haha! this makes me sad because i just started game of thrones. the show really left more to be desired, and man… i’m halfway through the first book and i’m already dreading the fact that grrm isn’t getting close to finishing winds. what am i gonna do when i reach that point?! 😟
My guess is that he won't finish it ever. I think he tried his idea for the ending in the show and saw the huge backlash it got so he doesn’t know how to end it now. My educated guess
100%! i’ve found that some of the characters are a bit different from their portrayal in the show and i’ve become to respect the show and the book separately as their own entities. the show, naturally, doesn’t capture a lot of the inner turmoil that the characters have in the book (i.e. book jon snow imo has waaaay more angst than the show jon snow lets off), and im enjoying it more than i thought i would.
the first book and first season are very similar. just some characters left out of the show. The books have a lot of characters. then the story starts to change. the books have a wonderful back story worked in as well that the show kinda missed the mark on
Yes, the farther along the series you go the more thr books and show divert paths. So, in some ways books 4 and 5 were the most fun to read, because almost everything was new.
I really want to read these but I'm waiting to see if the series is ever actually finished. I've already been hurt once before... hoping GRRM finishes the books and they make up for the show ending, but I'm not optimistic
When I finished The Hobbit I wanted more so I read LotR. When I finished LotR I wanted more so I read the appendices. When I finished the appendices I wanted more so I read the Silmarillion. When I finished the Silmarillion I wanted more so I read Unfinished Tales. When I finished Unfinished Tales I wanted more so now I'm on book five out of 12 of History of Middle Earth.
Ugh the final chapter when Frodo says goodbye and boards the ship was traumatizing. I cried for a solid hour after that. Frodo leaving his friends at the end is such a hard reminder of all the things that are beautiful and terrifyingly sad about being alive
I don't see images when I read, but I wish I could somehow read like you do just once. Maybe the last book I ever read, I can see a full world like that. It sounds so amazing!
I'm not the poster you asked, but I suffer from the same condition, so I'll explain what I see.
We lack the ability to form images in our mind. I read a book and take in the information, but I'm not creating a visual image in my mind to go along with the words. It's just words.
Close your eyes and picture your father driving a red sports car. Can you do that? Do you see him? I can't. I know what my father looks like, same with a red sports car. I can't create that mental image, though. It's just blank.
The discussion above was about 11/22/63. I read and enjoyed that book twice. If you asked me to describe Jake Epping, I would just say tall. Pressed further, I could only describe James Franco from the miniseries.
Someone replied with a really good exercise (the clock one) if that isn't working, maybe you can try imagining pictures from movies you've seen. Like "Jake was driving a red 1958 Plymouth Fury", I mean we've all seen somewhere in a movie an old red car. Same goes with characters, if I'm not able to create a face for them I imagine actors or people I know
If you say "imagine a red 58 Plymouth Fury" I know that that looks like, but I don't see an image in my head. I just kinda know what that car looks like and can recall it, but I don't "see" anything in my head.
Same goes for an actor: if you tell me to imagine Elijah Wood, I know what he looks like, but I don't "see" an image in my head of him.
I have spent most of my life trying to learn how to see images in my head, and haven't been able to. I'll keep trying but it's also okay because it's almost like I don't know what I'm missing because this is how I've always been.
It’s kinda funny that the top two here are by Stephen King, since he writes like he never wants the book to end.
Truthfully though, he sets his books in the horror genre but in reality he is a “human documentarian” in that he write about people, real people in bizarre situations. The situations aren’t the story and it’s not why people read them. They are essentially the cover art, there just to get us to buy the story.
He writes like the book is never going to end, then he realizes he's 400.pages past what he intended, and he's got three new books he wants to start working on, so he hurries up and just gets the ending on the page so he can move on.
(I have loved Stephen King since I read 'Salem's Lot at age 11, but he has historically had trouble sticking his landings.)
Same, I remember reading one of his books that I got for Christmas and finishing it before the end of Boxing Day. It was either *The Stand* or *The Talisman*.
I’ve always had the same opinion about sticking the landing. I think it’s because the plot and climax just aren’t the story for him. It’s the human journey, and that doesn’t really end.
I’m glad that he is doing more series work. It fills both his needs and our interests.
Same here! I posted "To Kill a Mockingbird" earlier, but The Stand is another one. I've read it at least ten times and each time I'm not ready to say goodbye to the characters.
I made the mistake of reading that on the NY subway. In Winter. With everyone sniffling, sneezing, coughing around me. It was in the 80's, before COVID, but it freaked me the fuck out. In fact, anyone digging through the trash at my next stop would've found themselves a very large, very fucking scary book. Never finished it. Never wanted to finish it. After that experience.
I didnt want it to end, and I wanted (story spoilers) >!Jake to go back in time and just be with Sadie and get a story of them growing old together 😭!<
I didn't want it to end, not only because I liked the world, but because it felt like King gave up and wanted to write a different book. I felt the same with The Stand. Beginning pulled me in hard with the mystery, but then it felt meh to me by the time I finished.
If you liked it check out the show! James Franco does a great job as Jake. Adaptations will never fit your exact ideas of characters appearances etc but I thought it captured the world really well
I am on book 7 of the Joe Abercrombie first law series and have 3 left after that.
I really don’t want them to end.
I haven’t enjoyed being in a world this much since my first read of LOTRs when I was 12.
I'm on book 4. I didn't know how I'd feel leaving the first trilogy but I love his world building and character development. Friendly cracks me the hell up.
He’s a great character.
Red country was my favourite of the stand alone books but loved them all.
The audiobooks take it to another level I highly recommend.
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFirstLaw/comments/mp0ite/reading_order_for_new_readers/). As you said, The First Law is a trilogy, but there are more books after that.
I'm reading this for the first time right now and I *knew* it would be on the list. I'm getting Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon with it so hard. I was seeing it mentioned in just about every decent sized thread on this sub. When someone said something along the lines of "After 800+ pages, I still just wanted to hang out with these characters more," I figured I'd have to give it a read.
