Book Discussion Question:
What books do you grieve after reading, and how do you cope?
Edited 11/24/2016
So I got another request in for a book discussion question. As I'm not currently reading anything, I'm happy to post up another one. I'm having a lot of fun doing these! So please feel free to send me any requests for conversations!
So I got another request in for a book discussion question. As I'm not currently reading anything, I'm happy to post up another one. I'm having a lot of fun doing these! So please feel free to send me any requests for conversations!
I rarely book grieve. Usually, when I finish a book, I have no problem jumping into another one. To me, book grieving is what happens when I was so drawn into a book that afterward I have to take a few days off from reading to collect myself. I'm book grieving right now after reading The Fault in Our Stars. I want to read, but I need to let myself heal first. I didn't even realize I was book grieving at first. I realized it when I had to ask people what I should read, and realized... I didn't want to read yet. I wanted to linger on The Fault in Our Stars. It's a weird thing, mainly because I didn't feel as attached to the characters in this book. Alas, I'm still grieving over them. I'm wondering if I'm mourning because of how the book made me feel.
The last book I grieved over was Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I binged on the first two books, and when I finished those, I instantly had to read the last in the series. I finished it way too quickly and then couldn't read anything else for almost a week. I was attached to the characters in that series, and it took me a while to get over what happened in Allegiant. When I finished it, I turned off my kindle and cried myself to sleep. I hope it doesn't take me that long to grieve The Fault in Our Stars. I've got a road trip back to Indiana this week and am going to need to keep myself occupied while in the car.
My best coping method is just not to pick anything up until I feel ready again. It's silly, I know, but I get incredibly involved in the books I read. It's like the world around me doesn't exist. Chris has apparently had conversations with me while I'm reading, and I've had no recollection of them. Eh, what can you do?
Always I look forward to reading your thoughts on the matter. Thanks, Sarah, for another interesting topic piece!
I book grieve between books in a series. I get caught up in how I felt at the end about the circumstances and then I'm just cheesed I have to wait however long to get back into the world. At the end of a series, I feel the closure that it is over...unless it ends horribly (or is open-ended. I hate those). That's more a moment for screaming "WHAT?!!" and throwing your book across the room. I cope by making up my own ending that didn't blow. haha
ReplyDeleteHaving to wait X amount of time between books in a series is the worst for me. I've got a few like that now, and I end up losing interest. When I finally pick them back up, I forget what the hell happened in all of the other books to begin with. It's a sad vicious process. Maybe that's what I'll start working on- getting caught up on my series.
DeleteWhat are some books that you've had to make up your own ending for?
I purposefully wait until a series is over before picking it up just so I won't lose interest. I usually finish a series regardless, but if I have to wait a super long time, I stop caring about the story and the characters and end up finishing it just to get it over with. Bleh.
ReplyDeleteI book grieve mostly when I have given my entire being to a world and it ends. Such as Harry Potter. With longer series like that, I get so invested in the character's back stories and personalities that it is truly like losing a friend when it is over. It is less often that I book grieve over a stand-alone, but it has happened before. When I read The Fault in Our Stars the first time, it moved me but not in a way that I grieved because it was over. The second time, however, hit me a lot harder and I had to give reading a break for a few days.
I have been trying to get caught up with some of the series I have started. It's harder than I thought it would be.
I really like your practice of not reading a series until it's over. I need to pick that habit up, but alas a lot of the series I'm behind on are 10+ books and counting. There's so many of them I'm tempted to reread just to get re-acclimated with the characters and their worlds. House of Night, and the Sookie Stackhouse novels are ones that come to mind. I also have a series I love called The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. I think I'm on the 5th book, but there are apparently like 6 or 7 more now?
DeleteI definitely get more invested in series than stand alone books. It's honestly pretty rare for me to read something not in a series. I think in series you just get a better idea of the characters in the series.
What series are you trying to get caught up on, Leslie?
Thanks for the comment!