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“Skulls in the Stars”

Solomon is still a Howard hero but his stoicism at meeting evil and actually wresting a ghost into a physical being that he can talk to is a step beyond. He makes a puritan hero pretty fun. The dude literally sets the murderer to be executed by the ghost of the man that he killed, though in such a way that he can work himself free as it is “better to face death free and unshackled”.

I just about lost it at the Dr. Nowell story

writing anything in these comments is daunting. There is so much enumerated upon. The story invites the idea that at the end of the day, it’s just creepy house, but obviously this is not the case, it’s just another reading that the author feels compelled to include in order to cover ever base.

Somewhere at the core of this is the walking wounded in a deep state of trauma and as Will explores his own internal space as reflected in the house, simultaneously the space surrounding him, you have Johnny talking about the deep pain of the loss of his mother to the asylum and the accidental death of this father and how he has looked to explore his own space prior to the House of Leaves.

The beauty of House of Leaves is that it is in effect fostering and making its own critical commentary on itself, which also means that the horror is that you are left with little choice but to engage with what it wants to say about the terrifying, paralyzing suspicion of oblivion and our existence and how we try to fill in the hollow spaces within and without us

When we are dealing with the action of Will in the house, there is a certain immediacy to what is going on. Now we are exploring Tom and Will’s documented relationship… I’m assuming that we are building to Tom’s death. I am getting a better idea of what Johnny’s repeated graphical sexual escapades are supposed to symbolize. But, there is so much left, so much to explore.

This segment moves by exceptionally fast as Navidson’s own exploration occurs amidst vast swathes of white space on the page. It has a bit more of an action-pacing, which is what it is ultimately building to. You can almost sense what is about to happen, though the doorknob-free door is a great moment in the overarching identity of the house.

The different intruding footnotes and the way in which they layer across pages, including one that is hidden as a backwards image, the one that disappears into the spine only to reappear earlier in the book, the ongoing Johnny Truant drama, the dissolving expedition… this is fantastic and exhausting and slightly confusing but something I have never experienced this way before.

50 more pages of the dissolving Navidson family as well as a 50 page collection of letters in the appendix from Johnny’s mentally ill mother who at one point confesses to something monstrous though it was meant with nothing if not a sort of warped love. This book is lovingly, painfully about the burden of existence while being aware of your own impending death, with the house one possible outgrowth of this.

this is a challenging read. The primary text is a fictitious in-depth analysis of a fictitious documentary a man made about what was supposed to be his family but turns out to be his house, which is beginning to exhibit spatial anomalies. It’s presented by another fictitious man who came across the manuscript and surrounding material after the death of the man author.

Wrapping up Hurston’s time gathering folklore with a woman bearing her deceased mother’s name attempting to murder or mutilate her and moving onto the hoodoo portion of the book, which has an account of Hurston’s becoming an ordained practitioner of hoodoo, and most of what that ritual entails. It also has a few accounts of her assisting her maker, Turner, in conjuring a few spells.

The folk tales are a broad mix of folk stories, some of which are the genealogical origins of exaggeration jokes / insults (yo momma). The more or less understated account Hurston gives of her time while she’s just in the company of folks like the railway and mill workers is excellent, and even with some tension as Hurston has to work herself into the graces of the people she is hanging out with.

One of the best parts here is the story of how Hurston works to gain the confidences of the mill workers where she visits, given how her dress and car put her apart from them, they assuming that she is some sort of government agent. She has to pose as a bootlegger before she can finally reveal that she is there to collect what “lies” they know and can think to tell.

I didn’t know but am not surprised that the format of this collection of folk tales is not presented like other collections but as Zora actually hearing them from, in the beginning, her Eatonville familiars while hanging out and partying with them, because this is how the stories were being told in the cultures where they circulated. This makes the book way more immersive a read than many collections I’ve read.

It’s fun and moves at breakneck speed. We’re about to meet Hades and get part of this story sorted out, at least.

The Ares aside was kind of fun. This book may not be as meaty as, say, The Talisman, but I don’t really care to re-explore a lot of the themes regarding a 12 yr old boy heading west to save his mom and the realities of doing so in the late 80s. I was thinking that Ares might be behind everything… but it’s Hermes, isn’t it?

Auntie Em? Really??? LOL. It’s surreal reading this depiction of Medusa after marathoning the Greek retellings that tell their own true tales of the gorgons. Also, idk what exactly is going on here. Is Hades being set up as the instigator when there’s a fourth party, a minor deity?

Omfg I suddenly realized that in a very vague way this quest is sort of a rewrite of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman?!?!?!?!?!?

finding out about the ban on mortal children for the big three really helps with the world-building. A lot of what’s going on makes a lot more sense, now. I’m still a little annoyed that Hades is the de facto villain but it had to be someone, I guess. Like, Hades was Hitler’s dad??? Whatever. Of course Annabeth is the third MC, lol. “That old Poseidon rivalry” is doing a lot of heavy lifting for grossness.

WOW. So we go back on the stuff I said before. The dyslexia and ADHD are exactly what I expected—symptoms of being a half-blood. Also, Percy is made an orphan right after the segment I finished. That’s…interesting. It’s also clear that Hades is one of if not THE big bad. That’s a shame; I prefer sympathetic portrayals of Hades and Persephone. Maybe we’ll find out more nuanced information.

Well I was wrong about everyone at Yancy academy but it was obvious that Percy had at least a few people on his side. I like that the book distinguishes itself by making Percy a “troubled” protagonist, but I wonder how much of this is going to be passed off as what happens when a half-blood tries to live a normal life. His stepdad Gabe is so comically monstrous that it’s painful to read.

it happened

So I think I’ve already read this but Dumbledore talking about love is obviously not just about Harry but we haven’t yet gotten the missive about Snape’s crush on Lily, I’m assuming in the seventh book. Also THANK GOD that both the Harry and Ginny train and Ron and Hermione train have finally left the station. This hasn’t been the most graceful way of pairing characters up, at least in H&G’s case.

GANGBUSTERS. The Felix potion segment is phenomenal. If you’re going to write a deus ex machina segment, then why not enjoy it? I cackled at Harry’s fortune. This also encompasses the section on Horcruxes, putting a cap on one of the longest plot bits of the novel. I’m pretty glad with how this portion of the book went, especially Dumbledore’s plea for Harry to understand his place in the prophecy.

A nothing happening section. Important developments and thawings on the romantic fronts as Rowling continues to draw the three main characters into their romances, and important information on what’s going on, but nothing that just floored me.

While Harry’s love affair with the book has been annoying, the way it allows him to save Ron’s life is dovetailed excellently within the action of the story. I’m really tired of the Harry and Draco affair but I think that a good part of this is because I know what’s going to happen and am mostly waiting for when we find out what details Harry got wrong… and I also know why Dumbledore lets it happen.

Some dangerous political stuff going on here with Scrimgeour trying to recruit Harry as a figurehead. I’m surprised that we let the Fenrir connection that Lupin throws out go by; I’m guessing that Harry will remember later. Along the romance angle, it’s also clear now that Lupin and Tonks are pining for each other but more intent on guarding their hearts.

holy smokes I was not expecting this much relationship drama. but everyone’s, like, 16, so it makes sense. Harry fooling Ron into thinking he took the potion was brilliant. But the fight between Ginny and Ron over him being mad at his sister making out with Dean was deeply uncomfortable. I am guessing that we are going to find out that the root of Ginny’s behavior is like Harry’s, tied up in Ron as her brother.