Mark Z. Danielewski reads from House of Leaves

[Cazxiro]

Damn, he's hot.

[god316]

its taken me forever to read this and i mean started in 07 still half way thought but next it will end lol

[nocturnezero]

Sure, he's reading just fine NOW, but wait till he reaches the series of page where he lists things that aren't in the room in the margins...

[EyeRapist]

I don't know if this is unnerving to anyone else but i just stopped reading the book to take a quick break. I got on youtube and looked up house of leaves. When i clicked on this video...he began reading EXACTLY where i had just left off. Its prolly a sign lol

[Sexybob75]

Am I the only one who was completely unmoved by this book?

[DJChomby]

@Sexybob75

Yes

[Stunatra]

@Sexybob75 No. I'm so unmoved I cant be bothered to read it.

[bestiamalata]

i hear the roarrrrrr

[sleepcity]

*yawn*

[nicoheckens1]

I liked House of Leaves but I wouldn't compare it to Nabokov in any way nor would I consider it a book of high aesthetic merit such as Uylsses. It is regardless a pretty intellectually satisfying book, MZD is not a poet.

[Likerent]

A book is about what you take away from it. If all you took away from House of Leaves was that it failed at being serious, then you probably didn't read it with the interest of reading it - you read it like a critic.

It may not have lived up to your liking, but that doesn't make it a moronic piece of shit. Maybe Danielewski wasn't trying to express what you got out of it. Maybe your experiences have led you to feel differently about it. Either way, people relate really well to it. Others don't.

[JohnBaxterly]

@Likerent In some ways, I think Danielweski WANTED you to read it like a critic. Mr. Truant likes to think this, at least...

[IfWeSleepWeFreeze]

On his website there is a short audio clip of a song called Mad Woman. Anyone know where to get this as an mp3?

[khalithistle]

for fuck's sake. enjoy the fucking book all you like but dont claim it's difficult. it's not difficult. it's especially not difficult if you've understood the nabokov and david foster wallace books it rips off.

and the dude reading that boring fucking narrative, a century after chekhov but still eating his dust, like its the greatest thing ever written is painfully hilarious. he has voyaged a million twisted miles up his own intestines. "RECONSTRUCTED ships!" i see dead people, in pastel.

[feverxchill]

@khalithistle How does it rip off Nabokov? just asking out of pure curiosity. Nabokov is my favorite author, and my feelings about House of Leaves are very mixed. are you referencing the literary style? because i normally hear it being compared to Nabokov in that regard, but i don't know if i particularly agree with that.

[khalithistle]

@feverxchill well house of leaves just takes pale fire, dumbs down the writing then attaches moronic bells and whistles everywhere. the main difference in approach being nabokov treats his as intellectual comedy whereas danielewski treats his as VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS. as far as prose style goes, no. im not a great fan of nabokov, actually, but mzd is still a million years away from being able to write prose like nabokov. mzd's prose is just cheap trashy thompson/burroughs/kerouac shit

[feverxchill]

@khalithistle yeah I agree, the prose isn't like nabokov... idk what makes people say that, the usage of big words, maybe?i cant imagine what else. i actually did kinda get the sense that there was some satire of academic criticism, otherwise i agree, it was a pretty serious book. i dont hate it as much as you do, but i did have a lot of problems with it, so i can definitely empathize, or at least understand your feelings towards it. especially with all the moronic bells and whistles everywhere.

[TheFrozenghost211]

@feverxchill

The book was brilliant. MINDBLOWING. It was an acheivment now many authors can relate to.

[Palegoat]

So what happened to Johnny in the end?

[Red2345100100]

is this book good?

whats it about?

[felixvelariusbos]

@Red2345100100 The book is amazingfantastic.

It's about alot of things. Lets see if I can sum it up....

It's basically this book written by this guy (Zampano), this book being about a movie that probably doesn't exist in the book world that suposedly is the true events of a house that is bigger on the inside (in that it has a "hallway" that shrinks and grows and dissappears). In that book are numerous footnotes by Zampano, the Editors, and Johnny Truant, who is mad.

[felixvelariusbos]

@felixvelariusbos And if you're confused, then that's most likely the point.

