# Anybody Ever Read This Book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333 "2002-06-21T20:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333/1 "2002-06-21T20:33:54Z")
I’m currently in the process of reading the book **House of Leaves** by Mark Danielewski. Very interesting read, but a tad overwhelming at times. One of those books that almost challenges you _not_ to read it by being so daunting. I’m only about 120 pages into it right now and it reads almost like a textbook edited with the ravings of a delinquent. Somehow, though, it really works. What’s interesting is that last year I saw POE open up for Depeche Mode and POE was talking onstage about this book her brother had written and he was onstage playing with the band. Wasn’t until I’d already started reading the book did I realize that _this_ is the book she was talking about onstage. So has anyone else ever read this? What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333/2 "2002-06-22T16:44:44Z")
So nobody, huh? Okay, then. As you were. ---
**Author:** ![Pucette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@Pucette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pucette)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333/3 "2002-06-22T19:08:21Z")
I know of a few people who are reading it right now and who really enjoyed it. I meant to check it out myself, because I also remember hearing Poe mention it during her show. And no, I’m not stalking you. 🙂 PSful suggestion: put the title in the subject line for a few more hits next time… ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333/4 "2002-06-23T12:29:45Z")
I read **House of Leaves**. Possibly the most bizarre yet compelling horror story I’ve ever read. **Poe** has a new CD out called _Haunted_, and she sings at some length in various songs about her brother’s book. (IMO, the CD kinda sucks, but the title track is good.) The premise of the house being bigger on the inside than the outside is sorta cliche, I suppose, but the side-stories are incredible, and the fel of the book in indescribable. It reads in certain places like an actual documentary of these events, which is what the author intended, but that style of writing is very intriguing to me. When you’ve finished the book, feel free to e-mail me if you want to talk about it. I’m curious to get someone else’s perspective on it; no one I know has been too interested in reading the whole thing. And on another note, it recently came to my attention that **Stephen King** , hack writer extraordinaire, more-or-less ripped off **Mark Z.'s** premise of an expanding and sinister house. This became Mr. King’s abominably bad network mini-series, **Rose Red**. [hijack] Ugh. I’ve never understood his popularity. King’s ideas are somewhat creative, but I find his writing formulaic and in desperate need of good editing. Besides, he’s just so…_tacky_. I’d rather find blood in my stool than read another one of his books. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-ever-read-this-book/115333/5 "2002-06-24T01:48:50Z")
I hated this book. I bought it based on some glowing reviews I’d read, got about 100 pages into it, then gave up and returned it. It felt like an art school student’s project – a germ of an interesting idea buried under so much artifice and gimmickry that it collapses. Or, more accurately, the work of a guy who had a bunch of shallow ideas and tried to have them all support each other, instead of taking the time to develop any single one and make it interesting. All of the story-within-a-story-within-a-story gimmicks, and footnotes, and typographical tricks would have been great if they were adding more impact to a good story. They’re not enough to carry an entire book, though.