Who else loves Mark Z. Danielewski?

I can't even remember how I stumbled upon his name... Bu immediately, and I mean immediately after seeing the description of his epic novel House of Leaves, I had to buy. It sounded like the kind of mind-boggling greatness I loved in books.

But House of Leaves changed me as a reader and writer, it's vast array themes, constantly shifting storylines and genres, it gave me a certain amount of clarity when it came to literature as a whole while tackling dozens of other subjects within it's fantastic pages.

I don't know if anyone else has experienced an author this great, but having read his other novel Only Revolutions (a sprawling stream of consciousness prose work that is basically two books in one, you really have to see for yourself), it's easy to see that he is one of the most talented writers of current times. He is so great at blending old and new tactics so seamlessly, he creates a style that I don't think had even been hinted at beforehand.

Just recently, I picked up a copy of Black Clock literary magazine and he had a short story called Clip 4 included in it. It was a downright shocker, basically a House of Leaves-esque but not quite as large piece, and I mean, I just really love reading his work, he makes things interesting.

One of the aspects that I find intriguing is all of the symbolism he uses. He basically tosses it out like candy and half of the time I don't think the symbols really mean anything, he's just trying to make the readers think. That's what I love to read in an author.

Anxiously awaiting the mass-production of his novella The Fifty-Year Sword in October and a 27-volume serial novel that starts in 2014. That in itself is a story all it's own, here's the premise: http://pantheon.knopfdoubleday.com/2...from-pantheon/

Anyone else share my love for this guy?

House of Leaves is one of those books that I've had on my (Amazon) Wishlist for years and just never get around to, mostly because it's so long. I tend to stay away from long contemporary works, I guess because I fear ending up wasting that could've been used reading a longer classic work (I'm still working my way through the classics). Still, from what I keep hearing about it, I may give it a go sooner than later. It sounds like something I'd dig.

Still, even though I haven't read, I'm guessing one of the criticisms of the book is what you consider a strength: the use of a lot of symbolism. An overuse of it can be tiresome, especially if the author is just trying to make the reader think, which could be taken as a kind way to say he's screwing with the reader. Not that there's anything wrong with an author screwing with the reader, it is just quite hard to pull it off without sending the reader into an exasperated state. A book that's an extended practice in screwing with the reader is Moby Dick (my personal favorite), and it to has caused much exasperation. There's no shortage of symbolism. You should give it a read if you haven't, Truth. Plus, prose doesn't get much more beautiful than Moby Dick.

I started reading Moby Dick as somewhat of a joke in 3rd grade but never really got around to understanding it as I was so young and goofy. No doubt I'll try it again though, being such a classic work.

But yeah, I highly recommend you try out House of Leaves. The pseudo-symbolism can get tiresome but the overall storyline I just think is fascinating.