Like many great writers, the fact that English was his second language made him appreciate the twists and turns of the language even more.
Russian by birth, he wrote most of his famous works in English. Lolita is the best known because of the controversy concerning pedophilia and because of the two movie versions, both pretty good.
When asked for their favorite modern novels, many in academia will reply, Pale Fire. It is a great book about academia and insanity.
However, my favorite has always been Ada. Just as a brief hint as to how he used the language, the boy in Ada is in love with two sisters. He sees them by the swimming pool one day with their sunglasses lying on a table. He says, "There lay the sunglasses of the much-sung lasses." (At least, that's my memory of the line.)
Nabokov was very much into "memory;" his goal was to remember every moment of his life. (He would have loved this web site!) His autobiography is titled, Speak, Memory. He was into butterflies as a hobby.