Binge-read House of Leaves over 2 days: I am not what I used to be.

Title says it all. I'm an educator on summer vacation so I have had plenty of free time, and this book has been on my radar for ages. I only just this week felt up to the task of navigating it and... wow.

I had heard so many folks describe this text as life-changing, or as something that stuck with them, and I don't think I really believed it until now. I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but this is the first time in a long time a book has affected me so much. It is not an exaggeration to say I devoured it.

As someone with a, shall we say "fraught" relationship with my own family, some of the later passages struck either a nerve or a chord - I'll have to get back to you on exactly which. Maybe both. Either way, I came to the book with my own baggage and when I finished it (which, mind you, was something like midnight last night), I ended up opening my journal and sort of free-writing/unpacking so much of myself that I had graphite smeared all over my hands after.

I woke up this morning feeling genuinely lighter. I'm still in a kind of shock, truth be told.

I'm curious: how has the book impacted you? Are you what you used to be?