House of Leaves was not a pleasure to read and I think that was the aim of Mark Z. Danielewski. Although, I’m sure he could care less what I think. If it was a mystery I didn’t care what happened to the characters. Whoever the author, whether Danielewski, Zampano, or Johnny, he succeeded in making it difficult to follow, I can see how it has an occult following. The book was an acquired taste. The one quality I did enjoy is that whoever the author, they seemed ok with me reading it the way I felt comfortable. In my opinion, Navidson should have left that women, Karen, she was bad for his health. Also, the characters lacked faith and because of that they were led in any direction the house wanted to lead them. I felt there was a simple solution, move!

As a slave preoccupied with freedom I knew the only way to slay my Minotaur was to not allow it to direct the tour. While reading House of Leaves, I would leave the house, knock a wall down and follow the path I felt best for my comprehension. What I mean is, I would read each font to its end and disregard the annoying interruptions. This way, this path, my way, my path. This was my way of slaying the Minotaur and not letting this book drive me mad. 

My favorite work that I did for this project was my Graphomaniac piece. It was so visual when I read the passage, that it was my first idea when we were assigned this project.

So I had to read this article by Jessica Pressman on House of Leaves. She primarily explored the relationship between the book and digital media. For example there is an album by the band Poe about House of Leaves and referenced in House of Leaves. Also, the word “house” is always in blue in the book to resemble hyperlinks. This along with our project made me think about the future of books in the digital age. Will we ever get to a point where books can’t be read without the internet in front of us because it will become normal to follow books’ instructions to go online in order to further the story and then return to the printed text? I doubt it, because that just seems to cumbersome to the average reader, but I might be wrong. Maybe this is the upcoming trend in books.

It seems that our class has very different thoughts on having to have read House of Leaves. Personally, I think it was a super weird book but a very interesting read. I really like experiences, whether that be in an activity, in a meal, or in a book! And House of Leaves certainly was an experience to read. As well as the most unique plot I have ever read.

This is going to sound crazy, but I kind of wish the house on Ash Tree Lane in House of Leaves was real. I’m currently looking at apartments in New York City for next year and pricy is an understatement. A three bedroom apartment in Brooklyn is approximately $2000 a month which is roughly $660 per person if split between three people and that doesn’t even include water, electricity, wifi, etc. The cost of living in NYC is ridiculous. I wish we could just get a one bedroom apartment with a closet that expands magically into other rooms like in House of Leaves— an infinite amount of square footage for the price of a shoebox sized apartment. Of course, I would want it without all of the dangers presented in House of Leaves, but it doesn’t exist. House of Leaves is just a book after all.

P.S. Anyone want to donate funds to help me afford my future rent?

In class the other day we got to draw with crayons and it reminded me of that time my father, Hans, and I drew words and phrases on the basement wall when he taught me language. It helped me learn a lot about forming words and the basement looked pretty great afterwards… or should I say “afterwords”? I thought creating our mental images of the house was a great idea to tangibly express the intangible, making the lack of reality into reality. I think Danielewski would agree…

So I found this weird book in one of the academic buildings on my campus. I thought it was someones agenda that they left on one of the study space couches. Being the nosey person I am I decided to inspect it. It actually wasn’t an agenda at all. It was a book about an apocalyptic world that people were supposed to contribute to when they found it. I flipped through and took pictures of some of the contributions. This book kind of reminded me of that weird book that my professor is making me read, House of Leaves. In a way I think that book is kind of an apocalyptic book too. It may not be the end of the entire world, but it’s the end of Navidson, Zampano, and Johnny’s world. Also, both books have multiple contributors. Anyway, I decided to add my own contribution with a very obvious hint toward House of Leaves. I wish I thought of something more cleaver, but I didn’t want to waste too much of my time with someone else’s class project when I can barely get my own done.