House of Leaves.

I finished reading this earlier this week, and man, was that novel intense and amazing and beautiful and captivating. I'm actually thinking I want to read it again. Though I hear each time you read it it's like reading it for the first time all over again.
There's so much depth to the damned thing, so many little refferences to itself, so many things I don't understand yet...gah! SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK! I wish I could write like that.
Anyone know what I'm talking about?

who's the author?

Mark Z. Danielewski.
It's a bit of a pricey book (30 bucks softcover) but it's worth every penny.
I actually bought it twice because I lost my first copy.

This book was absolutely insane.

And one of the best ive read in a long time.

I'm intent on finding a hardcover version of it.

Don't know if you're a Portlander...
But apparently one of the Powell's has an autographed hardcover version for something like 150 dollars.

Hardcore, y0.

yeah it was a fun read......back n forth...up-side-down....just crazy!!

House of Leaves

[Edited on Jun 24, 2003 by zenhell]

That basically sums up what I was going to say.

I think I would have liked it better if he had stuck to the stories of Navidson and Truant. The critic stuff wasn't that great.

And I could've lived without that entire chapter explaining echoes.

Question:

My book, on the inside leaf where all the publishing information is (some of which is fiction, obviously) it suggests tehre are different printings/versions.. some with grey text, some with red, some with red and blue, etc. Does anybody know if that part is real? Are there different editions? or is that just part of the fakeness?

There are indeed other colors.

Click then scroll down for some reviews.

I found most of the analytical portions (or at least movie theory analysis) to be very interesting, though I have to admit the section on echoes is pretty stupid.

I've read every single piece of that book except for the appendix of "select quotes," which I am ignoring for now since I saw the words "The Illiad" in it and didn't want to revisit that.

I really enjoyed the book. VERY captivating. And it did give me nightmares at least once.

the chapter on Echo is one of the most
important chapters in the book

[Edited on May 16, 2003 by zenhell]

Is that because she's hot, or are you actually making a case for the echo chapter?

I loved this book when I read it. I should go back and do so again, because, yes, it IS incredibly deeeeep. My favorite part about it is the "Russian Doll" organization of it all and how you sometimes don't know which layer you are inhabiting unless the layout clues you in.

I'm just waiting to see if it gets made into a good movie. Seems to be screaming out for that...but hopefully the right cast/crew would get it, 'cause there is a high potential suckage factor involved if a movie of this book isn't made right.

what?

[Edited on Jun 24, 2003 by zenhell]

remember both Zampano
and Johnny Truant are amatuer writers

[Edited on May 17, 2003 by zenhell]

the full color edition with braille is very nice

[Edited on May 18, 2003 by zenhell]

They say "never judge a book by it's cover", but that's exactly why I bought this book when I worked at a bookstore for the first time. It took me forever to finally sit down (well, lie down) and actually start reading it, but such an intense read. Much like Stephen King's The Stand, it requires intense concentration. And for someone like me who reads like one book every couple of years, that's a major commitment.
P.S. I used to work at a video store and had a boss a couple of years younger than me who I always thought was sort of cute. When she told me that she'd read this book after I'd brought it up, I bacame full-blown sexually attracted to her. Fuck, am I drunk right now.

good story people who read this book are
attractive and like dean martin said your not
drunk if you can lie down without holding on

I loved this book so much! I've loaned it to my roommate recently to read, and I keep wanting to check in on it like a pet or something...

you mean like a pet cobra
didnt cleopatra have one of those


[Edited on May 18, 2003 by zenhell]

Yeah, I'm considering lending it out to several of my friends this summer, but I'm worried I'll never get it back.

I think that's been said before. =P