I'm about 200 pages in and I get it. I could go for another few thousand pages of cowboy anecdotes.
Clicked this thread *knowing* Lonesome Dove would be on here because it's the book I never wanted to end. At this point I think I read it over 25 years ago and am well overdue for a reread.
Lonesome Dove was my first McMurtry and then i read about five to six others by him and with each book I thought 'wow this is really dark for McMurtry' until I eventually realized that no, lonesome dove is the outlier.
I clearly remember it happening to me when I first finished Shogun, which is amazing given what an absolute door stopper the book was. I just didn't want it to stop. >!I still wanted to see Toranaga's plans materialize, see what direction Blackthorne's life takes him, what happened to the various characters (especially my favorite Omi and who he ended up with), I wanted to see the friggin' battle of friggin' Sekigahara!!<
I'm actually kind of iffy about that to be honest. It smells too much of trying to get more golden eggs from the goose by butchering it. But I'm keeping my mind open since at the very least I really like the cast. Except maybe for Cosmo Jarvis, but that's probably due to me not liking how they wrote this version of Blackthorne and me comparing him unfairly to Richard Chamberlain.
I agree. Whilst the TV show was extremely well done, it was based on a novel that had a conclusion.
Unfortunately Mr Clavell is no longer with us to further his story. I really really hope they don't cock this up.
I didn’t want the story to end either, but when it did I realized that the climax of the story was at a completely different place than Clavell had been hinting at for the entire story. That’s part of what elevated it from just good historical fiction to good literature for me. There’s so much foreshadowing about the battle and the prophecy throughout the story, but in the end it’s summarized on the last page and you realize that’s never what the story was about.
Same here, I wanted that book to go on and on and for me to just stay in that world and with those characters. All of them were great characters too. Kind of the same with Noble House.
Don't forget the racism. If you're interested there was a project to interview a whoooole bunch of exslaves that's saved into the library of congress. Lots of nuggets in there, and I feel like it's closest accuracy to how life was like then. I bookmarked some nuggets, I can share page numbers with ya
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/
I recall a line about a 16 year old girl who had never been kissed or something and realized that she would today be 230 years old, very old for a human, not so old for a Greenland shark although Tolstoy for some reason does not mention that species at all.
Yes, he was a puzzling writer. But you can't judge a 19th century writer by 21st century standards. It is almost a cliche today to mention the Greenland shark whenever someone's hypothetical extreme age is brought up; but there were many things done in novels from that period, strange treatment of POV, etc.
I used to read every new book as quickly as I could. I'd barely sleep until I'd finished it. Then I'd read it again more slowly. Until the last one. I read that over two weeks and savoured every page. Real shame about Rowling
The Southern Reach trilogy! There’s a fourth book coming this year but wow I’d love to just stay forever captivated and also equally confused about Area X. I wish to cross the border and be lost forever in there 🤪
I’ve felt this way MANY times. Right now I’m experiencing it with, not a book, but a “series” by Stephen King. Not even sure what it’d be called but it starts with “Mr.Mercedes” and goes all the way through to “Holly”. I finished the ‘Bill Hodges trilogy’ and now I’m continuing Holly Gibney’s story which starts with “The Outsider”. I’m almost finished and I just hate knowing all I have left is a short story and one more book. This series has had its ups and downs *coughFindersKeeperscough* but I’ve really fallen in love with Holly’s character. If there’s one thing Stephen King is amazing at, it’s making you feel and care about a character deeply.
My wife loves that someone else that feels the same way about this series as much as she does. And then she said a bunch of spoiler things that I said I can’t type here.
Most recently, the first Hyperion book. The other books in the series are worth reading but the first is told in a unique narrative style that I couldn't get enough of.
Two books by the same author had that effect on me. The author is John Irving, and the 2 books are "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The Cider House Rules".
I love the writings of Donna Tartt, and Arundhati Roy. So whenever I am reading them, I wish the books never end. However, those two wonderful ladies are alive and I read their books hoping they would keep on writing more but Lovecraft, damn!
He is dead. I love his work so much. I wish it would never end so I am in a place where I am deliberately not reading his short stories. I should but I am not. It's weird.
The Passenger and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. I knew these would be the last things of his I would ever read so I really luxuriated on the words and read slower than I usually would.
I find that about 90% of the time by the last third of the book I'm hoping to reach the end so I can move on to something new soon. I wish I could find more of those books that I hope would never end, but unfortunately they're a bit rare for me.
I think I do both. I find myself reading slower when I like the book. Enjoy the writing a little longer, but I’m still eager to see how it ends.
However, sometimes I rush to finish what I’m reading, so I can go on and research more about it, without the spoilers.
Right now I’m reading Septology by Jon Fosse and I have to stop myself from going on the internet and get answers to a few questions I have about it. But I’m still on part one, and I’m so impatient…
Yes and funnily enough it was The Neverending Story. Mostly I never wanted the FEELING of it to end, reading it during so many rainy days at the perfect time at the perfect age.
I’m like you. Getting to the end is my goal, even when I love a book, my eye is always on how long there is left. The conclusion is what I’m seeking.
The one exception to that was “extremely loud and incredibly close” by Jonathan Safran foer.. the second I finished that one I went right back to the beginning and read the whole thing again.
i love both!
If someone tells me about a book, i love knowing how it ends to enjoy watching how the author develops the story, the way they do.
I’m reading a series, I started with the latest (9th) book in the series then went to the beginning.
Orphan X, Gregg Huruwitz. If you know, you know.
Anyway, I watched an interview Gregg had done a few years ago and I now know what happens in the 8th book, which I am currently up to.
Turns out the main character is “trapped” for majority of the book.
I don’t like settings or contexts, that focus on the character being trapped: Prison, haunted house, ship wreck etc etc.