[zacbailis]

i have officially decided this is my favorite book of all time.

[sheehan11520]

ftairs

[slapher88]

Some of us out here (educated, high IQ, oddly enough) see HOL for the piece of crap, con job that it is. I've heard it before so don't bother saying "you don't get it." Oh, I get it all right. MZD is writer with a fertile imagination who couldn't leave well enough alone and wandered down a self-indulgent trail of bullshit. I'm sure he's getting a good laugh at the Confederacy of Dunces who so lavishly praise a work that doesn't deserve it. Bret Easton Ellis, anyone? My god, what a joke.

[crazycycoclowner]

Those who claim they are of higher knowledge than others most commonly are the ones who need most to learn.

[christianisgay00]

@slapher88 You don't get it.

[ElBlaino101]

i dont know if I enjoyed this book, but if you like post modern art this is the novel for you

[madamimadamimadam]

Eh, I'd consider it deconstructionist more than post-modern. Experimental, maybe.

[khalithistle]

@madamimadamimadam are you kidding? saying something is deconstructionist more than it is post-modern is like saying an apple's more red than it is tasty. crunchy, maybe. please set yourself on fire

the high arts are being replaced by their own termites.

[wickerman71]

THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. This book played on my mind for years sometimes it still does. I have no dout that MZD is a gifted writer but all the best peices of art over the ages have an element of fluke about them, when they capture something that was never meant as well as all that was. This book is special.

[juliew625]

@wickerman71 couldnt have said it better. i too still find myself thinking about the book out of nowhere and i loved it. i do see both sides how you could look at like a "scam" or trick, or just go with it and try to work it out in your mind even when you know you cant. i dont really compare mark to anyone,but i found many of his ideas very original. mainly wanted to say i found your comment to be "right on the mark" no pun intended lol.

[maskedpillager]

he reads it like he's the shit. the book is the shit but i mean. being humble wouldnt hurt would it MARK

[hxcfantastic]

Mark is the shit. House of Leaves is the shit. He can be as cocky as he wants.

[MMMPIE111]

Lmao, I would laugh so hard if Mark was reading this to an elementary class. Poor kids could never open a door again.

[jamieboyrockon]

or walk down a dark hallway....

[Stasiya]

only the best book ever written. the most beautiful prose, the most beautiful imagery. the most terrifying book i ever read, too. it's true, when Johnny says this book will change you. i failed poor Zampanò. i am dead serious, i have measuring tapes tacked to some of my walls. mostly conversation pieces, but all the same, it doesn't hurt to be sure, does it?

[NINTENDOHEAD2]

You are a fucking nut job dude.

[namestolen]

I did the same.

[richardgleason]

hahaha that is fuckin hilarious

[allmydeadcats]

Oh, aye! MZD definitely made full use of the writing medium. (WELL, it'll change you if you let yourself get sucked into the book whilst you read it. However, where's the fun if you don't do that? Plus, the mindfuck lays in him telling you that it will change you. You end up convincing yourself that it will. Ingenious, no?)

[venomsugar]

Hmm... I love the book but it didn't change me. I guess I have nice toned arms now because it was so heavy...

[lolmuffins123]

Guess you're not very analytical then...

[Neekstarrr]

SWALLAGASH!!

[aveman3]

dude he is insane a little and im not saying this as a bad thing

[onehitwonder11]

people think they understand this book. there is no understanding this book. one can only make sense of it.

[PirateSamir]

@onehitwonder11 so how would you define understanding then?

[positivepig]

so that's how you say zampano

[Last24601]

Yeah, I always thought that it was zam-PAH-no. Not ZAM-puh-no. It doesn't sound very Italian if you say it like he did...

[RaptorJChrist]

accent marks ftw

[yrael08]

I also thought it was Zam-PAH-no.

Ah well... guess it's just one of those cases of putting the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble again.

[Geinmachine]

Let the flames begin...

[gadsdenboi22]

As compared to whom? Stephen King or Dean Cuntz...lol

they are the no talent losers!

[llinask]

The only people who can't understand House of Leaves are the ones too stupid to comprehend it.

[m00tykinz]

House of Leaves is a great book. You are also a pretensious jackass.