Lost...
...in the House of Leaves. I was just commenting about some of my first impressions (I'm about 70 pages in), and decided to just make a post about it.
This book, wow. Somehow it manages to make you suspend your disbelief and suck you right into it, like it somehow becomes a personal experience. As I commented, as I was reading last night, I started freaking myself out, like, "maybe I don't want to move into a new place... what if this sort of crap started going on? You never DO know, do you???" (Ha. Damn the overactive imagination!)
And those of you who have read it might understand why my first night of reading it, I went to wash up for bed and thought, if my hot water doesn't work, I'M GONNA FREAK OUT!
It even occurred to me last night, maybe I don't want to read this at night, before bed. ;)
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, there are rare books that affect me like this. I'm a horror movie junkie and I guess have had my times when I have read horror. However, it's damn rare that a book or story just reaches out and grabs you; where you're not comforted with the old, "Oh it's just a book" thing, kind of like the old, "Oh it's just a movie" thing. I mean, you can think to yourself, "Oh, yeah, that's creepy" without being truly creeped out or losing sleep over it. Another book that had such a pronounced effect was It, by Stephen King -- I had moments of true heart-pumping fear while I was reading that one. I haven't had heart-pumping fear yet with this one, but it's definitely doing its thing in just leaving me utterly unsettled.
Anybody have any books that just scared the CRAP out of you?
Thanks for reading,
LLB
This book, wow. Somehow it manages to make you suspend your disbelief and suck you right into it, like it somehow becomes a personal experience. As I commented, as I was reading last night, I started freaking myself out, like, "maybe I don't want to move into a new place... what if this sort of crap started going on? You never DO know, do you???" (Ha. Damn the overactive imagination!)
And those of you who have read it might understand why my first night of reading it, I went to wash up for bed and thought, if my hot water doesn't work, I'M GONNA FREAK OUT!
It even occurred to me last night, maybe I don't want to read this at night, before bed. ;)
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, there are rare books that affect me like this. I'm a horror movie junkie and I guess have had my times when I have read horror. However, it's damn rare that a book or story just reaches out and grabs you; where you're not comforted with the old, "Oh it's just a book" thing, kind of like the old, "Oh it's just a movie" thing. I mean, you can think to yourself, "Oh, yeah, that's creepy" without being truly creeped out or losing sleep over it. Another book that had such a pronounced effect was It, by Stephen King -- I had moments of true heart-pumping fear while I was reading that one. I haven't had heart-pumping fear yet with this one, but it's definitely doing its thing in just leaving me utterly unsettled.
Anybody have any books that just scared the CRAP out of you?
Thanks for reading,
LLB
posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 7:51 PM
5 Comments:
I absolutely friggin LOVED this book. I gave copies to two of my friends who are writers. Creepiest damn metaphysical thing I ever read. I can't imagine what it cost to produce given all the whacko typesetting. It's a challenging read. Sleep with the lights on! Good book for the snowstorm tomorrow.
House of Leaves by Danielewski? My library doesn't have it, so I'll see if a book store has it.
I've read lots of books that scared me, though I am too ashamed to recommend them. For someone who loves the horror genre, you'd think by now I would be numb to the being freaked outedness.
HoL definitely qualifies for me, too, although probably not until the later sections. Oh, just you wait.
Peter Straub, for some reason, can creep me out like no other. Also Doug Rice, who is probably hands down the most disturbing author I've ever read. Clive Barker used to, but it's been a long time since I've read him.
The author who really creeped me out as a kid was John Bellairs (House With the Clock in It's Walls). I think it's the only time I did that reading under the covers with a flashlight thing. It gave me nightmares, but I loved it.
What does it say about me that I liked being creeped out?
I'm glad you're reading this book. I've tried to get through it twice but got stuck maybe a hundred pages into it. Maybe your insight will give me enough power to try again.
A read a really creepy Peter Straub story (Blue Room or something like that). It wasn't creepy scary, but creepy human nature creepy.
That said, the things that actually keep me up at night (aside from ghost stories) are the stories I read in the newspaper of mothers and fathers killing their children and such. I just can't wrap my mind around it.
Hi Linda -- thanks for stopping by! I am glad to hear of another HoL fan as I am reading it. I did just get a nightlight for Christmas, hahaha...
Maktaaq -- yep, that's the one. Since I love the genre too, I can relate -- you get immune to a lot of it, but every once in a while, something comes along that really does the trick!
Hebdomeros -- the later sections? Oh my! Haha, seeing how I'm already plenty freaked out. I don't recall reading any Peter Straub, which seems odd. And I've never heard of John Bellairs -- he sounds interesting. I'll have to check him out. I don't know what it says about us that we love to be creeped out -- I'm the same way! Ever since I was a kid. Not only would I creep myself out thinking about stuff, I'd creep other people out, telling stories or whatnot. I'm not sure what it's all about... ha.
Jen, yeah, maybe you should try again. The footnotes and structure are a little off putting, as Hebdomeros has said before... but there are some really cool moments in the writing. And yeah, the real-life horrors of human nature are terrifying, and so unpleasant. I don't enjoy that quite so much...
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