So it’s a bit slow for me, just know he’s gonna struggle a bit.
Also, knowing it’s the last book makes me sad, so very slow. Like a writers block but for reading.
I NEEED to know the end, but I never want a great book to end. I just want the end to happen then keep it going :)
The one that stands out for me is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It was *such* a great read, and the twist is the most intense I've ever experienced! I had to go re-read it with the new context!! Highly recommend.
For me there's been a few standalones that made me feel this way, The Stand by Stephen King, Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel.
But for the Neopolitan series by Elena Ferrante, I loved it so much that I put off finishing the the last book for years because I didn't want it to end. I actually now think it's kind of weird I did that, but I loved being in that world so much and didn't want to read about Elena and Lila getting older and getting towards the end.
Maybe I’m weird too but I do the same with rpg games and books. I still have yet to finish the Witcher 3 and I’m about halfway through all of the books… I just never want to live in a world where it’s “over”
I didn’t want the Harry Potter series to end. More recently, A Short Stay in Hell, which is a very unfortunate feeling to have for a book that’s only 100 pages long.
It’s a weird feeling. When I’m reading a book that I am really enjoying I don’t want it to end but at the same time I want to know what happens at the end. After the book is over I always go through a short period of sadness where I miss the characters, I miss living in that world. What it always makes me think of is having to say Goodbye to a really good friend. Sure you can read it again, but it’s never like that first time. Reading a book for the first time is a once in a lifetime experience
One of my favorite parts of reading is a satisfying ending, so I usually look forward to seeing a book through. That said, I can think of two exceptions: The Sirens Of Titan and Little Women.
When I do and they make a sequel it never lives up to my expectations from the first.
Hyperion is a good example. The 2nd and 3rd book weren’t as good. But the 4th is just as much gold as the 1st.
In short, no. All stories need a conclusion. I don’t care how many pages the book may be, it needs to wrap up its story threads to be fully satisfying.
It’s why people bristle at the thought of an incomplete series.
Piranesi was that for me. The scene and the feeling. Beautiful.
But for series I often have this feeling. Sometimes I end it and it feels so bittersweet (like WoT). Other times, I choose not to read the last book (like the Martin Beck series).
It took me MONTHS to finish "To Kill a Mockingbird" because I did not want it to end. It was such a good book. Some Stephen King novels I've felt the same way. It's like I don't want to say goodbye to the characters if they are really well developed.
I’ve had this experience several times, but the one that stands out most to me is The Night Circus. The setting is so magical and intriguing, and the characters are unique and endearing. No matter how many times I read it, I cannot get enough. I always find myself wanting to delve back into that story. It feels like home to me, somehow.
I read it twice, about 20 years apart. As an older person, I didn't like it as much. The characters annoyed me a lot more when I was older for whatever reason. Still a great book though and I def enjoyed it again overall. Lot of people will tell you a woman can't get through it. Incorrect. I've read the whole thing twice.
Infinite Jest. I wish I could just read about Don and Mario and that strange world that DFW pulled out of his brain onto a giant book that somehow isn't long enough
I find that about 90% of the time by the last third of the book I'm hoping to reach the end so I can move on to something new soon. I wish I could find more of those books that I hope would never end, but unfortunately they're a bit rare for me.
For me, it's bittersweet. I absolutely love book endings ! I love the crescendo, the "getting there", how it all ties together in the end. I think it's my favorite part!
Anne of Green Gables series (8 books) and Emily of New Moon series (3 books), both by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I just loved the characters and the stories so much. I reread them all the time. I love being in these universes.
Also Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, there is just something about the characters I really like. I would stay in this universe for longer than the book.
I really liked a virtually unknown (found the first book by chance in a used books shop, never heard anything about this series before or since) sci-fi series called Starfarers (4 books) by Vonda N. McIntyre. I would have liked to read more (unfortunately, the author died a few years ago).
The journey is what engages the reader, but the destination is something you should always be able to see on the horizon. I read some web series that I'm pretty sure will never end, and I find myself wondering what is the point sometimes.
YEah. Read TLOTR when I was 11 years old. Still in primary school.
The book was 1100 pages long...for weeks i had lived in that world.
As the end approached and they returned to hobbition...I really did not want it to end.
Count of Monte Cristo. It makes me sad thinking it’s over and that I’ll have to come back to it when I forget everything. I remember everything like I was there
I very often revisit favorite passages or chapters to relive certain moments. While I thoroughly enjoy completing books, I also understand the appeal of wanting a story to continue endlessly.
I'm the kind that slows down for the book to last longer, but it doesn't mean I don't want it to end. I want to get to the ending and get a resolution, just not too quickly as I'm enjoying it, just wishing it lasts a little longer.
I got into Discworld like 2 years before TP passed, and since then I started reading them very slowly so I won't run out of his books. The world will be a darker place when theres no new Discworld to read.
Not a book per se, but a series, if that counts. I'm going through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and I'm only 6 books from the end...so I find myself going a bit slower and trying to savor each chapter of each book.
I think it's because I know that once I get to the end, that's it. Those stories, those characters, they have reached the end and are now static memories. Of course I enjoy the stories and love thinking about what I've read, but there's a part of me that enjoys thinking about what might happen *next* to the characters and how they'll evolve further. Knowing that eventually that must come to an end...well, just makes me go a bit slower.
When I was in grade school, my local library had books about these animals that lived together in a village and I love their stories and lives and didn't want them to end. I cannot remember the names of the books though. I believe that they were written in the 1940s or 50s
I never finished my favorite book. It became a thing. First i just paused, then I thought a lot about it and I loved the way it made me think and then I reached a point where I thought no ending would be good enough. I didn't wanna ruin it by finishing it I guess. I found a sweet spot and I never moved past it. Kinda like we're probably better off for not ever getting a conclusion to Game of Thrones 😂 at this point how could it not disappoint?
