With that in mind, you’ll understand why I found Allen J. Coombes’ The Book of Leaves so interesting. This “leaf-by-leaf guide to six hundred of the world’s great trees” is a great idea for anyone interested in the principles of design or those who love nature. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the layout, with each page containing an actual size leaf photo and easy-to-follow description of the trees species and history. This book may just have to be a present to myself this year!
House of Leaves is the debut novel by the American author Mark Z. Danielewski, published by Pantheon Books. The novel quickly became a bestseller following its March 7, 2000 release. It was followed by a companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters. The novel has since been translated into a number of languages.
Tom is Will Navidson’s somewhat estranged fraternal twin brother; Tom is a carpenter with substance addiction problems, who is markedly less successful than Will in his personal and professional life. After approximately 8 years of little contact, Will contacts Tom when he notices that his house is larger on the inside than the outside. A section of the novel, called Tom’s Story is a partial transcript of documentary evidence and radio communication with the outside world during his vigil within the labyrinth, which he spends alone with his radio, waiting for Will. This section is referred to in the book as a sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre history of thoughts passing away in the atrocity of that darkness (House of Leaves 252). He often refers to Mr. Monster and many of the jokes and anecdotes he provides are religious in nature. However, in a test of his true character, he bravely saves Will's kids from being swallowed by the house but is swallowed himself.
Throughout the entirety of House of Leaves (even including the cover and publishing information), the word house is colored blue (grey for non-color editions of the book and light grey for red editions), as in house, and is, in many places in the book, offset from the rest of the text in different directions at different times. Foreign-language equivalents of house, such as the German Haus and the French maison, are also blue. Red and full-color editions of House of Leaves have the word Minotaur and all struck passages colored red.
