My wife and I read books out loud to each other a page at a time. I had borrowed this book from a friend many years ago and was instantly engrossed but did not get passed the early part where they found the seemingly infinite spiral staircase before he asked for the book to be returned. I had quickly bought a copy afterwords but never continued reading. Now that we are reading it she (wife) is struggling to get hooked by the story. I am not above calling myself pretentious and believe many people who enjoy this book may come across as pretentious. At first I thought she wasn't understanding the 3 plots happening simultaneously but that isn't the case, she just hates all of the useless references in the footnotes. I've read infinite jest, gravity's rainbow and the Great Gatsby. My question is, without having read this book, is it worth the time, is it actually good, will their be a part where she feels engaged by the plot? As of now she is not enjoying reading useless information that doesn't seem to further the story, do the footnotes eventually become more plot driven or relevant? I just don't want to waste her time on a 700 page slogfest when we could be reading Philip k Dick. I'm the sort of person who reads for the sake of reading, whether it's a cereal box or a scrap of newspaper, but I want her to be able to enjoy the hobby and would prefer not to force her through it if it's going to be more of the same thing
>>23980249I can’t speak about that novel in particular, but I have tried in the past to read with women on dates and find that short stories and poetry are the best for that. Maybe you and your wife could read a poem a day instead of a page? My go to is the “essential tales and poems” of Edgar Alan Poe. (Assuming this isn’t a shit post) I’m honestly happy that you have a wife that you can read with - I gave up on the idea of finding a SO that would enjoy reading together after the last girl said that it’s weird to read to each other (and generically speaking, I’ve never had a reading date that was “good”…at best neutral.).
Not all of the footnotes are interesting or even meant to be interesting. I took a lot of them as meant to be intellectual noise. There are three sets of footnotes, the footnotes by Zampano, the footnotes by the Editor/Publisher(fictional) and the footnotes by Johnny Truant, -our- editor(fictional).More often than not I could read the beginning of a footnote and skim it and tell whether it was worth reading or not. Generally Johnny's are the most interesting because that is where his story, as the man burdened by the manuscript, takes place. They are generally not relevant to the story of the Navidson Record, more about his day-to-day struggles, but they are interesting. Pretty racy too.What page are you on? I can grab my copy and see what kind of pagenotes you've seen up until that point. House of Leaves in itself is an unconventional read, I could see being on the same wavelength as someone else tricky. I have talked to women who liked the book though, second-third time I read it a cashier chit chatted with me about it because she enjoyed the book.
>>23980249That book simply doesn't work as an auditory experience.