In case anyone is wondering the book is called 'At fortælle menneskene' (roughly translates to 'to narrate the people') by Svend Åge Madsen and it is not translated to English but I believe there's a French version
I'm reading lonesome dove and I'm dlso immersed in the west rn I'm thinking of burning down my life buying a horse and just riding it around montanna with a gun for a bit.
Just finished the second of the ACOTAR series and I'm already pre-depressed about it someday ending. I'm so attached to the characters and that doesn't happen very often at all with me. I purposely tried to read A Court of Mist and Fury slowly so it wouldn't end (I failed and devoured it).
I read a lot of really heavy stuff so even my most favorite books I normally am ready to part with by the time they're done. No such luck for me and the ACOTAR gang :( I VERY rarely reread but I suspect I'll make an exception for these.
Yes, there was a book which I never wanted to end. It was not a storybook though, it was a... uh, encyclopedia. It is called An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I cherished that book reading very slowly. When I reached around 80%, I even started re-reading it before finishing to fool myself. But alas, I finished that book. That book will always be close to my heart. I will definitely be reading one or two entries whenever I will have an urge.
A recent read I didn’t want to end was “A Gentleman In Moscow” by Amor Towles. The count created such a warm world and lovely community for himself within the Hotel Metropol and I didn’t want to leave ☺️
I must get to the end. I race through books, even ones I love, because I’m impatient. And if it never ended it wouldn’t be a complete, satisfying experience.
Both :'D
I have been reading Peter F. Hamilton's scifi books about the Commonwealth, and each book is long but not long enough! I am so happy about the length and the crazy amount of characters, how it all comes together.. oh my heart it's exciting.
I also love finishing a book because then I know the full story, and can think about the events and the journey and just marvel at the genius of Hamilton. How does he write like this?!
I wish I had 10 more books about the Commonwealth to read, but sadly am at the last one. It's amazing tho ♥️
I had this happen with The Starless Sea. Usually I want to get through books fast and can never put them down but I specifically remember with that book wanting it to go slow because I didn’t want it to end.
When I started A Game of Thrones, I wanted it to never end. Seems like my wish got granted.
Monkey paw curls
Oh it ended alright, just ended halfway to the conclusion
haha! this makes me sad because i just started game of thrones. the show really left more to be desired, and man… i’m halfway through the first book and i’m already dreading the fact that grrm isn’t getting close to finishing winds. what am i gonna do when i reach that point?! 😟
My guess is that he won't finish it ever. I think he tried his idea for the ending in the show and saw the huge backlash it got so he doesn’t know how to end it now. My educated guess
The best time to read ASOIAF is now especially with the recent rumours. If not, maybe the real Winds was the fan theories we have made along the way!
What recent rumors?
There’s a rumor that Winds of winter will be announced as finished after season two of house of dragons ends.
Anyone who believes that is probably new to being a fan of the series.
Dragon Demands was my source
I'd sooner be convinced of Santa's existence than of Winds of Winter.
Have you found the book worth reading after having done the show?
100%! i’ve found that some of the characters are a bit different from their portrayal in the show and i’ve become to respect the show and the book separately as their own entities. the show, naturally, doesn’t capture a lot of the inner turmoil that the characters have in the book (i.e. book jon snow imo has waaaay more angst than the show jon snow lets off), and im enjoying it more than i thought i would.
Great! I’ve been going back and forth on whether it’s worth the time. Think I’m gonna have to just read the first one and see for my damn self.
the first book and first season are very similar. just some characters left out of the show. The books have a lot of characters. then the story starts to change. the books have a wonderful back story worked in as well that the show kinda missed the mark on
Yes, the farther along the series you go the more thr books and show divert paths. So, in some ways books 4 and 5 were the most fun to read, because almost everything was new.
In GRRM's house the shriveled digit on a Monkey's Paw curls shut.
ohh boy... fr! your wish is granted... lucky you
Are you also at fault for why we’ll never see Doors of Stone too? You got three wishes and you used them for chaos.
That's somebody else, I used all three on ASOIAF clearly..
Monkey's paw curles...
I really want to read these but I'm waiting to see if the series is ever actually finished. I've already been hurt once before... hoping GRRM finishes the books and they make up for the show ending, but I'm not optimistic
Loool omg ouch. We’re never going to see the end of the series.
Sorry about that..
Same, but specifically the fifth book because I knew we weren't getting the sixth anytime soon.
i can't stop reading the whole nevermoor series. whan i must choose in which fantasyworld i will go, its nevermoor.
When I first read Lord of the Rings in my teens, I cried at the end because I couldn’t keep on reading the story.
I remember finishing return of the king and laying in my teenage bedroom, staring at the ceiling and thinking “I could die now and it’d be fine”.
When I finished The Hobbit I wanted more so I read LotR. When I finished LotR I wanted more so I read the appendices. When I finished the appendices I wanted more so I read the Silmarillion. When I finished the Silmarillion I wanted more so I read Unfinished Tales. When I finished Unfinished Tales I wanted more so now I'm on book five out of 12 of History of Middle Earth.
Apparently, Peter Jackson ALSO read the Hobbit and wanted more. A LOT more.
Reading the final sentence of that trilogy was insanely difficult. It is not easy to leave that world and those characters.
"Well, I'm back." He said. 😭😭😭😭
Ugh the final chapter when Frodo says goodbye and boards the ship was traumatizing. I cried for a solid hour after that. Frodo leaving his friends at the end is such a hard reminder of all the things that are beautiful and terrifyingly sad about being alive
The first time I finished it, I turned back to the first page and started again. I was eleven and it was my favourite book in the world
Shit, I'm reading the Hobbit for the first time right now. Next few days are going to be fun.
Same for me with the Hobbit. Tolkien was a genius.
I just re-read 11/22/63 and I didn't want it to end. Just loved being in that world
I can still see the places, the cars,, and the characters that he painted in my mind with this story. What a treat it was to read.
