If you have ever read a book that had you racing through page after page to get to the ending, hungrily devouring each word until you reached the point where there were no words left, then you probably know the feeling I'm referring to: that second of shock when the words run out.
It's like you're momentarily stunned when you realize the book has come to an end.
And then the initial numbness wears off, and the weight of it all starts to settle more firmly in your mind. It's all-encompassing, all-consuming. You realize there are no longer any challenges to cheer your favorite characters through, no more insights into the workings of their minds. No more hints at how their future plays out after the close of the book, no more words to be read about them ever again.
It's a lot to take in.
When I close a good book, I need to be motionless for a couple minutes, collecting myself and composing my thoughts. Often, I can't even think about starting on another book yet. How is another going to begin to compare when your emotions are still so raw from the one you just finished?
And it's especially difficult at the conclusion of a series. (I was an absolute puddle when I finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"). All of those characters and places and images that you've poured so many hours into visualizing in your mind's eye, that you've grown up with or grown close to or grown to know like the back of your hand, gone.
It's almost a little painful.
If you're like me, that moment of silent reflection is so necessary. It seems silly to talk and write about it this way, like it's such a dramatic ordeal. But in a sense, it kind of is. A world just ended.
This is getting a little gloomy, so to add a little humor to the article, here's an e-card I found that describes the situation perfectly:
I feel like that is so true. But while that between-books state is sad, and, at times, even a little unsettling, I don't think that it is necessarily an entirely negative thing. In fact, I think that might be the period of time when we learn the most from books, as we're saying goodbye and letting the lessons soak in.
For those who managed to struggle through this sappy article: I applaud you. You must be just as overemotional as me. Here's to you, and here's to experiencing that sad, unsettled book hangover together. Most importantly, here's to the good books that we keep picking up, even though we know at some point we'll have to put them back down.
