I hate it. I am not ready to leave the world and the story. I want to spend more time with the characters and their development. I just finished "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir and I've spent the past 24 hours unable to think of much else. I've listened to chapters over again because I'm not ready to leave it.
Is there a word for this?
I've often seen it called a "book hangover."
That's a good word for it lol, I was going to say yearning (for the story world) or booksickness (after homesickness)
I heard it used a while ago, not my original term, but it’s stuck with me since.
Take heart: You may finish a good book, but that doesn't mean that it's finished with you.
I felt the same way after finishing Project Hail Mary, I want a sequel.
I want a companion book showing how Earth survived. I've got some ideas. Sure, you can use mirrors and green houses and obviously Africa and the middle east will be new power houses... But imagine spin drives mounted in the air, just exhausting heat as they run on miniscule amounts of astrophage.
I think the story could go a few ways. We are a greedy species, so I would expect a single nation to try to keep the power to itself.
I was a little down after finishing Lonesome Dove. I felt kind of stupid about it.
It is one of my favorites. I couldn't stop reading it.
I'm reading this thread, because I've been struggling to find books that I enjoy lately. Lonesome Dove is good motivation to keep looking.
I was thinking Shogun will be a good one.
Omg, I was just looking at this book the other day because I want to read a Western for the first time. Meant to order and never did!! Headed back to eBay now.
It won a Pulitzer Prize. Beautiful story. 🙂
just happened to me. I just finished Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (i finished it literally 10 minutes ago) and i’m so sad it’s over. The weird mix of happiness and grief is overwhelming
I just finished Howl's as well. Went out and bought the two sequels same day.
if i could i would be on my way to B&N today to do the very same thing but i have to move back to college today 0.o
Ask a german, they have words for everything.
Was going to say this, then said, “I bet someone beat me to it.” 😂
It’s crazy to me how many people in this subreddit go absolutely gaga for this book. To me, it was perfectly fine, but utterly forgettable. Just a silly little story about a guy and a silly little spider creature. But every week someone posts about how it was a life-changing book.
I'm with you. Entertaining enough, but badly written and way too long.
I saw someone mention that it's a book that feels very specifically Reddit-y in its humor, and I think that largely explains the popularity here. To boot, it's a very easy read with absolutely nothing going on below the surface (ie, it's very straightforward when it comes to the main character's emotions, which are not especially complex). And, of course, there's the fact that it fulfills the perfect fantasy of the main character >!saving the entire world and then making a huge selfless "sacrifice"—which is actually anything but—to also save his friend!<.
It's an absolute binge read. It's a compelling story with a lot of discoveries and exciting moments. There are many parts of the book that are absurd and can't possibly work, but the entire premise is absurd so I rolled with it and enjoyed the book for what it is. I found myself very attached to both Rocky and Grace as a result. It wasn't life changing, but as an optimist I always enjoy books where people work together to solve existential threats.
I agree as well. As a general principle, I try to avoid most books that spend a long time near the top of Amazon's best seller list. I'm not the audience for those.
I don't remember much about the book. I read it about a year ago. I remember liking the first 50 pages or so, but once he met the alien creature it went downhill fast. It would be an entertaining children's book I guess.
It somehow feels like having to say goodbye to a friend.
I felt like that after Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Just wandered around the house feeling vacant
I had a big book hangover with Pride & Prejudice last year. I cured it by reading another Jane Austen (Sense & Sensibility) and by watching the TV adaptation over and over again until I got it out of my system.
I get the same feeling after knocking one out :(
It's ok though all things end good and bad. You just need another book :)
If only my book club would read faster 🙎 I do need a new side book. My preferred way of reading is via audio books and often after I finish a good book I'll spend a day or two listening to music instead of 'read'. I need something familiar while I am in the post-book melancholy before I can get to know new characters and stories. I'm definitely going to be the person who listens to certain books over and over again to fill this void.
How does one even find a book club nowadays? I didn't realise they still exist.
My friends made one during COVID 🙂. We meet weekly. The first hour is basically group therapy and catch up, the second hour we talk about the book. We are now spread across three states and it gives us an excuse to get together via video chat regularly.
One friend and I started a book-club-of-two at the beginning of the pandemic. We meet twice a week on FaceTime, and same for us :
>The first hour is basically group therapy and catch up, the second hour we talk about the book.
We are still going strong, and we have read so many books.
See I try to do this with one of my friends but he doesn't stick with the book lol. And none of my other friends read 😫
I've had the same convo in our bookclub about our SOs. One would be down to a book club, the other five absolutely would not. You are a special breed and I hope you find your people. Why don't you ask here? Maybe you can some new friends. 🙂
I have been in a book club for over 15 years. We started with around 12 women and are now down to 7. We meet in person once a month, usually at a restaurant…we socialize for about 30 minutes and then discuss the book. Whoever chose the book has to lead the discussion. It’s fun!
Post book melancholy, i like that
My god, yes. I've just sat here and experienced a world shift because the character I loved/hated died/found happiness (delete not applicable), and you're still standing there asking what I want for dinner‽ I banish thee, foul beast!
God, I remember the first time I finished the Harry Potter series. I think I just sat there staring at the wall and silent crying for like 10 mins, realising I'd just ended an era of my life and my favourite book series at the same time.
Then my sister barged in and called me an idiot. Thanks, sis.
Yeah that happened with me too. It also happened at the same time I finished school, so it felt truly like the end of childhood
Especially when it’s a big series. I’m always so excited to get to the last book and then I’m empty when I finish it
This is how I felt when I finished the Aubrey-Maturin series. It was like a lost an old friend
After reading a great novel one starts looking for another novel with similar excitement.
