By Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves (2nd Edition) Library Binding – 16 Mar. 2000

So as a fan of Lovecraft this was recommended to me by an author friend, and I can see why. For something modern it has this beautiful tale at its centre that is chilling in the most subtle way, creating deep sinking unease instead of pure straight up fear. This bit I would give a solid 4.5 out of 5.The other aspect of the book is how this tale is transmitted to the reader, effectively via three other layers of writer, story-teller and editors. This in itself is impressive, and then the format of the book also comes with side stories, and aspects of the book written in scribbles, upside down, mirror image, a word a page, or via extensive appendices that cover everything from poems, to letters, to drawings, to code. I completely see how this appeals to real literature nerds, but to me this was an aspect of the book that I felt was a bit overdone, not bad but a 5/5 idea indulged until it was a 3/5 execution. It made the book more of a slog to get through than it had to be, especially when it went into long lists of things so repetitive you're effectively unable to actually read it all. So if you're the sort of person who might get annoyed at this then worth bearing in mind, but most people probably will find it interesting and it does add to the "what is happening here" crisis the book seeks instill in the reader. Pretty impressive overall though, even if it feels it was written more to appeal to literature scholars than normal people.