Miss You Already

Posted on | Tuesday, February 1, 2011 | 7 Comments

How do you feel when you finish reading a truly amazing book? I'll admit I often feel a twinge of jealousy - I call them the "Why, oh why, can't I write like that" blues. A sigh of contentment if things ended up exactly the way [I think] they were supposed to. Sometimes my brain will just keep spinning, asking questions and attempting (in vain?) to answer them. MOCKINGJAY, anyone??


Lately, I've realized the mark of a great book is one that makes me feel lonely after I'm done. You know that feeling - when you've been on the phone to your best friend for hours, laughing, being silly, talking about everything, and then you hang up and it's 2 in the morning and there's this quiet stillness, emptiness, and it's just you?

I hate that feeling.

I love that feeling.

I hope someday people feel lonely after reading my books. But only for a little while. I'm only slightly sadistic. :)

In the couple of days after finishing a REALLY GOOD book, I'll think often about the characters I left behind and sometimes reread scenes to work through my obsession. I still wonder about Katniss. About Lennie and Joe from The Sky is Everywhere. And please God someone tell me Macy and Wes from THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER are still together. Married, maybe? Engaged?

I read ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS a few weeks ago, and I miss Anna and Etienne.

I've read tons of gushing reviews about this book, which is why I haven't written one, but THEY ARE ALL RIGHT.

So. Now you know the unfortunate truth about me: I write to make people feel lonely.

Does this happen to you, too? How do you work through the process of Good-Book-Inflicted-Loneliness?

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Comments

7 Responses to “Miss You Already”

  1. Liza
    February 1, 2011 6:46 AM

    Sometimes, when I finish a book like that, at night I in bed I make up stories about what happens next.

  2. Becca
    February 1, 2011 7:41 AM

    I thought I was the only one who believed this.
    The only thing I can do is take a break from reading and even writing after a book that leaves me feeling lonely. That way I can give real life a chance to seep in.

  3. Tricia J. O'Brien
    February 1, 2011 7:55 AM

    How do you make me smile even when you're talking lonely??? This is a wonderful post and so true. When an author makes me really care about the characters, I sigh when the story ends. I look for more pages--surely, it's not over?

  4. T C Mckee
    February 1, 2011 10:27 AM

    I'm not sure that I've ever felt lonely after reading a book like this. But I have had a sense of longing for the characters. I usually just look for another book that might be it's equivalent but that doesn't always happen. The rest I just take out on my husband and he generally doesn't mind;)

  5. Julie
    February 1, 2011 10:49 AM

    Somehow I KNEW this would be about Anna. :) Because I felt the EXACT same way!
    I love when a book can touch me that deeply, when I feel like I've made a new friend. And I love that you also mentioned The Truth About Forever because that book also did this to me.
    Overall...I'm full of love for this post! :)

  6. Jade
    February 1, 2011 3:57 PM

    YES! I know exactly what you mean. I only recently read The Sky is Everywhere and I miss the characters so much. It's exactly the same with Anna and Etienne. I wanted to stay in Paris with them forever!

    I love books like that!

  7. Icy Roses
    February 1, 2011 7:11 PM

    That book is totally on my reading list. I read THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE on your recommendation and I felt the same way.

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I read, I write, I watch too much reality TV. I sing in the shower and in the car. I like things that make me cry and things that make me laugh. I imagine in a past life I was a world-class athlete, a saint, or at least a little taller. And now, I blog. I'm repped by Suzie Townsend at Nancy Coffey Literary. My debut YA novel, ALL THESE LIVES, will be published by FSG/Macmillan in June 2012.

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