March 20, 2008
Mar
'08
Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?
(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)
For the most part, I savor the moment. First, I have a bit of time to myself (I don’t consider reading time “time to myself” because I’m keeping in close company with the characters). After a bit of distance is placed between the immediate ending of the book, I start to think back on it as a whole. I find that if I try to think of the entire story right away, I focus on the ending too much and miss out on a lot of my musings towards the beginning or middle. (On that note, I sometimes keep track of my questions during a book by writing them down, and this would be the time to go back and see if any of them were answered.) In any case, after I feel like I’ve given the book enough justice to put it back on the bookshelf and stop flipping through/thinking of it, I start on the next book.
It’s a hard task for me to just put a book back on the bookshelf. It may seem odd (because it is), but I don’t like to put them away from my sight so quickly. I’d like for them to float around a little while in front of me, reminding me of the enriching story I’ve just gotten through or the favorite character who shared his life with me.
If, however, the book is part of a series, and assuming I’ve read the first one*, I’ll usually immediately pick up the next, if I can. This is whether or not there’s a cliffhanger; sometimes these books stand well enough on their own, but I’m so interested in the lives of the characters that I just must go on!
*Often times I find myself accidentally picking up a book in the middle of a series. This is due to some confusion in copyright date/republishing, the listing on the inside cover of the book, or incorrect website information. For example, I somehow got it through my head that Unsigned was the first book in Julie Kaewert’s Booklover mysteries. I got through it fine, albeit a bit confused, and now plan on going back to the first to start all over. Yes, it’s true, that was the fifth book in the series so I have a lot of catching up to do!
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I like to keep notes as I’m reading as well, otherwise, as you say, the ending of a book can loom too large in your memory and, especially if you’re writing a review, take on a prominence it perhaps doesn’t deserve.
Mar
'08