You ever finish reading a book and feel sad that you finished it?

Question

I just finished reading a book that I had been pecking away at for a month and now it is done. What do I do now? It is like I have just lost a good night time friend...

Answer 1

I so love this question, Jackie!

What a great compliment to the author that is. Somehow he/she wrote in a way that pulls you in to the point where you believe you are actually living the life described in the book. You seriously "know" those characters.....heck you even feel you ARE those characters.

The amazing aspect of a book is that you can escape within its pages. When you get so lost in a book, you're able to forget about the rest of life and live the words written before you. We all need an escape and turning to books is a fantastic way to do that! We enter that world and leave ours behind.

Therefore, when the book is finished, we almost mourn. I've literally cried before......not because the book was sad, but as you said, it it like losing a friend. You can get so lost in the book that you never want to lose that escape into another world.

So what do you now? The cool part is..........there are sooooooooo many books out there to escape into!

Find another book by the same author perhaps. If they grabbed you once, they most likely will grab you again. The reason why I love this question so much is that I love books so much. I have book lists out the wazoo that I would love to share with you. Once you find that style of writing you enjoy........it opens a world of so many experiences!

So say so long to that "friend" for now. You can always read it again down the road. But open your door to all the millions of "friends" you can make in the future. :)

Answer 2

Yes. I sometimes try envisioning a book that never ends. All those pages, disappearing out my window, down into the horizon until it is just a single point. Like the period at the the end of a book, except better because this time it is a promise that more is is still there. It's just a matter of reaching the horizon and starting over on the other side of the world.

I get a similar feeling in the library, when I see all those books and know that there's all these and more to last me my whole life.

Answer 3

I feel that way with my favorite books, especially a certain trilogy I fell in love with when I was younger, and completely squealed when the last book came out just earlier this year.
In the trilogy, the characters are so believable, so human, so everything that I wish I could jump inside the pages and join them. The main character is a boy-thief who has hilarious sarcastic jabs, and takes them as well. In the first book, he completely foiled the other characters and the reader into thinking one thing, then in the last chapter we all learned that he wasn't who he said he was. In the second book, he falls in love with a queen who chopped his hand off, and his country wages war on her country, and he's caught in the middle-- loyalties to his country and and love to the other country.
In the third book, he married his love and is a boy trying to be a king. Instead of waging complicated battle wars, he's in the middle of the most complicated battle-- winning over the loyalties of the palace workers.
When I learned that there was to be a third book, I found the first two books from my childhood, dusted them off, and fell in love with them once more. When the third book came out, I didn't want to read it because I knew that, when I started to read, I would get to the ending, and there would be no more story afterwards. My favorite books are my best friends, and though it's sad to say good bye, we can always pick them up again and start from the beginning.

Answer 4

All the time. Not your run of the mill pulp-fiction, but when I read a book with characters I really like (Ponyboy Curtis in the Outsiders or David Copperfield in David Copperfield for example) or characters I really hate (Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms) then I find myself sad to let go of the book. Those books I tend to go back and read over and over.

What do you do now, take a few minutes to mourn the loss of your friend, then read another book -- might I suggest "A Jest of God" by Margaret Laurence?

Answer 5

not really--I read multiple books at the same time going from one book to another. If you do this as you toss one book out because you've finished it, you may have two books also near completion, two that you are in the middle of, and you simply start a new one every third day---assuming you can read one book completely every five days.
Works for me.

Answer 6

I know the feeling I am feeling it right now. I am getting ready to start a new book but it isn't the same! I was really enjoying the story and the characters! I wish there was another book to follow the story along!

Answer 7

I felt that way about the Dean Koontz books - Frankenstein.
After the first one came out, I was upset it ended only to find out that a second one was on the way. I could hardly wait.

I read the second one only to find out a third one is due this year. That totally peeved me off because I believed the 2nd one would be it. I wanted to get to the ending. Although I am greatly looking forward to the 3rd one in the series. I hope to god there won't be a 4th because I wil personally strangle Dean....LOL

Answer 8

Yes, I understand what you mean. It IS like the loss of a good friend. I always feel sad when I finish a good book. MORE... I want MORE!

Answer 9

i know how you feel... i felt so sad after finishing the dark is rising series, the bronte sisters books, and the chronicles of narnia.. i felt kind of lost and depressed because the "world" i had entered while reading had come to an end... it takes a couple of days for me to get over the feeling and to find another book that will envelop my mind...

Answer 10

Of course, and more so if the book is longer or part of a series, as over time, you come to relate to and become attached to a character, and you are sad to find their story at an end.