unofficial discussion – Bookmarked!

Still on the “84 Charing Cross Road” high, I had managed to convince enough of my book club friends to join me in an unofficial discussion of the book last Saturday. At Flips Flipping Pages, we normally do unofficial discussions (outside of the monthly schedule) for certain books when one person (or more) ~~needs closure~~ feels strongly about it and elects to moderate.

Of course, being the highly suggestible people we are, it’s normally not a big challenge to gather up enough people for a discussion, but considering I kept having to move it all throughout March due to scheduling conflicts, I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout (I love you Flippers!).

Continue reading “The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street”

Our book club’s first unofficial discussion for the year was “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski, and I had gotten the book with the intention of joining the discussion last Friday, but I wasn’t able to finish it in time so I stayed home (in fear of discussion spoilers) to make some headway on the book. I did finish it a few days later, and I was well and truly befuddled.

In “House of Leaves,” multiple narratives converge to tell us the strange story of a young man (Johnny Truant) who comes across a manuscript by his old neighbor, Zampano. Zampano has written a study of what appears to be a non-existent film (“The Navidson Record,” a Blair Witch-y documentary by award-winning photographer Will Navidson about a house that is (*gasp*) bigger on the inside, with closets and hallways popping up and disappearing every so often.

Continue reading “House of Leaves”