I think I may have found one of my favourite books of the year already. I was blown away by the beautiful, deliberate language and the slow unfolding of the world around and within the protagonist. An absolute masterstroke. I loved the House and all the little ways the protagonist interacts with It. I loved the psychology of his tangles with the Other and 16. I loved the way Clarke incorporated the journal entries in the story, and the tangible, physical way the House and the action within it is described. It seems to me at once as solid as marble and as ephemeral as a dream.

2024 reread: I had forgotten a lot of the delightful details of this book, but not the feeling it gave me. That was just as special as the first time I read it. The prose in this book is just so stunning.