Reading

There are a few assumptions that I make about people who read this blog.
1. That you are reading it because you want to and
2. That you enjoy reading other things as well.
Those things being said, perhaps you can empathize with me. I just finished Catching Fire, the 2nd of 3 books in The Hunger Games series. There is something about finishing a book that only those who love to read can understand.
If the book ends well, you feel this elation with the characters. You get the happy ending just like they do!
If the book ends poorly or unexpectedly or with some shocker, you're left there, stunned, mind wracking with what do next.
The length of these feelings, I find, depends on the intensity of the book. I find this also can apply to watching a movie, but not nearly on the same scale since I tend to do other things while I watch a movie.

All that being said, the worst part is that you've experienced it alone.
Yes, other people on this earth have read the book you are reading. It's possible some of them have experienced whatever emotions you are having due to the end of this book.
But you reach that last page and all you can do is close the back cover. The characters are gone. You have to face the world, sooner or later. Your world, not theirs. Sure, you can open it back up and read the book again, but it can never be like the first time you read it.
Maybe at the end of the book only one of the main characters is alive (see: many Nicholas Sparks novels) and you take on that loss and sadness along with the survivor.
Then you walk around all sad and mopey, or stunned and dazed, or elated and joyful (again, depending on the book's ending) but nothing that happened to you created those feelings.

This is a time when my empathetic nature can easily take over.
This is why I love reading.

Now, lucky for me, there is another book in this series so I get another chance to be in the world of Panem. Reading the first and second books in about 24 hours each reminded me how much I love to read and that I didn't make nearly as much time for it as I should have this year. I had books I love, books I meant to start, books I meant to finish, and books I meant to learn to love sitting on my shelf all year. Yet another beautiful thing about books- they don't mind waiting around until you are ready to sit and enjoy their company.