Book Hangovers

[Mel]

Got a book hangover? Join the club. <3

So, there are some different definitions of a book hangover.
A preoccupation with a certain world, story, and characters that can last for days.
The immediate emotional state in which you find yourself after that last page.
Apparently, it can also mean being bleary-eyed after a late night of reading.
(Which is different from any other day how?)

To me, it's grief. Loss. That immediate, hollow feeling after saying goodbye. It feels like an empty house after hosting a party. Laughing friends gone, the loneliness sets in. Lost in a contemplative daze, I'm good for nothing or no one until it passes, usually the next day. For that reason, if I have a feeling a book will wreck me, I try to time it so that I'll finish late at night, so that I can sleep it off.

The ones that get me the worst are where the happy ending comes only at some tragic cost or sacrifice. Bittersweet. Also, when the band of heroes must part at the end, each going their separate ways. Or simply realizing at the end how much things have changed, how much they have changed, and nothing will be the same again. Then cue the vaseline-blurred nostalgic retrospective montage as the ending credits roll.

Of course, there are other kinds of books. Those ones that end in a rosy glow, that make you feel in love, with a happiness that hurts. Such afterglows can be just as debilitating. ^_^;

What is your definition of a book hangover?

What are some books that have given you a book hangover? Are there certain types of stories that affect you more?

Do you ever time when you finish a book, because you can't possibly properly grieve on the subway?

Have you just finished a book, and just need a space to babble and sob?

Go ahead and share your thoughts on those two most tragic words: The End.


P.S. - 15 Signs You're Experiencing a Book Hangover

[Mel]

The inspiration was T. Kingfisher's Clocktaur War duology which left me with some feelings. I made the terrible, terrible, mistake of finishing it in the early evening. I looked at the clock, saw it was barely 6, and thought...
Oh no.
What have I done.

In the end, I fell asleep soon after, and was granted a reprieve.

Spoilery spoilers.
(view spoiler)[It was a Happy Ending!
Romantic moments were swoonworthy and romantic!
Only...
Well...
Right off the bat, we have the sacrifice and death of one of the main characters. Others have parted, off in distant cities. We have trauma. Coming to terms with a friend's death... at the end of their own blade. "Stop sounding like a goddamn knight and sound like somebody who just killed their friend!" Although it had been referenced throughout, at the end it goes into how Caliban was drowned to death again and again. For a fairly lighthearted pair of books, that's a lot to absorb.

Near the end, I liked the bit where they come upon a village, and Caliban whispers, "They're rebuilding." Slate snaps at him, "What else can they do!? Lie down in the dust and die?" It made me think about how soldiering on is depicted as heroic... but it's also just the weary reality. Two sides of a coin. (hide spoiler)]

[Anna]

Melissa, does it help your Clocktaur hangover to hear that not only are there two other books in the same world already out (and on your TBR), but yet another one is coming soon? Even if it's not with the same characters, at least you'll get to have adventures with gnoles again!

I definitely get book hangovers, but I don't sleep them off, because I wallow in the feels and stay up all night :S

[Allison]

Are you always book hungover then??? Is that what it is?

I have felt that way. Often lately I get more book "hangovers" in the sense I have read too much and need to do something else. But for example I knew after I read Fifth Season that any book I read after was gonna be a rebound book and I wouldn't like it.

Marrow Thieves was the latest one I read and needed to compose myself after. It wasn't the worst hangover I've had, but I did need to chew and swallow that pill very carefully once I realized that I'd been given medicine for a hurt I didn't know I had.

[Anna]

Allison wrote: "Are you always book hungover then??? Is that what it is?"

Only when I'm not drunk on book power!

[Sandy]

I too have book hangovers. There are stories that get me so enmeshed in the world that I have to have the next in the series right away. That's why I usually don't start series until they are finished. I can't stand not knowing what happens next.

I never get a hangover from a book with a cliff hanger at the end because it ticks me off so much, I am very likely to not finish the series.