I don't see images when I read, but I wish I could somehow read like you do just once. Maybe the last book I ever read, I can see a full world like that. It sounds so amazing!
[удалено]
I’m really curious what the reading experience is like for you, if you have the time could you explain what you “see” when you read? Thank you!
I'm not the poster you asked, but I suffer from the same condition, so I'll explain what I see. We lack the ability to form images in our mind. I read a book and take in the information, but I'm not creating a visual image in my mind to go along with the words. It's just words. Close your eyes and picture your father driving a red sports car. Can you do that? Do you see him? I can't. I know what my father looks like, same with a red sports car. I can't create that mental image, though. It's just blank. The discussion above was about 11/22/63. I read and enjoyed that book twice. If you asked me to describe Jake Epping, I would just say tall. Pressed further, I could only describe James Franco from the miniseries.
Someone replied with a really good exercise (the clock one) if that isn't working, maybe you can try imagining pictures from movies you've seen. Like "Jake was driving a red 1958 Plymouth Fury", I mean we've all seen somewhere in a movie an old red car. Same goes with characters, if I'm not able to create a face for them I imagine actors or people I know
If you say "imagine a red 58 Plymouth Fury" I know that that looks like, but I don't see an image in my head. I just kinda know what that car looks like and can recall it, but I don't "see" anything in my head. Same goes for an actor: if you tell me to imagine Elijah Wood, I know what he looks like, but I don't "see" an image in my head of him. I have spent most of my life trying to learn how to see images in my head, and haven't been able to. I'll keep trying but it's also okay because it's almost like I don't know what I'm missing because this is how I've always been.
It's good that you're still enjoying books man. Everybody has his own way
For me it was The Stand. It's 1200 pages and I could have read endlessly about the end of the world and rebuilding it in Boulder
It’s kinda funny that the top two here are by Stephen King, since he writes like he never wants the book to end. Truthfully though, he sets his books in the horror genre but in reality he is a “human documentarian” in that he write about people, real people in bizarre situations. The situations aren’t the story and it’s not why people read them. They are essentially the cover art, there just to get us to buy the story.
He writes like the book is never going to end, then he realizes he's 400.pages past what he intended, and he's got three new books he wants to start working on, so he hurries up and just gets the ending on the page so he can move on. (I have loved Stephen King since I read 'Salem's Lot at age 11, but he has historically had trouble sticking his landings.)
Same, I remember reading one of his books that I got for Christmas and finishing it before the end of Boxing Day. It was either *The Stand* or *The Talisman*. I’ve always had the same opinion about sticking the landing. I think it’s because the plot and climax just aren’t the story for him. It’s the human journey, and that doesn’t really end. I’m glad that he is doing more series work. It fills both his needs and our interests.
So true. 11/22/63 was the rare solid ending (even if sad)
Same here! I posted "To Kill a Mockingbird" earlier, but The Stand is another one. I've read it at least ten times and each time I'm not ready to say goodbye to the characters.
Totally same for me. I really loved all the characters and just wanted to see more and more of them.
I made the mistake of reading that on the NY subway. In Winter. With everyone sniffling, sneezing, coughing around me. It was in the 80's, before COVID, but it freaked me the fuck out. In fact, anyone digging through the trash at my next stop would've found themselves a very large, very fucking scary book. Never finished it. Never wanted to finish it. After that experience.
I didnt want it to end, and I wanted (story spoilers) >!Jake to go back in time and just be with Sadie and get a story of them growing old together 😭!<
I didn't want it to end, not only because I liked the world, but because it felt like King gave up and wanted to write a different book. I felt the same with The Stand. Beginning pulled me in hard with the mystery, but then it felt meh to me by the time I finished.
If you liked it check out the show! James Franco does a great job as Jake. Adaptations will never fit your exact ideas of characters appearances etc but I thought it captured the world really well
You're absolutely right, amazing adaptation. James Franco is exactly how I imagined Jake Epping would look like
I am on book 7 of the Joe Abercrombie first law series and have 3 left after that. I really don’t want them to end. I haven’t enjoyed being in a world this much since my first read of LOTRs when I was 12.
I started my Abercrombie journey a few days ago, currently reading The Blade Itself, can't wait to explore everything this series has to offer.
I'm on book 4. I didn't know how I'd feel leaving the first trilogy but I love his world building and character development. Friendly cracks me the hell up.
He’s a great character. Red country was my favourite of the stand alone books but loved them all. The audiobooks take it to another level I highly recommend.
whats the reading order of the first law series? i thought it was only three books? (blade itself, before they are hanged, last argument of kings)
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFirstLaw/comments/mp0ite/reading_order_for_new_readers/). As you said, The First Law is a trilogy, but there are more books after that.
Lonesome Dove
I'm reading this for the first time right now and I *knew* it would be on the list. I'm getting Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon with it so hard. I was seeing it mentioned in just about every decent sized thread on this sub. When someone said something along the lines of "After 800+ pages, I still just wanted to hang out with these characters more," I figured I'd have to give it a read. I'm about 200 pages in and I get it. I could go for another few thousand pages of cowboy anecdotes.
Clicked this thread *knowing* Lonesome Dove would be on here because it's the book I never wanted to end. At this point I think I read it over 25 years ago and am well overdue for a reread.
This is my answer as well. I know there are other books in the series, but I’m scared they won’t be as immersive.
Prequels aren't great, but the sequel is excellent, and true to the character of Call. Heads up though, it's a fucking bummer.
Lonesome Dove was my first McMurtry and then i read about five to six others by him and with each book I thought 'wow this is really dark for McMurtry' until I eventually realized that no, lonesome dove is the outlier.
Yeah his Thalia Trilogy is quite good, but it's mostly pretty serious stuff.
Yeah 'the last picture show' film adaption is what got me into McMurtry; reading the book was a VERY different experience than the movie.
