daydreamday's Book Journey

960+ Halls to the West? 890+ Halls to the North? 768+ Halls to the South? Upper Halls? Drowned Halls? Derelict Halls? Statues appearing from the Ceilings? dang, if my house was that big, i would want to explore it too (and probably get horribly lost)

i’m immediately intrigued by the use of capitalization and personification in the text so far. i always find it interesting when this is used and i can see why piranesi addresses objects and features of the house as individuals — they seem to be just as alive as he is

Which is strange because as far as I can remember it is not my name.

insane lore drop and the pages haven't even hit double digits yet

”If I took the bones out to examine them, I could never get them back in again.”

this really highlights to me how respectful and reverent Piranesi is of not only the House, but other living beings, regardless of their relation to him. he has never known the people who these bones were, and yet he would not dare disturb their final resting place, even if it could mean that he would get more information in this very mysterious world.

i think it’s a poignant contrast with a lot of research that we see in the real world-with many researchers/historians/archeologists with what seems to be no regard for humans, even dead ones. we desecrate graves, ransack tombs, all in the “search for knowledge”. but Piranesi rejects that! and i love it so much

I just started this, I have no idea what's going on, but I love the way this is written as Piranesi's journal and it is addressed to the reader, "The Sixteenth Person". Everything feels so quietly lovely and full of wonder; I have such a soft spot for the way this book lifts everything - from the Air to the Tides and Clouds and Windows - out of the mundane and into something more through Piranesi's voice and choices on what to capitalize.

This paragraph in particular: "In accordance with the first system I have named two years 2011 and 2012. This strikes me as deeply pedestrian. Also I cannot remember what happened two thousand years ago which made me think that year a good starting point. According to the second system I have given the years names like ‘The Year I named the Constellations’ and ‘The Year I counted and named the Dead’. I like this much more. It gives each year a character of its own. This is the system I shall use going forward."

I felt it in my bones. I've been grappling with this feeling that every year in my life is the same, that time is passing and my life is quiet and stagnant enough that I can't differentiate 2022 from 2024, and it makes me quite sad. But this book just gave me such a wonderful new way of thinking of it. And so simple, too! It feels so natural, like a 'duh, why didn't i come up with that myself?' kind of moment.

Narnia mentioned?

"He was standing in a snowy forest and speaking to a female child"

I noticed during chapter one, we get a idea of the contents of the house per level (Statues/Clouds/Water) and an idea of the structure as a whole (Halls/Wings/Levels/Derelict Halls) but not so much a description of the Middle Halls (the habitable area).

I have been imagining the Middle Halls of the House as something sterile like a museum, all white marble with no soft surfaces. I am wondering, have I maybe missed any descriptions of the Middle Halls?

How are you imagining The House and the Middle Halls?

'Oh, I see, he said. 'So you've told lots of people that you were coming here today to see me? All your friends? I frowned. 'No, I haven't told anyone. I don't usually tell people what I'm doing. But that's not because ... ›

Thats how you know our protagonist is a man, don‘t tell the strange dude that no one knows you went to his house

i’m immediately intrigued by the use of capitalization and personification in the text so far. i always find it interesting when this is used and i can see why piranesi addresses objects and features of the house as individuals — they seem to be just as alive as he is

”If I took the bones out to examine them, I could never get them back in again.”

this really highlights to me how respectful and reverent Piranesi is of not only the House, but other living beings, regardless of their relation to him. he has never known the people who these bones were, and yet he would not dare disturb their final resting place, even if it could mean that he would get more information in this very mysterious world.

i think it’s a poignant contrast with a lot of research that we see in the real world-with many researchers/historians/archeologists with what seems to be no regard for humans, even dead ones. we desecrate graves, ransack tombs, all in the “search for knowledge”. but Piranesi rejects that! and i love it so much

Which is strange because as far as I can remember it is not my name.

insane lore drop and the pages haven't even hit double digits yet

960+ Halls to the West? 890+ Halls to the North? 768+ Halls to the South? Upper Halls? Drowned Halls? Derelict Halls? Statues appearing from the Ceilings? dang, if my house was that big, i would want to explore it too (and probably get horribly lost)

I just started this, I have no idea what's going on, but I love the way this is written as Piranesi's journal and it is addressed to the reader, "The Sixteenth Person". Everything feels so quietly lovely and full of wonder; I have such a soft spot for the way this book lifts everything - from the Air to the Tides and Clouds and Windows - out of the mundane and into something more through Piranesi's voice and choices on what to capitalize.

This paragraph in particular: "In accordance with the first system I have named two years 2011 and 2012. This strikes me as deeply pedestrian. Also I cannot remember what happened two thousand years ago which made me think that year a good starting point. According to the second system I have given the years names like ‘The Year I named the Constellations’ and ‘The Year I counted and named the Dead’. I like this much more. It gives each year a character of its own. This is the system I shall use going forward."

I felt it in my bones. I've been grappling with this feeling that every year in my life is the same, that time is passing and my life is quiet and stagnant enough that I can't differentiate 2022 from 2024, and it makes me quite sad. But this book just gave me such a wonderful new way of thinking of it. And so simple, too! It feels so natural, like a 'duh, why didn't i come up with that myself?' kind of moment.