Harvesting starlight

This project took me a week, used this pattern, and the final result is 30cm/12in long. Images ( under the cut. )

Okay, folks. Here's the deal: after consideration, I've decided to give away whatever books people want from that giant lot I pulled from my shelf. The full list is here. The books are in varying condition, some more scruffy than others, others rather old, but none with pages falling off. I take good care of my dears. Pay attention to what says on the webpage; some are in Portuguese, some in English--all that is properly labeled.

Do you want one/some/many/all of them? Let me know, here or by PM/email/IM. I'm willing to ship them all over the world, but I ask that you pay the shipping fees, as I'm sadly not made of money.

So. List HERE (updated October 19th 11:13 pm). Have at! First come, first serve.

I've been reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It is an incredibly demanding book, and requires patience from the reader as well as willingness to lose yourself in the pathways of the story and just go with the flow.

The typeface and formatting are what drew me to it on the first place, by agardenafter's recommendation. The book itself is a maze, with different fonts, varying quantity of text across the pages and an infinity of concatenated footnotes (not all at the foot of the page, and many completely taking over entire page(s)). The visual labyrinth corresponds to what the characters are going through; a rather pacific moment can be accompanied by regular text, just like your run-of-the-mill book, but when the stress level goes up, the text goes wild: the pages either become claustrophobic, with cramped text running up and down the margins, or the white space expands absurdly - the characters run, and the reader's eye has no choice but jump quickly between pages, with less than ten words scattered on each.

It is this increased book-reader interaction that draws me to House of Leaves. When you turn a page, you get an immediate foreboding of what happens in the near future, or at least the mood associated with it. In my opinion, the visuals of this book are like a soundtrack, drawing you, as the reader, deeper into the story.

There are three narrators at least, and none of them is completely reliable or accurate in their data. Each has a specific font. While, at times, the book's goal is to make the reader feel as lost as the characters, the different fonts function as an anchor to keep track of which situation is being handled.

House of Leaves has several different editions. I'm reading the full-color edition, in which not all text is plain black. House is always written in blue throughout the book. Mythological references are in red, and text that was not supposed to make the final cut is struck-out (namely, references to the Minotaur - see, I told you it was a maze). There are also a few instances of purple, if in a much smaller quantity. As with the layout, the different colors increase book-reader interaction. It's almost impossible not to have a feeling of impending dread when there is an whole struck-out passage awaiting you at the bottom of the page.

Danielewski's sister, Ann (known in the music industry as Poe), has an alternative rock album named "Haunted". It is heavily influenced by House of Leaves and vice-versa, and obvious and not-so-obvious references are present in both works. (For example, her "Amazed" track really puts the "maze" in the word.) It is an excellent audio companion to the book or by itself.

What is the story about? It's not easy to say, since there are stories within stories within stories. As clearly put as the book allows, without spoilers: House of Leaves tells us about a man (Johnny Truant) who finds a draft for a book, authored by a dead, old, blind man (Zampanò). This piece, called The Navidson Record, is a fictional review for a fictional documentary (feeling lost already?). The documentary tells us the story of Will Navidson's family, recorded by Navidson himself, when they moved into their new house. Said house is almost imperceptibly bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. As Truant reads and edits Zampanò's work, he gets more and more obsessed and paranoid about the story, and his reality blurs as the house starts invading his life and mind.

This is a book that begs for physical contact. I have an e-book version; however, even more so than with most books, I would love to have it on paper. It's heavy, dense, and the cover is slightly smaller than the inside of the book (welcome to the maze again). I don't write on my books, but if I had a paper copy of House of Leaves, it would be frantically annotated and scribbled on. It is a book that calls for tattered edges, smudges, wrinkles and even more footnotes, much like Zampanò's draft. It is a book to lend to others and have returned with added annotations, the book growing with every read.

House of Leaves is not fantastically written. Danielewski lacks the storytelling genius of the likes of Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin or Dan Simmons. But the way he presents his book, the design as much achievement as the text itself, creates an unforgettable piece. It's a hell of a ride, and a peerless experience in book form.

I have just bought The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Scottish play. Yesterday I bought Dawkins's The Greatest Show on Earth. 'Tween science and theater, I should have my hands full for a while.

Dust. Everywhere, still.

It's 2 PM and I'm running ragged already.

They've cast Ilyn Payne, the king's tongueless executioner. He looks perfect for the role!

I have sandals. I have a shiny new shirt.

Why is it raining?

To-do list for today:

Remove winter bed clothing (wtf, May already)
Laundry
Dishes
Tidy up the kitchen
Study Biochemistry
Cook lunch
Renew social pass
Calculus class
Shoe shopping
Cook dinner

Home again.

Home again home again home again home again.

Only now do I realize how being delayed was stressing me out. Now I can go back to studying. German class today was weird, because I've been listening to English for nearly a week. And I still have to sort my pending lab class. "Hephaestus ate my homework" ain't gonna cut it, I fear.

I had forgotten how much I abhor team schoolwork.

Those girls can't use a computer to save their lives. I'm in awe at the horrific formatting of our report. And at their lack of writing skills.

Augh.