12 Days of Christmas - My 12 Favourite Books I Read This Year Day 12 (5th January) My Favourite Book: 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski - ThreadSky

daniellearmouth.bsky.social • 50 days ago

12 Days of Christmas - My 12 Favourite Books I Read This Year
Day 12 (5th January)

My Favourite Book:
'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski

Comments

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

Throughout all media, there are examples that take pains to break down the walls separating themselves from its consumer to make them a more active participant in the experience. Video games can be great at this, like with Metal Gear Solid, but few books do it as well as 'House of Leaves'.

(2/8)

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

To try and simplify what the novel is about, at it's core, it's about a book that was written by an eccentric old man who dies before finishing it, with a young man picking up the task of completing it, but his mental state unwinds as he nears its completion.

(3/8)

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

The book being finished is a documentary that recounts a family and their otherwise ordinary house...except for the fact that it's a quarter-inch bigger inside than it is outside, and there's an infinite black concrete expanse behind a door, which few dare explore.

(4/8)

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

Now, 'House of Leaves' is an example of "ergodic literature", which essentially means it takes a non-trivial amount of effort to consume the work. That is, to say, you don't simply read from left to right like you would ordinarily expect.

(5/8)

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

Instead, one of the marks of this particular book is the extraordinary typesetting work MZD put into this. There is so much stuff here to unpack that I cannot possibly hope to do so here, but the long and short of it? You've got to put in the work to read this...but it is so worth it.

(6/8)

daniellearmouth.bsky.social•50 days ago

You'll be interrupted between the different stories you read. You'll have footnotes to read. You'll have colour-coded notes that go off in many directions. The book's very form falls apart brilliantly as it progresses, and the chaotic typesetting takes over.

(7/8)

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