The audiobook was a DELIGHT. I desperately need a movie version with Gillian Anderson as Stratt.
Op speaks books. PHM was a fantastic book, and the bookover you get is a serious issue. The worst is when you don’t have another ready to go or if the author has nothing else you haven’t read.
The Count of Monte Cristo did this to me
Had that feeling after reading Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Wanted to start on The Girl Who Played With Fire but was intimidated by the thickness of the book.
The whole series is amazing! I think I read all three books over the course of a few weeks.
Yeah it feels like grief, almost like someone close to you has died :(
I experienced this after I finished reading Don Quixote. It had become my habit to pick up the book every night after work. I always felt excited before reading because I always expected to read more about their misadventures. I was like "what trouble are Don Quixote and Sancho gonna get into today?" But now it's over. And it's a sad feeling.
I felt nothing but relief at finishing Don Quixote. I know that a lot of people love it, but it wasn't for me.
In my family we call this having “book longing.” I feel you.
I recently finished reading Moby Dick (I had been so intimidated by the thought of reading it for so long). I read the final chapter so slowly, and after I read the last line I burst out crying. And it takes a lot to make me cry, and when I do it's almost always about an animal(s).
I didn't want to leave the world of Moby Dick. I want to go back to that world, that experience. I will go back.
A word for this? Post-biblial tristesse?
moby dick is so awesome
and I call that feeling a book hangover lmao
Thats what i am always searching for, that fantastic feeling, even more when you are in absolute awe while reading, realizing you are holding a masterpiece in your hands.... and how you never want it to end
For me these were clearly (in no order):
Some of these do have ups and downs and don't wrap up as great as they should, but during parts of them you are simply WOW-ed by their magnificence.
It is equally frustrating when i "dont get" some supposed masterpieces and think that it would be a better experience if i had just read them in another time / phase of life.
The Sparrow for sure!
Yes, I felt really lost for a while after finishing The Wheel of Time, it took me several years to get through it all as I don't get time for long reading sessions.
But I read it all on Kindle and would take it literally everywhere with me, I travelled all across Australia, Europe, Mauritius, Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand with that book in my pocket.
I read it on planes, buses, cars, trains, trams and taxis.
I read it at the pub waiting for mates, at sports stadiums during half time, at lunch time during work or in my bed until I dozed off to sleep.
Any free moment I had I would give to reading that series, so when I concluded the final book, I wasn't just finishing a chapter in a book, I was finishing a chapter in my life.
When I realized that I was on the last Discworld book, and I would never be able to truly re-experience it truly again and no more books would ever happen...it got me darn sad
I've still got The Shepard's Crown sat in my bookcase, unread. I'm waiting for when the time is right. When I am ready to accept that the full story of the Discworld is done.
i did the same thing.
When I get that feeling, I pick up the book and read it all over again. I always find something I've missed and it helps fill the hole.
I got an e-arc of "The Magician's Daughter" by H.G. Perry and it's been weeks now, but I can't get the characters and the island out of my head. I loved the story so much, a little sad that it wasn't longer.
I call it empty
I understand this feeling too well. 😌
pbd (post book depression) or story hangover
I feel we could almost name it after Stockholm Syndrome, but without the negative connotations.
Narnia Syndrome?
Nothing compares to finishing Leviathan Falls, book 9 of The Expanse. So empty...
duende?
Just finished Suttree, feels the same
Or the way you put the book down and drag out the last pages, to keep it from ending? With some books, like Jennifer Coburn's new historical novel "Cradles of the Reich," I continue the story in my mind, spinning sequels and alternate endings.
Its the worst after finishing a series. Knowing that there is no more to come and you spent a few months with one series its like going back hone after holidays.
I generally feel that way after a series of books, or an 800 or 900 page book I really enjoyed. Clan of the Cave Bear comes to mind, The Outlanders is another series. When I read the last book of each series, I was left wanting more - I felt empty, disappointed, I was almost going through withdrawal! Such a longing for more.
This must be a normal reaction for avid readers since you raised the question!
It happened to me with the same book! I wanted more.
Just finished Harrow the Ninth, same feeling
True, but think of the excitement of starting a new adventure. Or when you go to the bookstore with the excitement of looking for it.
That's the beauty of reading.
The alternation of the sense of gain and loss.
You lose "a friend" when you finish a book, but this loss makes you appreciate it more when you find a new one. ;)
Yes and you want to call the writer and ask him or her. Sooooo what are you waiting for shouldn’t you do something important like write the next book 😂😂😂😂
Portlandia's Battlefield Galactica episode is exactly this 😂
oh cool I will check the book out thanks 🙏 Who is the writer
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I get this all the time...I call it book withdrawals...best cure is to find a new book to obsess over
That’s why you read Wheel of Time so you can always keep reading.
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for me when that happened I had stuff going on or a lack of it, in real life, which I had to confront. I had it a bit as well with project hail mary, but I have many more books which I hope will do it for me.
I've read Artemis and of course The Martian, on a scale of 1-10 how fast should I drop anything I'm doing rn to pick Project Hail Mary up?
It's not earth-shattering or profound. You won't end it questioning all you know about life. But it is a lot of fun and you won't want to leave. Read it next.
i actually felt completely relieved when i was done reading andy weir's the martian. it was one of the worst books i've ever read.
If you don't geek out on science/math his books can be tedious. The Martian lacked an emotional component, Project Hail Mary had that in spades. I thought it was a much better book, but yeah, lots of science and math.
I loved The Martian but I was an engineering student at the time. Looking forward to PHM but it’s checked out for so long at my library.
I should just buy it.
havent' read that one, maybe ill like it more.
SpasmociallySunny t1_j4eoc5r wrote
I don’t know any real words for it, but I call it bookstalgia.