Ways to prepare yourself to read House of Leaves

One does not simply read into House of Leaves... there are references... to 1990s culture so obscure you will feel like a baby compared to the author who is throwing references to early Miramax at you, footnotes that confuse your mind to the brink of insanity - so I compiled a list of things to prepare yourself for the madness that is House of Leaves:

Watch the following films:

Slacker (Linklater, 1991)

The Blair Witch Project

Possibly a bit of The Simpsons, as it is referenced a few times in there. But you've probably already done this. A lot.

PART THE SECOND: what to read up on before entering into the experience that is House of Leaves:

Are you an arts student, film student or visual arts major? Well then, for you the book's motto "This is not for you" is CLEARLY FALSE ADVERTISING, because only when recalling all I had learned in English Extension 1 and 2 about postmodernism and the system of how academic writing works from my freshman year of learning how to cite sources and get into the bones of what other people say about the same thing (it helps if you are familiar with online journals of academic journal sources, read a couple, or about ten, and you will begin to slightly understand House of Leaves's layout and structure).

And the final recommendation for enjoying House of Leaves:

If you look behind you or beside you when the dude in the book tells you not to, nothing will happen. I didn't even last five seconds while being told directly not to do that, you will be utterly disappointed that you are not as scared as easily as you were in high school. Now other things scare you. Like academic footnoting and getting it right so your lecturer doesn't give you a bad mark. Really scary stuff that. Not this "look behind you!" nonsense.

Hell Hasn't Earned My Tears

How about "acquire book, read book?" I doubt its that difficult.

The Kagami topic has now reached 201 posts! (Nov 5)

I picked this book up two days ago, I've been getting most of the references just fine, and it's perfectly scary.

I'd like to add that one should get a good night's sleep. Don't start this book when you've been awake so long you're hallucinating that shadows are alive.

...it's a very bad idea.

i. hear. a. sound.

Well, I've never seen Slacker or The Blair Witch Project, and I knew nothing of postmodernism at the time I read House of Leaves. I liked it just fine.

no one will notice that I changed this

Also, DO NOT READ IN THE DARK. You will never recover.

Yeah they do. And like the rest of them, they get lost in the damn labyrinth.

I wrote about a fish turning into the moon.

Or you could just read it. The point of the references is their obscurity - the book is (partly) a satire of those very academic journals. They're supposed to be unrecognizable and, perhaps, unnecessary.

The reading while it's light out, though? I second that.

I read House Of Leaves alone, after dark, in the unfinished basement of a relative's house. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.

I read House Of Leaves in English. Learning to read at least one language is a definite precursor to reading this book.

In fact, I don't think I would have enjoyed it at all if it weren't written in language.

edited 8th Dec '10 6:37:48 PM by CTrombley

Mathematics Is A Language.

I read it at two in the morning, by the light of a small torch, huddled under my bed covers. I heard every creak in the house, every wail of the wind lashing rain against my window - absolutely terrifying. I like that kind of atmosphere.

edited 9th Dec '10 2:43:11 PM by Yuanchosaan

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

I read it by a lone light in a dark room while listening to Sunn O))) or the Silent Hill soundtrack, because I'm a masochist.

Currently working on: debut Absentees album

I refused to read it in my room, for the fear of the spatial associations that might build. (My room was already Not A Safe Space, for various reasons, and I didn't want to compound that.)

So instead I only ever read it on the hours-long bus to and from school. It was a good decision, even if I often wound up reading by a pale light surrounded by strangers, with the night rain beating against the window...

~Duk

SPACE? LASERS? ROBOTS?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try to read this book again. I attempted when I was about fifteen and got lost...all I remember basically is the protagonist and his crush on that Thumper girl, and how he was investigating the house. I should read it again, now that I'm older and have actually read academic journals and footnotes and all that.

• Find a chair.
  • If you cannot find a chair, find somewhere flat to sit down.
    • If you cannot find somewhere flat to sit, lean against a wall.

    • If you cannot find any of these things, congratulations, you have fallen to the centre of the house.

I've gotten bogged down right after Navy escapes from Holloway, and Johnny's had sex with a beautiful woman.

Oh wait, that second thing's every chapter.

Charlie Tunoku is a lover and a fighter.

I read it cold and understood it pretty damned well. Maybe I just have the right kind of brain for it or something.

I keep starting this book and not finishing it. Note that this has nothing to do with any paranoid tendencies I may have less to do with said tendencies than with several other ones. That said, I take great pleasure in my failed attempts.

edited 17th Apr '11 1:42:31 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Aww, you should try to finish it. It just gets creepier as it goes on.

no one will notice that I changed this

Step 1: Read it.

It's not a book that requires preparation, only a receptive temperament.

I wrote about a fish turning into the moon.

I think some people overanalyze the novel and lose sight of the human drama at its center. Following Occam's Razor, I just went with the flow and accepted the story at face value.

Knowing the literary references probably helps, but isn't necessary IMO. Translating "La Feuille" in Zampano's poetry is the only research I'd really suggest.

I have twice attempted to read this, and twice gotten distracted/bored of it and the constant meandering footnotes. I will go back and try again at some point, though.

I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!

Read the Trope Page for House of Leaves as well, but not the spoilers. I read it pretty vanilla, but have a (sorta) Ancient Greek and Latin slant, so 'got' the whole minotaur thing :D

Danger's over, Banana Breakfast is saved. FC: 0576 - 4632 - 1517

I read it just well and english is not my native language, still I have to say that I hated the fact that the autor put so much emphasis on Jonnhy's sexual life... do I seriously have to be reminded in every single chapter that a crazy guy is having a lot more action than me? Other than that it was a great read, I guess I'll re-read it.

I'm not a native english speaker, please forgive my bad grammar and misspells.

I prepared for it by being excited to figure out what was up with this weirdly formatted and supposedly iconic story. 129 pages in I've had enough of "Chuck Palahniuk Does Lovecraft", thank you very much. I suppose if you've never done this sort of thing (and have an infinite iron stomach for faux derrida and similar literary masturbation) this might be a little more palatable, but my nights have been bumped by things far, far stranger than a coat closet with alien geometries and this just comes off as trying far, far too hard without offering anything really original or interesting. Actually, I take back what I said. It's not "Palahniuk Does Lovecraft". It's "Albert Camus describes Palahniuk Does Lovecraft."