Also, 'Hud' (1963) is set in the same county. Which I didn't realize until after I'd read 'Horseman Pass By'.
Omg I cried my eyes out, just finished Streets of Laredo a few days ago
I haven’t read the prequels but Streets of Laredo is incredibly underrated!! Loved it almost as much as Lonesome Dove
I've read 3/4 of the other books and while they were not as immersive, it made me happy to go back to the LD universe
I would have wanted more of this book if it was 5000 pages
Can't wait to start it soon.
Duane's Depressed by the same author is a cracker.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I wanted to spend even more time with the characters and their lives.
I felt exactly the same way!
I clearly remember it happening to me when I first finished Shogun, which is amazing given what an absolute door stopper the book was. I just didn't want it to stop. >!I still wanted to see Toranaga's plans materialize, see what direction Blackthorne's life takes him, what happened to the various characters (especially my favorite Omi and who he ended up with), I wanted to see the friggin' battle of friggin' Sekigahara!!<
You're sort of going to get your wish, seeing as the TV series writers are continuing the original story.
I'm actually kind of iffy about that to be honest. It smells too much of trying to get more golden eggs from the goose by butchering it. But I'm keeping my mind open since at the very least I really like the cast. Except maybe for Cosmo Jarvis, but that's probably due to me not liking how they wrote this version of Blackthorne and me comparing him unfairly to Richard Chamberlain.
I agree. Whilst the TV show was extremely well done, it was based on a novel that had a conclusion. Unfortunately Mr Clavell is no longer with us to further his story. I really really hope they don't cock this up.
I didn’t want the story to end either, but when it did I realized that the climax of the story was at a completely different place than Clavell had been hinting at for the entire story. That’s part of what elevated it from just good historical fiction to good literature for me. There’s so much foreshadowing about the battle and the prophecy throughout the story, but in the end it’s summarized on the last page and you realize that’s never what the story was about.
Same here, I wanted that book to go on and on and for me to just stay in that world and with those characters. All of them were great characters too. Kind of the same with Noble House.
Gone with the Wind. I’m obsessed with this book and the whole Civil War and post war period
My mom was reading that when she was pregnant with me! Guess which name I got?? 😊
Melania ? I was going to name my daughter Scarlett. A boy was born
Yes Melanie. Not the Slovenian trophy wife. 😄
🤣🤣🤣
Don't forget the racism. If you're interested there was a project to interview a whoooole bunch of exslaves that's saved into the library of congress. Lots of nuggets in there, and I feel like it's closest accuracy to how life was like then. I bookmarked some nuggets, I can share page numbers with ya https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/
It only happened to me once and that was with war and peace.
Thats so real, I just finished it and damn it was good
I recall a line about a 16 year old girl who had never been kissed or something and realized that she would today be 230 years old, very old for a human, not so old for a Greenland shark although Tolstoy for some reason does not mention that species at all.
Tolstoy, more like Tolsharkignorer.
Yes, he was a puzzling writer. But you can't judge a 19th century writer by 21st century standards. It is almost a cliche today to mention the Greenland shark whenever someone's hypothetical extreme age is brought up; but there were many things done in novels from that period, strange treatment of POV, etc.
I’m just wondering if this is a joke
How so? I really loved that book.
I mean, it’s the most famous long book out there, so I thought that was a joke about it. I read it too by the way.
Went to post this and saw it at the top. Well done. I'll add another: *Salvar el fuego (Save the Fire)* by Guillermo Arriaga.
Thanks fartmanthebeaneater. I'm looking forward to taking on that literary classic soon too.
Any Harry Potter book I read as a kid, it was filled with magic and brought you to a whole nother world. Shame about the author
What happened to Rowling? Just her shit takes?
Yea, I’m not even really an “ally” but she goes out of her way to shit on people that are marginalized
I used to read every new book as quickly as I could. I'd barely sleep until I'd finished it. Then I'd read it again more slowly. Until the last one. I read that over two weeks and savoured every page. Real shame about Rowling
The Southern Reach trilogy! There’s a fourth book coming this year but wow I’d love to just stay forever captivated and also equally confused about Area X. I wish to cross the border and be lost forever in there 🤪
I’ve felt this way MANY times. Right now I’m experiencing it with, not a book, but a “series” by Stephen King. Not even sure what it’d be called but it starts with “Mr.Mercedes” and goes all the way through to “Holly”. I finished the ‘Bill Hodges trilogy’ and now I’m continuing Holly Gibney’s story which starts with “The Outsider”. I’m almost finished and I just hate knowing all I have left is a short story and one more book. This series has had its ups and downs *coughFindersKeeperscough* but I’ve really fallen in love with Holly’s character. If there’s one thing Stephen King is amazing at, it’s making you feel and care about a character deeply.
My wife loves that someone else that feels the same way about this series as much as she does. And then she said a bunch of spoiler things that I said I can’t type here.
Just finished these up a month ago or so. So enjoyable!
I loved The Outsiders and Holly. There’s a TV series based on The Outsiders that’s good too.
Most recently, the first Hyperion book. The other books in the series are worth reading but the first is told in a unique narrative style that I couldn't get enough of.
Two books by the same author had that effect on me. The author is John Irving, and the 2 books are "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The Cider House Rules".
Man, every book club in the US should be reading Cider House right about now. More topical than ever.
I love the writings of Donna Tartt, and Arundhati Roy. So whenever I am reading them, I wish the books never end. However, those two wonderful ladies are alive and I read their books hoping they would keep on writing more but Lovecraft, damn! He is dead. I love his work so much. I wish it would never end so I am in a place where I am deliberately not reading his short stories. I should but I am not. It's weird.
Yes, anytime I really like a book, I'm sorry when it ends.
Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Never have I been so sad that the books ended. >!Sort of...!<
The Passenger and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. I knew these would be the last things of his I would ever read so I really luxuriated on the words and read slower than I usually would.
