a proud bibliophile.

I loooove the books that draw you in and refuse to let you leave.  The books that make you turn the pages as quickly as possible.  The books that leave you crying because you’re so involved in the characters lives, and the books that make you scream, gasp, and read on in disbelief when something you had hoped with your whole being would never happen does.  The ones with characters that you want to bring up in conversation as if they were real and your friends.  The books with a fictional world of characters who do things, experience things, and feel things that I can only imagine.  I love the books that actually make you sad and even distressed when they’re over, and you wonder what will fill that place in your life now that the last page is read and it seems those friends are now gone.

Luckily, there are two more books in the Hunger Game series.  But I wonder if I want to read them at all.

I mean, I do.  I really do want to read them.  I want to dive in right now but yet, I don’t want to because I have a feeling that things are going in a direction that I don’t want them to go.  And if I don’t read the next two books, then Peeta and Katniss can simply be happy, right?  *sigh*  Probably not.  I know.

Suzanne Collins, the author of this series, is a genius to make her readers feel this way.  I can’t put the book down, am so involved in the characters, and don’t want to read on but know I will because I can’t just not read the other two books.  There were moments as I got to the end of the first book that I wanted to put it in the freezer.  I could sense something bad was about to happen, or just knew things couldn’t end so peaceably.  I wanted to put it in the freezer like Joey on Friends puts The Shining in the freezer when he gets scared.  [But I’m reading these books on my kindle so that probably wouldn’t be a good idea, eh?]

Harry Potter had the same effect on me.  I remember hating that Dumbledore died and, moreso, that Snape did it.  Snape is my favorite and I was so disappointed that I almost wanted to stop … but I didn’t because I knew that couldn’t be the end.  I knew that Snape couldn’t be all evil.  I believed in that greasy-haired crazy man who held a soft-spot in my heart.  I remember camping on an island [seriously.] with my high school friends and taking Harry Potter with me because I was 40 pages from the end and knew I couldn’t wait until I got home the next day; I read those last pages by flashlight in a tent.  Likewise, I was so angry when a Weasley boy … nevermind.  I won’t spoil it for those of you who are waiting for the last movie installment, not having read the books.  [But you really should read the books!]

I know I’ve talked about being that girl as a kid.  The one with her nose in a book constantly.  I was that girl and proud of it.  [My parents were not always so thrilled.  To tear me away from a book was not easy.]  The yellow hardcover Nancy Drew novels of my Mom’s and Babysitter’s Club led to Fear Street and then John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks.  Then college hit and leisure reading became a facet of the past.  Maybe I’ll become that girl again this summer.  [In all this book chatter, I’m reminded of this blog post again – a post about the girl who reads.  Perfectly worded and explained.  I’ve posted it before but maybe you didn’t read it.  If you have, read it again.  I think it’s so worth it.]

And so I will read on.  [After my last two finals of graduate school are completed.]  I believe that Katniss’ journey can’t be one of all tragedy; I need to hope that there can be a happy ending at the conclusion of the series.  I might cry.  Yeah, I probably will cry if I have any inkling of what might come.  But I’ll read on, engage in her world again, and hope for the best for my new fictional friend.

[What book does this for you?  If you feel so connected to a book or fictional character and want to share them with me, please help me compile my summer reading list.  Let me know what you’re reading and what you love!]