Top 5 Wednesday: Biggest Book Hangovers

Happy Hump Day! This week’s topic is biggest book hangovers. I’m assuming you know what that is, but if you don’t it’s when you finish a book and can’t start another one because you’re still so obsessed with the first one.

For me, a book hangover doesn’t necessarily come from a really good book. It just has to be memorable, if that makes sense. Anyways, onward. And as usual, T5W was created by Lainey and here is the link to the group if you would like to join in as well!

5. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

This book, man. This book fractured my heart. I don’t know what to do with that ending. I still think about that damn ending. That damn damn ending. My goodness. My mind still hasn’t come to accept it yet. I feel like it’ll stick with me for years.

For those who haven’t read this book and may possibly be interested in it, here is the goodreads synopsis:

Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies the city of New Crobuzon, where the unsavory deal is stranger to no one–not even to Isaac, a gifted and eccentric scientist who has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before encountered. Though the Garuda’s request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger. Soon an eerie metamorphosis will occur that will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon–and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it evokes.

4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I feel like I’m not alone in feeling unsatisfied with this ending. This was my least favorite book out of the trilogy. The ending didn’t jive with me and at the time of my reading it, it actually got me a bit upset. So I spent a few days venting to whoever would listen about how pooey the ending was, so much so that I couldn’t concentrate on any new books. Though if I get distracted by a bad ending for such a long time, is it really bad? I mean, wouldn’t it be a good ending if it can cause that reaction in me? I have no idea. That’s another thought for another post.

3. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Notice I get hangovers from the ends of series, whether I actually liked them or not, haha. This ending I know was very polarizing with a lot of people – you either loved it or you hated it. Either way, a book hangover was possible. For me, I loved it. I cried at the end of this book even though there wasn’t much to actually cry about. The emotions that this trilogy had pent up in me over their books just kinda came out all at once after I closed the final cover. And then I was obsessed about the series for months. Months. I still goo about it now and again.

2. Fullmetal Alchemist volume 27 by Hiromu Arakawa

This is one of the best series I’ve ever read. Ever. I’m talking including manga, comics, novels, anything. This one is one of the best of the best. It’s 27 volumes long and needs every single volume to complete it. There’s no ‘extra’ stuff. No dragging bits. This series is the epitome of what I call ‘A good story’. And after years and years of collecting it as the volumes came out – first monthly, then bi-monthly, and towards the end every six months – I grew more and more attached. And then it was gone. I feel like I started the hangover for this book in volume 26, actually. At the end, there was a little preview and I remember reading the words ‘to be concluded in volume 27’. And then I waited for volume 27. For sixth months. And for sixth months, I tried to mentally prepare myself and I failed. I’ve reread this series – the whole thing – so many times and it still rips me up when I finish it. I will be reading this to my children when I have them. It’s that wonderful.

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling

THIS WILL BE SPOILERY. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. This is my least favorite out of all the Harry Potter books. And I’m guessing you know the reason. The ending of this book, man. I still hold a grudge against JK Rowling for this one. I’ve only read it twice, which is saying something considering I’ve read 1-5 at least 20 times each. I just don’t. Buh, this book destroyed me. When I first read it, I bought it on its release day and had it read 48 hours later. So by the time I finished it, so had a lot of other people. And I was devastated. And so was everyone. Very soon fan theories started popping up. There was even a huge ‘Dumbledore’s not dead’ movement with multiple different ideas on how that scene could have been staged. I jumped into these groups with reckless abandon. I wanted to believe so badly that it wasn’t true. I became obsessed. And then JK Rowling caught wind of the movement and stamped out our hopes and dreams with a simple, “No, he’s really dead” statement to the media. It left no room for the imagination, and it really killed my enthusiasm for the seventh book. I feel like I would have looked much more forward to it – even if I found out in it that Dumbledore was really dead – because I would have had that hope going into it that he wasn’t. Instead, I knew what to expect and it kind of dulled the experience of the final book for me. So yes. Biggest hangover ever. For those of you who’ve read the series for the first time recently and came across this incident, how did you feel? I’m curious. I feel like my devastation was amplified by the fandom and the waiting for book seven. I want to know what it was like dealing with that without being influenced by others.

---

And that’s it. Sorry for the tangent in my top choice there, but I’ve been holding that in for years. o:< Until next Wednesday, happy reading!