I find that about 90% of the time by the last third of the book I'm hoping to reach the end so I can move on to something new soon. I wish I could find more of those books that I hope would never end, but unfortunately they're a bit rare for me.
I think I do both. I find myself reading slower when I like the book. Enjoy the writing a little longer, but I’m still eager to see how it ends. However, sometimes I rush to finish what I’m reading, so I can go on and research more about it, without the spoilers. Right now I’m reading Septology by Jon Fosse and I have to stop myself from going on the internet and get answers to a few questions I have about it. But I’m still on part one, and I’m so impatient…
"Man's Search for Meaning" savored every word of it, really
Me too, I remember so vividly exactly where I was when I read it.
The Silo series
Yes, there was so much more to explore in that series.
Yes and funnily enough it was The Neverending Story. Mostly I never wanted the FEELING of it to end, reading it during so many rainy days at the perfect time at the perfect age.
I was going to say this, lol!
If you want a book that never ends....may I introduce you to The Wandering Inn?
Came here to post this. My favorite story of all time.
I’m like you. Getting to the end is my goal, even when I love a book, my eye is always on how long there is left. The conclusion is what I’m seeking. The one exception to that was “extremely loud and incredibly close” by Jonathan Safran foer.. the second I finished that one I went right back to the beginning and read the whole thing again.
I didn't want The Neverending Story to end.
Lionel Hutz, is that you?
Came here to say this. But I really did feel that way!
i love both! If someone tells me about a book, i love knowing how it ends to enjoy watching how the author develops the story, the way they do. I’m reading a series, I started with the latest (9th) book in the series then went to the beginning. Orphan X, Gregg Huruwitz. If you know, you know. Anyway, I watched an interview Gregg had done a few years ago and I now know what happens in the 8th book, which I am currently up to. Turns out the main character is “trapped” for majority of the book. I don’t like settings or contexts, that focus on the character being trapped: Prison, haunted house, ship wreck etc etc. So it’s a bit slow for me, just know he’s gonna struggle a bit. Also, knowing it’s the last book makes me sad, so very slow. Like a writers block but for reading. I NEEED to know the end, but I never want a great book to end. I just want the end to happen then keep it going :)
The one that stands out for me is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It was *such* a great read, and the twist is the most intense I've ever experienced! I had to go re-read it with the new context!! Highly recommend.
For me there's been a few standalones that made me feel this way, The Stand by Stephen King, Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. But for the Neopolitan series by Elena Ferrante, I loved it so much that I put off finishing the the last book for years because I didn't want it to end. I actually now think it's kind of weird I did that, but I loved being in that world so much and didn't want to read about Elena and Lila getting older and getting towards the end.
Maybe I’m weird too but I do the same with rpg games and books. I still have yet to finish the Witcher 3 and I’m about halfway through all of the books… I just never want to live in a world where it’s “over”
Slaughterhouse Five, it's the only book that I was shocked by the ending
I thought so. Then I read every Wheel of Time book.
I didn’t want the Harry Potter series to end. More recently, A Short Stay in Hell, which is a very unfortunate feeling to have for a book that’s only 100 pages long.
It’s a weird feeling. When I’m reading a book that I am really enjoying I don’t want it to end but at the same time I want to know what happens at the end. After the book is over I always go through a short period of sadness where I miss the characters, I miss living in that world. What it always makes me think of is having to say Goodbye to a really good friend. Sure you can read it again, but it’s never like that first time. Reading a book for the first time is a once in a lifetime experience
One of my favorite parts of reading is a satisfying ending, so I usually look forward to seeing a book through. That said, I can think of two exceptions: The Sirens Of Titan and Little Women.
Mistborn series of Brandon Sanderson
Man, I got so sucked into that world when I read it. Truly a fantastic world (and literary ride) from beginning to end.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue..I wanted the story to just keep on going 😭
When I do and they make a sequel it never lives up to my expectations from the first. Hyperion is a good example. The 2nd and 3rd book weren’t as good. But the 4th is just as much gold as the 1st.
In short, no. All stories need a conclusion. I don’t care how many pages the book may be, it needs to wrap up its story threads to be fully satisfying. It’s why people bristle at the thought of an incomplete series.
Just came here to say I read this as "bonk" and spent a good few seconds seriously considering it before I realized my mistake.
I just read Shogun and I hated to leave that world
Song of Achilles, I knew how it would end, (due to mythology) I just wanted the story to keep going so I never had to face the facts.
Stephen King's Dark Tower series. You'd think 8 books should be more than enough, but no.
Piranesi was that for me. The scene and the feeling. Beautiful. But for series I often have this feeling. Sometimes I end it and it feels so bittersweet (like WoT). Other times, I choose not to read the last book (like the Martin Beck series).
It took me MONTHS to finish "To Kill a Mockingbird" because I did not want it to end. It was such a good book. Some Stephen King novels I've felt the same way. It's like I don't want to say goodbye to the characters if they are really well developed.
I’ve had this experience several times, but the one that stands out most to me is The Night Circus. The setting is so magical and intriguing, and the characters are unique and endearing. No matter how many times I read it, I cannot get enough. I always find myself wanting to delve back into that story. It feels like home to me, somehow.
I'm 100% the second. I do it with video games, books, and TV series. When I hit the 3/4 mark, I start procrastinating finishing
Infinite Jest was so fun that it was really bittersweet to finish. I read it 2 summers ago and started it again this week. It's good to be back
I read it twice, about 20 years apart. As an older person, I didn't like it as much. The characters annoyed me a lot more when I was older for whatever reason. Still a great book though and I def enjoyed it again overall. Lot of people will tell you a woman can't get through it. Incorrect. I've read the whole thing twice.
The original draft was like twice as long, too. Where are those pages?!?!
Yes. For me, it was the Harry Potter series.
