversial) love story?!

Lolita Novel Quote: Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
I consider what happens when a writer takes a subject matter that I already have pre-set ideas of and turns it on it's head to be absolute magic, and one of the biggest accomplishments in the writing universe...
I really want to know what others think about it. I recently read the book and watched both versions of the movie(gotta say that I actually liked the newer-Jeremy Irons version more than the Stanley Kubrick cult classic).
I went into the novel thinking that I would see the relationship between the older man and the young girl as wrong, but- I really thought it was perfectly done, and I find myself thinking of it as a truly legitimate love...tho yes-I still think it's technically wrong to be with a minor. Tho what Humbert(male-main character) did is for sure gonna cause emotional problems for Lolita, and it's a crime...I also do think he was genuinely in love with her. The book is now in my top ten favorites because it changed the way I looked at the world a little bit--SO- BRAVO Vladimir Nabkov!!
Clip of Kubrick's Version:

The Jeremy Irons Version:

In the movies:
Dominique Swain was 16 during filming of the 1997 version, and Sue Lyon was 14 during the filming of the 1962 version. Is that a bad thing?! Or- Have we become too obsessed and over protective in the realm of the arts?! Lolita was originally published in France since it was turned down by American publishers and has been "controversial" ever since. What do you think of this book/movie and it's subject matter?!
I'm actually writing a grad school Psych paper on this subject, and would be interested in people's reactions.

P.S.-If u haven't seen 'Penny Cribs', it's posted below :)