Last night I finally finished House of Leaves. I liked Navidson’s story, and I wish it had just been that narrative; I didn’t mind Zampano so much, but Johnny Truant’s interjections and long-winded stories about hookers and insanity just felt like academic masturbation in three-page footnotes. The only thing I liked about him were his mother’s letters. The story was good; the telling kind of ruined it for me. It felt a lot like Ulysses – I’m glad I read it, glad I stuck it out to the end, and OH SO GLAD it’s over.
BUT NOW! Now that the behemoth (it took me almost a month to read. That’s unheard of.) is cleared away, I can read something new! And I was immediately drawn to the neon-yellow bookshelves on the cover of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. I read the first two chapters this morning and I’m completely enchanted. I have a feeling I’m going to race through this one on the teetering edge of wild excitement to see what happens next, and then cry because I got through it too soon.
But for now it’s oh so exciting to read!