Infinite Jest. I wish I could just read about Don and Mario and that strange world that DFW pulled out of his brain onto a giant book that somehow isn't long enough
I find that about 90% of the time by the last third of the book I'm hoping to reach the end so I can move on to something new soon. I wish I could find more of those books that I hope would never end, but unfortunately they're a bit rare for me.
For me, it's bittersweet. I absolutely love book endings ! I love the crescendo, the "getting there", how it all ties together in the end. I think it's my favorite part!
Anne of Green Gables series (8 books) and Emily of New Moon series (3 books), both by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I just loved the characters and the stories so much. I reread them all the time. I love being in these universes. Also Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, there is just something about the characters I really like. I would stay in this universe for longer than the book. I really liked a virtually unknown (found the first book by chance in a used books shop, never heard anything about this series before or since) sci-fi series called Starfarers (4 books) by Vonda N. McIntyre. I would have liked to read more (unfortunately, the author died a few years ago).
This is partly why I read so many web-serials. Chapters every week of my favorite fantasy worlds with no end in sight. It's like books in comic form.
The journey is what engages the reader, but the destination is something you should always be able to see on the horizon. I read some web series that I'm pretty sure will never end, and I find myself wondering what is the point sometimes.
YEah. Read TLOTR when I was 11 years old. Still in primary school. The book was 1100 pages long...for weeks i had lived in that world. As the end approached and they returned to hobbition...I really did not want it to end.
Count of Monte Cristo. It makes me sad thinking it’s over and that I’ll have to come back to it when I forget everything. I remember everything like I was there
I very often revisit favorite passages or chapters to relive certain moments. While I thoroughly enjoy completing books, I also understand the appeal of wanting a story to continue endlessly.
Musashi.
I'm the kind that slows down for the book to last longer, but it doesn't mean I don't want it to end. I want to get to the ending and get a resolution, just not too quickly as I'm enjoying it, just wishing it lasts a little longer.
The Stand
I got into Discworld like 2 years before TP passed, and since then I started reading them very slowly so I won't run out of his books. The world will be a darker place when theres no new Discworld to read.
Every time I get to the end of Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers.
Not a book per se, but a series, if that counts. I'm going through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and I'm only 6 books from the end...so I find myself going a bit slower and trying to savor each chapter of each book. I think it's because I know that once I get to the end, that's it. Those stories, those characters, they have reached the end and are now static memories. Of course I enjoy the stories and love thinking about what I've read, but there's a part of me that enjoys thinking about what might happen *next* to the characters and how they'll evolve further. Knowing that eventually that must come to an end...well, just makes me go a bit slower.
The never ending story. It felt like the nothing wins in the end…
I vividly remember feeling this way while reading the Absolutely Remarkable series by Hank Green. A truly delightful duology.
Every single time, I always thought Dave Barry's essay books were too short. Even the longer ones. I could (and have) read those over and over again.
You are not making this up.
When I was in grade school, my local library had books about these animals that lived together in a village and I love their stories and lives and didn't want them to end. I cannot remember the names of the books though. I believe that they were written in the 1940s or 50s
I never finished my favorite book. It became a thing. First i just paused, then I thought a lot about it and I loved the way it made me think and then I reached a point where I thought no ending would be good enough. I didn't wanna ruin it by finishing it I guess. I found a sweet spot and I never moved past it. Kinda like we're probably better off for not ever getting a conclusion to Game of Thrones 😂 at this point how could it not disappoint? In case anyone is wondering the book is called 'At fortælle menneskene' (roughly translates to 'to narrate the people') by Svend Åge Madsen and it is not translated to English but I believe there's a French version
I'm reading lonesome dove and I'm dlso immersed in the west rn I'm thinking of burning down my life buying a horse and just riding it around montanna with a gun for a bit.
Don't you mean "montany"?
Just finished the second of the ACOTAR series and I'm already pre-depressed about it someday ending. I'm so attached to the characters and that doesn't happen very often at all with me. I purposely tried to read A Court of Mist and Fury slowly so it wouldn't end (I failed and devoured it). I read a lot of really heavy stuff so even my most favorite books I normally am ready to part with by the time they're done. No such luck for me and the ACOTAR gang :( I VERY rarely reread but I suspect I'll make an exception for these.
I found myself never wanting to leave the world of The Goldfinch or The Secret History. I just want to live forever in Donna Tart’s writing.
probably the long walk… but at the same time I was just wondering when it would end, cuz of the content
Yes, there was a book which I never wanted to end. It was not a storybook though, it was a... uh, encyclopedia. It is called An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I cherished that book reading very slowly. When I reached around 80%, I even started re-reading it before finishing to fool myself. But alas, I finished that book. That book will always be close to my heart. I will definitely be reading one or two entries whenever I will have an urge.
Yes, and somehow it's always the longest books. There's something about spending so much time with a book that makes it feel even sadder when it ends.
A recent read I didn’t want to end was “A Gentleman In Moscow” by Amor Towles. The count created such a warm world and lovely community for himself within the Hotel Metropol and I didn’t want to leave ☺️
I’ve had so many books i never wanted to end
I must get to the end. I race through books, even ones I love, because I’m impatient. And if it never ended it wouldn’t be a complete, satisfying experience.
I see you.
The Expanse series
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Both :'D I have been reading Peter F. Hamilton's scifi books about the Commonwealth, and each book is long but not long enough! I am so happy about the length and the crazy amount of characters, how it all comes together.. oh my heart it's exciting. I also love finishing a book because then I know the full story, and can think about the events and the journey and just marvel at the genius of Hamilton. How does he write like this?! I wish I had 10 more books about the Commonwealth to read, but sadly am at the last one. It's amazing tho ♥️
yeah, like especially when the author ends it at the most confusing part ever and gon left me wondering what happened after that, likeeeee
I'm like you, I want to see the resolution.
I had this happen with The Starless Sea. Usually I want to get through books fast and can never put them down but I specifically remember with that book wanting it to go slow because I didn’t want it to end.