Picture that. In your dreams.

A friend of mine is reading House of Leaves for the first time, on my recommendation. A recent text exchange on the subject: 

• Friend: The footnotes have begun to become a maze.
• Me: Yes. They do that. Have you had to start rotating the book to read them yet?
• Friend: No.
• Friend: Wait.
• Friend: Yes.

chrybo:

nyokren:

did-you-kno:

Source

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

david:

House of Leaves is really hard to read out loud.

david karp blogged about hol

david karp

blogged

about hol

"Whoever finds and publishes this work shall be entitled to all proceeds. I ask only that my name take its rightful place. Perhaps you will even prosper. If, however, you discover that readers are less than sympathetic and choose to dismiss this enterprise out of hand, then may I suggest you drink plenty of wine and dance in the sheets of your wedding night, for whether you know it or not, now you truly are prosperous. They say truth stands the test of time. I can think of no greater comfort than knowing this document failed such a test."

dotluvr replied to your post: dotluvr replied to your post: gothamie replied to…

Okay..Why not House of Leaves then? I haven’t read that book, so I dunno…and House made me think of House TV show…so I was confused b/c as far as I knew, you didn’t watch that

oh

well like

okay, if I got the words “House of Leaves” put on me, they’d have to be included in a poem/quote thing

there’s a lot of color motifs in HoL, and the biggest thing is there is a running thing where every time the word House (or house in another language) appears, it is shown in blue, compared to the black text through the rest of the book. There’s also red text that is supposed to be “deleted material” that is struck through, and a lot of times that stuff is really fucking sinister and stuff

So, the word “house” in blue ink is kind of a huge deal all it’s own? And the reason for font choices: if written in TNR, the “author” involved would be the main narrator, a man named Zampano, while getting it in Courier would imply it was written by Johnny Truant, the other lead narrator/author/lead editor of the novel.

For reference, the poem/quote bit would be:

“Little solace comes
to those who grieve
when thoughts keep drifting
as walls keep shifting
and this great blue world of ours
seems a house of leaves”

Yeah, no, it’s hard to really discuss the significance of a lot of this book’s details and stuff if you haven’t read any of it, but it’s pretty rad and has nothing to do with the hit television program, haha

Oh dear god.

• The envelope. I am a star.
• Also, the House of Leaves/Slenderman crossover on the back of the envelope set me up for some pretty solid “oh god what is this about to happen oh jesus” time
• Opened it up to find some “provisions:” a packet of peppermint tea and two hearts made out of duct tape, as well as a page of handwriting analysis ripped from Jenna’s notebook
• But wait
• What’s this?
• Slenderman and the Minotaur, painted onto the page?
• Really?
• Oh god. Oh. Oh god.

But what really drives this home for me, and what Jenna will soon come to understand, is how The Raw Shark Texts can make this whole page go from “creepy” to “super fucking creepy.”

"Perhaps I will alter the whole thing. Kill both children. Murder is a better word. Chad scrambling to escape, almost making it to the front door where Karen waits, until a corner in the foyer suddenly leaps forward and hews the boy in half. At the same time Navidson, by the kitchen, reaches for Daisy, only to arrive a fraction of a second too late, his fingers finding air, his eyes scratching after Daisy as she falls do her death. Let both parents experience that. Let their narcissisms find a new object to wither by. Douse them in infanticide. Drown them in blood."