Monday, May 30, 2011

Musing Mondays: No. 1


Musing Mondays is one of the awesome weekly events hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Go, check out her blog and participate in the weekly fun.

Wow, it's late. I meant to get to this all day, but other things kept coming up. It's nearly time for Teaser Tuesday and here I am writing a post for Musing Mondays. I suppose as long as it's still Monday, it still counts! :) So, without further adieu, here's this week's topic: Describe the last time you were stumped for something to read, and you took measures to remedy that — either by going to the bookstore, the library, or shopping elsewhere. What book did you choose? Did it get you out of your slump?

I would say that I go through a small slump every single time I finish a really good book. If it's been a trilogy or series, the slump is somewhat greater. While I always get over them and find something new to read, it usually involves sacrificing a book to my malaise before it ends. Here's what I mean: When I finished, say, the Hunger Games series, I had to read a book to get over the feeling of loss I suffered at the end of Mockingjay. This involved understanding that I wouldn't enjoy said book as much as I maybe could because it followed, and therefore stood in the shadow, of something amazing. In the case of the Hunger Games, I followed it up with The Girl in the Steel Corset and, as a result, I didn't quite find the fulfillment I might have.

Otherwise, when I'm trying to overcome a slump, I do one of three things: read book blogs, browse Amazon, or haunt GoodReads. It might also be any combination of the three. I'm not very particular, I just need to be inspired to overcome it. Looking at book covers, reading reviews, and buffing up my wishlist is a good medicine for what ails me.  I don't spend much time at the library because the one where I live is tiny and filled with old books. They don't have much of anything, which is very disappointing. I enjoy going to B&N or Half-Price Books, but there isn't one in the town where I live, so I have to be happy with Hastings, which is not the same thing by far.

So there you have it!  I hope to get around and see some of the other answers to this week's query. I hope you've had an amazing, productive Monday. Oh, before I go, I should add that I would have a review coming because I just finished Nicola Cornick's Notorious but the review won't come for a few weeks because the book's not out until mid-July. So, I'm reading Dangerous Lord, Innocent Governess instead. Review forthcoming. Good night!

1 comment:

  1. Hey, there, Kristyn!

    Thank you so much for visiting my blog, commenting and following! Now I'm following you back!

    I can completely relate to what you're describing here. That's exactly how I feel after I've finished a really good book. In fact, I can think of one word: "lost". It's a bit disorienting, a bit uncomfortable. There I was, right in the middle of a very believable fictional world, and now...I've been through all of the events in the book, right along with the characters, with whom I have fallen in love, naturally, only to have it all come to an end...so I feel a bit sad at the end of such a book, yearning for more, even if (especially if!) the book has a happy ending! At the same time, I do feel a sense of satisfaction at having finished the book, at having internalized it, because it has now become part of my being.

    This also happens, but in a different way, with non-fiction. There are no characters there, but I still feel somewhat at a loss, as well.

    There are four recent novels that left me yearning for more when I finished them -- The Twilight Saga. I LIVED in that world!! The same thing happened with "Jane Eyre", my favorite classic. The same thing happened with the Harry Potter series, as well as The Lord of the Rings...

    OMG! This is turning into an essay! Well, suffice it to say that I relate to what you're saying, and your "Musing Mondays" answer has let loose my absolute adoration and passion for books, which I just HAD to express!!

    Have a fabulous week!! : )

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