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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.?
I love this term! I have experienced this as well....and then it is so hard to come up with another book to read.
ReplyDeleteWow! 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.
ReplyDeleteSo, 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!
Hunger Games was one for me, but the biggest PABD of all time for me was...
ReplyDeleteHARRY POTTER
Oh, and Twilight had the opposite effect on me. I had to read something, anything, to get the awful smell off my brain. :")
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.
ReplyDeleteThere 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!
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. :)
ReplyDeleteLast books in a well-loved series do this to me. Harry Potter in particular. Fun topic!
ReplyDeleteWhat 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.
ReplyDeleteIt appears we have three major series that leave us feeling sad at the end: Twilight, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments everyone. :)
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.
ReplyDelete