I just finished re-reading a favourite book, one that does not have a happy ending but one which I love whole-heartedly. As I approached the end of this book I became more and more tense-knowing my beloved character was going to meet a most unhappy and violent end and trying to stave it off while being compelled to read on. I guess it's the literary equivalent of rubber necking. Now it's done and I am in the mourning period-a cooling off that I go through after I finish a good book. I have to let it work its way out of my system. I have to keep it out of sight so I am not tempted. It may take days or weeks until I feel like I can begin something new and different. I tried to pick up a new book this morning but it was too soon-I just wasn't into it. I leafed through an old OPRAH magazine last night-not even caring about it but just going through the act of turning the pages.
It's like the end of a relationship isn't it? You and these characters have been intimately involved and now it's over-against your wishes. The thought of dating someone else, someone new and different is just not appealing. You still have the language of the other in your ear at night when you go to bed, the images of that person's terrain. Invitations from other books go ignored on your shelves and bedside tables, the effort of putting yourself into them just too much to think about. Okay, so I may be exaggerating for the sake of drama. But then when you finally do feel ready to open another book and leap in-there you go! and you are in that other world again.
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