CH2 - House Of Leaves - Schedule/Questions/Resources

[Jim]

Discussion Schedule


Week of:

September 24, 2012 – Intro. & Chapter I - VII, pp. 3 - 96

October 1, 2012 – Chapter VIII - X, pp. 97 - 245

October 8, 2012 – Chapter XI - XIII, pp. 246 - 346

October 15, 2012 – Chapter XIV - XXIII, pp. 347 – 528

October 22, 2012 – Conclusions/Book as a whole

(Page numbers refer to the Pantheon Books Remastered Full-Color 2nd Edition, 2000)

IMPORTANT: These discussion threads will remain open indefinitely. If you find yourself behind in the reading or if you have joined the group after the dates listed above, go ahead and read at your own pace and discuss when you want. The moderator and other members will gladly join in!

Questions, Resources, and General Banter

Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of...

Feel free to post questions and links to resources in this thread.

Also, if you’ve written a review of the book, please post a link to share with the group.

[P.]

Boy are you all in for a real headache. *grinz*

[Sam]

I found a forum discussing questions about House of Leaves, but also about other Danielewski books. There are threads in different languages too. I bookmarked the page over a year ago when I bought the book, but until now I haven't read it. So happy we will read it together!

[Jim]

Zee wrote: "Boy are you all in for a real headache. *grinz*"

We're all about the brain pain at Brain Pain...

Did you like the book or was it painful?

[Marc]

it wasn't painful having finished it very recently. Looking forward to discussing it with you guys

[P.]

Jim wrote: "Zee wrote: "Boy are you all in for a real headache. *grinz*"

We're all about the brain pain at Brain Pain...

Did you like the book or was it painful?"

Loved it. Read it a few years back and was blown away by just what an author could DO if he knew his genre as well as Danielewski obviously does.

With this book you'll have LOTS to talk about. I personally enjoyed the hidden codes/ riddles MD left like a papertrail for his readers. Favourite character is Zampano. A modern day Tiresias. Genius.

Does anyone have any recommendations on good material about the Yggdrasil? I'm curious and would like to learn more.

[Jenny]

Zee wrote: I personally enjoyed the hidden codes/ riddles MD left like a papertrail for his readers.

The codes and riddles are exactly why I'm thrilled to read this one with other people. I've tried to read House of Leaves a couple times, but had no one to discuss it with. I wasn't sure what it was I was supposed to be seeing, or if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing, or if I was just making stuff up in my head. Trippy.

[Marc]

a bit like the house itself, which I think was partly the point?

[Ellen]

I'm glad I read this book a few years ago without knowing it's "difficult"-I had a great time. I also found it quite genuinely terrifying. I have to go back & reread, especially to look at the riddles again.

[Shovelmonkey1]

I loved this book. Happy reading to you all and when you're done you might want to have a go on The Raw Shark Texts

[Marc]

Shovelmonkey1 wrote: "I loved this book. Happy reading to you all and when you're done you might want to have a go on The Raw Shark Texts"

Good suggestion, though the second half flags a bit I feel

[Jim]

Reading tip: It took me about four hours to get through chapter 9, which is all about labyrinths. Set aside a big block of time for reading this chapter!

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I got the book, but its sitting on my table, unopened.

[Jim]

aPriL MEOWS often with scratching wrote: "I got the book, but its sitting on my table, unopened."

I'm finding this to be one of my favorite reads of the year. Many people talk about this as a horror story because of what happens in the house, but to me, that aspect is far from central to the themes of this book. Instead, I'm finding a tongue-in-cheek poke at academia, documentaries, the media, the internet, "experts", and so on, all wrapped up in a package that reminds me of the scope and range of Joyce's Ulysses. I've been laughing out loud while reading in a way that usually happens when I watch South Park.

April, I know that in general, you're critical of philosophers and brainiacs, based on your Hopscotch comments. I may be wrong, but I think you're going to find plenty to laugh at in this book too. It's atomic-mega-meta-fiction unlike anything I've come across before.

There are many voices, but the primary are:
Zampanò - who wrote The Navidson Record
Johnny Truant - who assembled the book for publication
The characters within The Navidson Record
The voices of the experts commenting on The Navidson Record

The footnotes are another level of narration:
Zampanò comments on the expert opinions
Johnny comments on the expert opinions, Zampanò's ideas, and tells lengthy, related and unrelated stories about his life, past and present
The publisher comments on Johnny's comments

BTW, I would recommend reading all the footnotes because they are very much a part of the narrative. There are some footnotes which are only long lists of names, which can be skipped, unless you're on Ritalin and have the time...

One important footnote comes in Chapter V, page 72, #78, where the publisher suggests reading Johnny's father's obituary and his mother's letters. The letters in particular are essential to understanding what Johnny is all about.

Anyway, what I'm realizing is that this is not a novel so much as a great intellectual treasure hunt through the minds of fictitious characters, authors, and academics. Enjoy!

[Marc]

I agree that the horror theme is really tangential to the overall thrust of the book. And while I enjoyed it, can't remember laughing out loud too often! For me the footnotes were almost the best bit.

[Jim]

Marc wrote: "I agree that the horror theme is really tangential to the overall thrust of the book. And while I enjoyed it, can't remember laughing out loud too often! For me the footnotes were almost the best bit."

A funny section is in chapter 15 when Karen Green is interviewing various celebrities about what they thought of the house and several of them hit on her - including Camille Paglia.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Ok. You all talked me into it. I've always read footnotes.

[Catherine]

The coolest thing happened yesterday as I was teaching my College Composition class at a local community college. We were talking about authors who have influenced your writing style and the students asked me what I was reading; of course I told them House of Leaves. Well, one of the students who rarely shows any signs of life called out, "That is the most awesome book ever!" So of course I had to give a short summary of the book and when I was done there was a group of students asking for the title again and the author. It was a wonderful moment in the life of that class; the most animated I seen a lot of those students. Next semester I'm teaching an intro to lit. class so I'll get to talk about even more books and poetry. But, without this group I don't think I would have been able to talk so well about such a difficult book. It's wonderful when such disparate parts of life come together. Thank you.

[Jim]

Catherine wrote: "The coolest thing happened yesterday as I was teaching my College Composition class at a local community college. We were talking about authors who have influenced your writing style and the studen..."

Awesome! You scored major points with your students. What a happy bonus!

[Sam]

Catherine wrote: "The coolest thing happened yesterday as I was teaching my College Composition class at a local community college. We were talking about authors who have influenced your writing style and the studen..."

That's great! Isn't it awesome when your students show real interest in your passions?

[Catherine]

Iselin wrote: "Catherine wrote: "The coolest thing happened yesterday as I was teaching my College Composition class at a local community college. We were talking about authors who have influenced your writing st..."

Yeah, it's wonderful when we can connect in that way. And, make bonus points!!