Am i the only one who feels a bit bereft and lost when they finish a good book?

[lucyellensmumisgreat]

I have just finished a great book, although the end (as so often is) was a tad disappointing. It was a huge great wedge of a book too so took me ages. Now what do i do - i have some books to start but can't decide.

Does anyone else hate this literary limbo?

[ClaraDeLaNoche]

Me too. At the end of a book I sometimes feel like I'm saying goodbye to a friend. Sniff sniff.

[PestoMonster]

I also feel like this, but the key is to have a good selection lined-up in advance. Then dive into a new one asap

[ClaraDeLaNoche]

I started a Margaret Atwood last night. I am worried I just don't get her.

[ClaireDeLoon]

I feel like this too. Then I find myself casting around the recommendation threads on here and getting on amazon - I need to plan more.

[ClaraDeLaNoche]

I just finished the Guernsey Literary book that was recommended on here. Loved it.

[JeffVadar]

Oh yes, I often feel like this. Sometimes I just can't start the next book for several days - so that I can let the effects of the last one wear off.

[lucyellensmumisgreat]

im with you there jeff, i have a few lined up, but i find it difficult when I have adjusted to a particular writing style.

I have been on a bit of a downer too since i finished last book, like that whole other world is closed to me now

I know, im just weird

[TheFool]

Oooh yes, you wander round for a few days picking up books, reading the blurb, sometimes reading a page or two but then putting them back down sighing.

[TheFool]

I've started reading the next book (in the loo normally) a bit before the end of the current book, so I am already slightly immersed in another book and it takes the bereft feeling away a bit.

[EdwardBitMe]

I sometimes can't read another book for a few days after finishing a really interesting read. I need time to digest a good book.
I think it's the sign of a great book.

[edam]

yes, sometimes you feel real sense of loss, like leaving a good friend you know you won't be seeing for a very long time.

Felt like that about (IIRC) The crimson petal and the white - the one where the heroine is called Sugar and is a prostitute in Victorian London.

[TheFool]

I'll never forget finishing The Amber Spyglass. I had been so engrossed in their world for a few years, for it all to be over was a big wrench.

[Tortington]

yes me too. i finished half of a yellow sun and had to mourn the end of it

i bought another one called the cutting room - and its shit.

so i bought another one called 'away' by amy bloom - not even in the same league - but easy read for the train and now i am halfway through i need to know the ending - although i suspect i know it already.

i think great books ae just few and far between, i almost don't want the dissapointment of the next book to ruin it

[yappybluedog]

The Cutting Room is indeed rubbish

I usually have 2 books on the go, one fiction & 1 non-fiction and have the next read already selected before I have finished

not that I'm obsessed or anything

[brimfull]

lucyellen-what was the great book?

I too feel like this,I recently read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and talked about it to anyone and everyone for days after I finished it.
You need someone to talk about it with.

[mollyroger]

TheFool - me too, that whole triology had me in another world for a fortnight! And I am not usually a sci-fi sort of gal at all. Was a dose of the flu and sheer desperation for something to read which led me to the Amber spyglass

I am utterly compelled to read. I chain read. Sometimes I have 2 concurrently; if I have lost one for a day or two, I'll start another

[bea]

absolutely... i was heartbroken when the harry potters were all done and dusted!

[lucyellensmumisgreat]

ggirl, it was called SHANTARAM, by a guy called Gregory David Roberts. I think it was his first and only novel, an autobiography type thing (i dont usually do auto or biogs) but this one was pretty good if not a little self gratifying (if that is the right word). It was one of those, "i found inner peace in india" type novels, with a twist.

[Molesworth]

I feel like this too, but only when I've really loved the book. The last one that got me like that was Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled (read it recently, not when it was published!).

[Maria2007]

Yes I have this feeling too. The same thing, interestingly, happens to me sometimes after wonderful dreams! I.e. both with dreams & good novels I feel completely immersed in the 'feeling' & atmosphere of the book (or the dream!) & find it hard & annoying to return to my real life.

With books I have to say this happens rarely, usually with very particular types of books (not necessarily with the best books, but certainly with the ones which have the most vivid / interesting characters). I can distinctly remember it happening with 'A prayer for Owen Meany' by John Irving and also with 'Tully' by Paullina Simons.

[lucyellensmumisgreat]

I do that with dreams too. Im kind of in that state today, although last nights dream was pretty disturbing and i'd rather not be.

[JeffVadar]

edam - loved the crimson petal and the white too! Did you know there were some follow up stories; called The Apple?

[GrimmaTheNome]

A couple of times I've had to race to get to the end to find out what happens, and then immediately re-read in a leisurely manner.

When I had time to read...

[Jux]

there are some books that I really don't want to finish but when I do, I feel like that. I usually read a really light, easy book as soon as poss - Pratchett or some such, even Agatha Christie. They allow me to ease out of it without really forcing intellectual/emotional engagement.

[flyingcloud]

Lucyellen - Johnny Depp bought the film rights to Shantaram and not sure if it's in production or not. I LOVED that book - it is very absorbing and while hard to believe that some or all of it might be true it is a damn good yarn.

I am yearn for the feeling of picking up a particular book for the first time and becoming totally immersed in it. I feel sad when I put it down and know that no matter how long I wait to re-read it I won't get that initial hit of discovering it for the first time.