Literacy 2026: Book 2: Strange Houses

BookStrange Houses (Henna Ie) by Uketsu SynopsisThe author receives an unremarkable request from an acquaintance to look over the floor plan of a house that they’re thinking of buying. An odd detail in the layout leads to other unusual observations about the house, and unsettling speculation about what the previous residents might have been using it for. NotesThis is the second book in a series by the mysterious Japanese YouTuber and author. I haven’t yet read the first book Strange Pictures, but that’s the one that was making the rounds in book recommendations last year. Strange Houses is a very quick and propulsive read — I checked it out from the library this afternoon, didn’t intend to start reading it immediately, and had already finished by this evening. Many of the pages are taken up with repeated depictions of the floor plans, each highlighting a different portion of the plan described by the text. The rest is taken up by mostly by conversations between the author and other…