Drizzt and Catti-brie - they got me.

[Mel]

@Anna
Yes, I was planning on picking up Swordheart next, in fact. One reason I like to binge authors is that it tends to help with those withdrawal symptoms. But wait... I know Paladin's Grace is also set in the same world, but... what is the upcoming one?? *ears perk forward*

Yes, I am also a fan of a good wallow. Sometimes I'll take a solitary walk by the river, since it helps to have a scenic vista for those melancholy sighs. A childhood swing set works well too. Mustn't forget the aesthetics of these things, after all. :)

[Mel]

@Allison
Well, not every book produces one. There are the underwhelming books, or ones that leave off on a cliffhanger. And I now realize... they are the ones where I have fallen in love with the characters. There are plenty of good books that I love more for the plot, or ideas, or language, but I don't mourn them in the same way.

Ah. I suppose that's like feeling the need for some fresh air, or a change of pace. Hm, I may consider jumping onto that Fifth Season BR coming up. I've heard it's so good, but also been warned that it gets dark, so I keep putting it off, not sure if I can emotionally handle it. You have me curious about Marrow Thieves now. I'd been given medicine for a hurt I didn't know I had. is such an excellent description.

[Anna]

There's another paladin book that's in the first draft stage, and knowing Ursula, it'll be out pretty soon. I can't wait!

[Amanda]

Allison wrote: "Are you always book hungover then??? Is that what it is?

I have felt that way. Often lately I get more book "hangovers" in the sense I have read too much and need to do something else. But for exa..."

Very much this, the feeling that anything else I read will just be a disappointment by comparison. Fifth Season is probably the first one that did it to me, too.

[Midiain]

I get two different kinds of book hangovers. The most common is when a book is either unusually excellent or especially challenging. I need digest and think about it for a little bit before I jump into the next book.

The other kind is fairly rare but it's when I'm so deeply invested in the characters and so completely immersed in the world that I grieve when it's over. Particularly when it's a series, but a trilogy or even a very long book can occasionally be sufficient. I feel like I'm literally mourning people and places that I love and will never see again. It does not matter at all that I can read the books again at any time. There will never be new stories, I will never know what becomes of those characters in the rest of their lives. That's provided they survived, it's worse if they didn't.

[S.]

I love and hate book hangovers. Sometimes they hurt so darn much and you just want to curl up in a ball. Other times they're like a wild ride and it's over and you're sitting there just stunned but happy all like "Well, that was fun!"

The last book that gave me the happy kind was Inda-- I haven't picked anything up yet since because I'm just, still sitting there. Savoring.

[Mel]

@Sandy
I understand the reluctance to start incomplete series. I also like to binge, and dwell in the same world from one book to the next without interruption.

@Anna
Oh, good to know! I mean, I'll look forward to whatever she writes next regardless, but another in the same universe is exciting.

@Caillen
Yes. You described it well. Quite simply, it's having to say goodbye to people and places you love.

@S.
It's so nice to get the happy kind of afterglows. Those ones I really like to chat about. Like, you just can't get enough of it and have to share.

[Michelle]

That's what it was- a book hangover!!!! I experienced this when I finished Janny Wurts' series which began with The Curse of the Mistwraith and ended with Destiny's Conflict. Who knows how long it will be before the final book is out. But when I was done the last available book, I thought to myself, "Oh no! What the heck will I read now?!" The same thing happened with Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books.

[Stephanie]

I relate to this! I get them with books where I felt a strong emotional connection. It's a mingling of joy and grief and longing. Sometimes it feels beyond what I can describe or explain. Sometimes they last more than one day. Sometimes I associate songs I listened to or foods I ate with that book afterwards. I usually have vivid memories of the time/place I first read the book.

The first book hangover I remember getting was with Song Quest (Echorium Sequence) by Katherine Roberts when I was 12. I finished it while I was lying on the floor in my grandma's living room. On the car ride home the song "When I Come Around" by Green Day played on the radio.
I read all of her books after that. One series by her was only available in the UK, and my aunt had them shipped overseas for me.

