House of Leaves Book Club (Feb 26-May 31) • Page 3

Can't remember if I still have this book, might have to look for it. wouldn't mind re-reading it - I was busy with school when I was reading it and I feel like I didn't give it the attention it probably deserves.

 

Probably just gonna post stray thoughts as I go until we all catch up and hopefully get some discussion going (which won't be as necessary til a little later on). I have forgotten a lot of the details, so I will be doing this read-through and any posts in here with fresh eyes and no references to later on in the book fwiw, so spoiler-free territory!

2) This is not for You: Johnny Truant Introduction (pp. xi-xxiii)
- I remember reading this for the first time and it really got under my skin. It's mostly just story set-up and introducing some supporting characters (Johnny, Zampano and to a lesser extent Lude and Thumper) but it does really well at giving an ominous hook to the story. Johnny seems to be simultaneously daring you to continue reading, warning you against it and admitting it probably doesn't matter either way.
- Interesting that Zampano has no ID/passport/liscense/documents. Johnny is very convinced he's real but almost paints a picture that he isn't. That along with his part about how some footnotes are real while others are fictitious and talking about how him and Zampano both make plenty of errors sets up a guessing game of what is real vs. what is fabricated, I'm a sucker for an unreliable narrative
- "I haven't washed the blood off yet. Not all of it is mine, either." (??????????) That, along with the claw marks across the ground in Z's apartment are both...pretty unsettling
- I love that Z is blind. Not really a spoiler as it's kind of spelled out, but so much of Navidson's story (and to a broader extent the themes in the book) revolve around light/space/shape/line/color/focus/contrast/movement/perspective/composition that it's fascinating that Z couldn't experience many of those things. It's kind of sad really and I'd guess what drove his compulsive need to compile it all
- First couple instances of the house appearing in blue
- "Muss es sein? " This one has sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole before. There's some great pages dissecting this in relation to the book I might post in here once I dig 'em up. Taken from Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16, the final movement contains "(Muss es sein?) (Es Muss Sein!) which translates to "Must it be? It must be!" I've always found it interesting that the page before TNR solely poses a question and then offers no answer (even though the answer exists and is well documented). For me, the absence of a resolution becomes the emphasis

aaaaaaand onto The Navidson Record!

 

Yo so I definitely fucked this up haha. Is there anybody that still wants to do this on our own time? I'm open to it but also okay to abandon it as I got really busy and fell way behind

 

Haha I finished this about a week after so after I started it again. Definitely willing to discuss as you go along!

 

haha good enough for me! I can't figure out who I think actually wrote the fucking book so I'm gonna dive back in tomorrow

 

I only read through this once but there are so many ways to approach the answer to that question that makes it so much fun to analyze

 

Alright then, I'll keep ya posted haha

 

I still plan on finishing by end of May even though I'm way behind.

 

I've been keeping up consistently an enjoying it a lot. Finding Truant much more sympathetic in this read-through (never got this far in the book before, to be honest.)