Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Weekly Geeks 2010.17: P.A.B.D.

This week's Geek discussion is all about a phenomenon called P.A.B.D. which stands for Post Amazing Book Depression  and means: the over-whelming sad feeling one gets after finishing a great book. 


Yes, I feel this feeling a lot! Well, I used to more than I do now actually. Now, sometimes I feel like I don't have time to feel sad about a book being over because there's so many waiting their turn. And I know that just around the corner is another great book, so there's really no reason to be sad.


However, if a book has consumed me and made me feel such a part of it's life and world, it's often quite traumatic to be done with it. I do resort to many of the tactics listed in the Weekly Geek post in order to deal with it.


Yes, I've been known to seek out other books with a similar theme. (Does my current Robin Hood obsession ring a bell? This may be due mostly to the sadness of finishing the BBC series that we watched and needing to fill the void with books!)


Yes, I make other people read the book. (I did this with the ever popular Twilight, Book Thief, Hunger Games, etc.)


Yes, I read other things by the author. (John Green, Markus Zusak!) and follow them around the internet.


No, I don't go seek out fan fiction though. That stuff sort of makes me crazy. And no I don't re-read over and over and over. For the most part anyway. 


Some of the books that have caused this P.A.B.D. for me (that aren't the obvious choices mentioned above):
-- The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
-- The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
-- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
-- Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
-- pretty much any good sappy Victorian novel... and that's why the movies are so fun too, they keep those books alive and strong.
-- pretty much any big epic fantasy
-- pretty much any book where I feel a huge character connection. It's hard to let them go!


How about you? What books have caused you P.A.B.D.?

9 comments:

  1. I love this term! I have experienced this as well....and then it is so hard to come up with another book to read.

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  2. Wow! I didn't realize there was a term for this. Twilight was my first experience with PABD. I read it for the first time just before Eclipse came out, so at the end of New Moon, I was seriously feeling the depression because I wanted more, I was anxious at how things were going to turn out, and I had never had a book affect me the way Twilight did. Of course, reading Eclipse didn't help much. It wasn't until I read Breaking Dawn that I felt better.

    So, I guess my PABD happens in between series before they're over, before I reach the happily ever after (or at least some type of resolution). I'm currently in a PABD because I'm anxiously awaiting the ending to the Hunger Games trilogy.

    With Twilight, I filled the void by joining the Twilight Lexicon. I discussed everything I could about that series and probably more than anyone thought possible since the books aren't really that deep. The best part about that, though, is that I met amazing people that I'm still friends with almost three years later.

    I haven't joined anymore fandoms because I haven't felt that compelled yet. But, I do enjoy talking with other people about the books I read, or I like listening to other people about the books I read. Thank goodness for book bloggers!

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  3. Hunger Games was one for me, but the biggest PABD of all time for me was...

    HARRY POTTER

    Oh, and Twilight had the opposite effect on me. I had to read something, anything, to get the awful smell off my brain. :")

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  4. This is a cool topic! I have felt that depression many times, especially after a book has transported me in a way that I am disappointed by my own life and am now living in another. One that I still can't shake is Pillars of the Earth. I honestly didn't think I'd like it, but at the pace I devoured it, and the time I put into it, I still can't 100% shake the story and its characters.

    There are lots of others, but sometimes I just have to pick them back up and read them again to regain that feeling. You can't really do that with Pillars of the Earth though...it's just too long!

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  5. The first time I read the Chronicles of Narnia! Plus, any amazing book that I have to wait for the next in the series...Twiligh, The Hunger Games are two recent ones for me. :)

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  6. Last books in a well-loved series do this to me. Harry Potter in particular. Fun topic!

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  7. What a great topic! I have definitely had this where I want everything I can get my hands on in a specific theme. Most recently I think it's been everything by Jill Mansell.

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  8. It appears we have three major series that leave us feeling sad at the end: Twilight, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games!

    Thanks for the comments everyone. :)

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  9. I'm glad to see the thumbs up for Forsyte Saga. I've always wanted to read that since seeing the series. I was pretty sad when Harry Potter was over.

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