S.! I also had one for Inda. I loved that series and I love that author's world. I read all of her books.

I also get them often with books by Andrea K. Höst. Another was Jaran by Kate Elliott.

thank you all for sharing your thoughts! It is good to know I am not alone in these feelings and reactions.

[S.]

Yes, I absolutely plan to read more of Sherwood Smith's books because of it.

Probably my most intense book hangover was after finishing Assassin's Fate. My poor emotions were wrung dry!

[Alina]

I didn't know there was a special term for those feelings, and I thought "book hangover" meant something else :D. But yeah, I'm like Caillen with his second type: it happens to me after a series, especially a long one, when I know the characters so well and care about them so much that they feel like my friends :) Especially when I watched them grow up and change, and now they are gone from my life. They feel so real! Completely agree that rereading the books can't help.

Definitely had it after the Vorkosogan Saga (damn, I knew Miles since he was a baby and I watched him become a man :D I knew his parents!).

When a series is incomplete and I don't know when the next book is coming is also tough. Game of thrones and the Expanse are good examples.

The Fifth Season is great! But yeah, it's dark in many ways. I'm reading the Stone Sky (the last book from the trilogy) now, and there is a chance it will cause book hangover as well.

[Gabi]

Nice one!
I'm actually experiencing a book hangover right now. I find myself complaining about the books I read or dnfing them since I finished "Rhythm of War", cause quite honestly, all I want to do is start this one again. The only book that worked so far was a rather different, more "literary" one. Especially Fantasy seems to be completely hopeless with me at the moment.

[Sandy]

If I am in a book hangover - I have to start reading something totally different from the hangover book - most of mine are fantasy and a good/funny mystery usually clears the hangover - although very slowly.

[Michelle]

S. wrote: "I love and hate book hangovers. Sometimes they hurt so darn much and you just want to curl up in a ball. Other times they're like a wild ride and it's over and you're sitting there just stunned but..."

The Inda series caused a hangover, too. I was so immersed in that detailed world with characters I had grown to love that it was very jarring to leave it when it ended.

[DivaDiane]

Oh, Melissa, you thoughts speak to me so clearly! Yes, to getting book hangovers. Probably the worst one I had was after Beloved, by Toni Morrison. But also Wild Seed by Octavia Butler and Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. So much amazing stuff I find my mind reeling and I need more time to work out what I just read. I don’t read that many series, but I also was emotionally wrung out and mourning the loss of the people who’d accompanied me for 20 years when I finished Assassin’s Fate, by Robin Hobb. I have a feeling Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight series is going to do the same thing to me.

Now that I’m reading polygamously in several formats, I’m surprised how often the universe conspires for me to finished 2 or more books within a day of one another! When that happens I’m overwhelmed and have to take my time starting a new book.

[Alexandra]

Caillen wrote: "I get two different kinds of book hangovers. The most common is when a book is either unusually excellent or especially challenging. I need digest and think about it for a little bit before I jump ..."

I couldn't have said this better myself, Caillen! It can be so hard to move forward knowing that you won't hear anymore about certain characters or storylines. It's very similar to mourning!

[Grace]

Oh i understand what a book hangover is for sure. What I do not understand is the prolonged grief I am usually in between 5 star reads. I was ecstatic with Children of Time, Children of Ruin, Doors of Eden, Vanished Birds. And I’ve now been in grief since. I’ve been trying hard to get into different types of reads but I am deep down grieving over the ‘loss’ of my favorite most passionate reads this year. Where does it eeeend.

[Kateb]

Stephanie wrote: "I relate to this! I get them with books where I felt a strong emotional connection. It's a mingling of joy and grief and longing. Sometimes it feels beyond what I can describe or explain. Sometimes..."

have you read the rest of the series, there are 3 more books in this series. I too loved Jaran and was pleasantly surprised when there was a follow up triology

[Ryan]

OMG Laurie! I've been working on a review of Mievilles Embassytown for more than a week now. I don't know if it can be described as a hangover, but the book has stayed with me for just how annoying I found it.

