Just started reading MZD's House of Leaves and...

[Josh]

I'm having a couple issues, I just finished reading 14 as part of the group read and enjoyed it. So with that book being finished and me liking the idea of the spooky house of House of Leaves I decided to give it a go.

How important are the footnotes to the progression of the story? Must I read them all and consider them to really get the book?

Also how do I read the book, I noticed the very first footnote in the main body of the book referred me to a later chapter, is this a simple mental note or is it prompting me to read this immediately?

Also why is the word hose printed in blue in my edition (the full colour edition)?

If there are any other comments that anyone thinks that would be of use to me having just started this book, please do not hesitate to put them forward (assuming no spoilers of course).

Thanks for the help in advance.

[Nurse]

Google about the footnotes as they do help understanding further into the story I had so many stick notes in my copy it wasn't funny... Such a fantastic book

[Kelsey]

Nurse wrote: "Google about the footnotes as they do help understanding further into the story I had so many stick notes in my copy it wasn't funny... Such a fantastic book"

Now I wish I would have paid more attention to them. I didn't google anything and ended up getting bored with the book.

May have to give it another chance.

[Josh]

Yeah I really get what you mean with the notes Nurse, I'm just 2 chapters into the book and feel like taking my own notes would certainly help. Might sound silly asking, but do all the references refer to real sources, or are they fictional, or a combination of the two?

And I'm with with you Kelsey, I feel already I've missed certain things having not paid enough attention.

Thanks for the responses, really looking to get into this book!

[Jay]

Both fictional and real.

[Josh]

Thanks for the clarification James.

[Nurse]

Yes both fictional and real, def quite in depth and scientific for the facts that are real, def take your time and look up the footnotes as it will make so much more sense to the actual book, also making it so much more creepy too :) Did you find anything helpful on google yet??

[Josh]

Yeah found some helpful things in google however I do not know if it has added to the story itself. As an example I read through footnote 27 and then googled the referenced source for a more in depth look at it and didn't find it to be telling me much, not sure if thats just the way im seeing things, the fact that it may not be saying much, or if I'm not far enough in the story to see it.

Are there any particularly good websites I could use for more information without spoiling the story?

[Nurse]

I will try find the website I used to get through the footnotes and get back to you with it asap

[Nurse]

http://forums.markzdanielewski.com/fo... this forum helps heaps with reading that novel

[Josh]

Thanks for that, will definitely have a look into that.

[Kristina]

this is also a buddy read right now, so you can go through that thread as you read the book to see what the rest of us that participated in it thought.

[Josh]

Thanks for the heads up, something I'm quite paranoid about spoilers in anything I ever read, so is there some type of warning or are they generally not present in these threads?

[Kristina]

all spoilers look like this: (view spoiler)[ this is a spoiler (hide spoiler)]