As someone whose perfectly content with rereading books I don't think I get the sense of loss that others talk about. The worst instance of a hangover I get is when a story pushes me out of my comfort zone and I'm forced to reorient. New ideas (to me) where I have to sit and examine every aspect of my worldview. I usually switch to another medium when that happens.

[Kateb]

i always try and read something totally different , usually Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie!!! BUt my biggest hassle would eb those authors who have a long running series, which is great, and then it goes off towards the last few books. I have found that they have passed the book writing off to another author , so annoying

stuck on J R Wards Brother hood, and Mercy Thompson

[Mel]

Thank you all for sharing your own hangover experiences. I am equal parts excited and terrified to have so many of these titles on my TBR. Oh no, what am I getting myself into? Janny Wurts and Inda and The Fitz and the Fool, oh my! Not to mention the Vorkosogan Saga... and Wild Seed... and... oh no.

Laurie, I didn't read The Hero and the Crown until later as an adult, but I could see bonding strongly with the story. I read The Blue Sword first, and so that's the one that stick more strongly in my memory.

The first debilitating book hangover I remember was The Amber Spyglass. OOF. That book was special, because it was the first time I remember waiting in anticipation for a book release, and got a copy together with friends, and shared that experience in real time. I still need to be careful with that one.

Ryan, I'm afraid rereads provide no immunity for me. Even knowing what's coming, I will still bawl like a baby rereading a favorite book for the dozenth time. My best friend has books like that she reads every year, but I need to be careful to space these things out.

[Michelle]

Same here with respect to re-reads. I won't mention the book name because I'm in the app and can't mark spoilers, but every time I read one particular book I hope that the wolf won't die. I've read it a gazillion times, and that wolf dying still breaks my heart! That series definitely have me a profound hangover.

[Ryan]

That's why I love rereads (and don't care about spoilers). A good story still hits you in the feelings even when you know what's coming. Knowing that I can always go back and feel those feelings again means I never mourn a loss. The only time it doesn't suffice is when a series is incomplete.

[Onieva56]

Gabi wrote: "Nice one!
I'm actually experiencing a book hangover right now. I find myself complaining about the books I read or dnfing them since I finished "Rhythm of War", cause quite honestly, all I want to ..."

Yes! I'm in this exact same place! I got my signed copy a day after it came out, read it, then turned around and re-read the entire series start to finish so that I wouldn't have to deal with leaving the characters/story. Glad I'm not alone on this particular hangover.

[Stephanie]

I find comfort in my rereads but I still get book hangovers from some of them. These particular books I also find I still have trouble putting down, even though I know what will happen!

Kateb, I'm honestly afraid to read the rest! I loved the first one so much. (actual spoilers for Jaran in spoiler tag) (view spoiler)[ I'm afraid of something happening to the characters! I adored Yuri and it broke my heart to lose him. I cried so much the first time I read the book. I still cry every time I read it. I actually did read the second book but I didn't love it. I'm not sure if that's because I was younger and not as open-minded as I am now. Maybe I should give that one another try and see if I feel emotionally capable of attempting the last two, haha! (hide spoiler)]

Melissa, some of those books are on my TBR, too! And those memories that tie into the book are def part of the experience/hangover for me, too. It sounds like a special memory for The Amber Spyglass (although I haven't read the book itself so can't comment on that)

[Alina]

Just wanted to give an update about The Broken Earth trilogy. I finished it last night and it caused a slight book hangover as I suspected :). It wasn't too bad, just a feeling of sadness, but it wasn't like my usual book hangover. I was okay with letting the characters go and even relieved in a way that the trilogy ended. It's probably because the characters suffered so much that I thought they deserved peace. And the hangover had more to do with all the injustices, exploitation and cruelty that happened in the trilogy. It was an intense experience.