Hello Friends
Most of the books I’ve read are either Fantasy, or Horror. More recently, I’ve been getting into Science Fiction. I’ve especially noticed this reading Fantasy, but it happens sometimes with other genres (Not as much horror).
I greatly enjoy getting immersed into a book, but sometimes I get that melancholy feeling that is similar to when you finish a book. But I think it’s more rooted in the fact that my life is not as important/exciting as the characters in the book (which is why Fantasy is especially bad for this)
It’s not only books that I get this, very specific movies and videogames sometimes cause this too (Star Wars, Mass Effect).
Another thing is I think it’s because books allow people to know every character much better than someone might know a person irl, because you can directly read their thoughts/feelings, so sometimes when I’m reading I think that feeling I’ve been talking about is potentially from realizing that I can’t really know anyone that well. (Think of how close the main character’s group is in most stories.) This isn’t to say I don’t have friends or anything, but It feels distant compared to a group of people who have saved the universe together or something. (The only thing I save with Dave is a seat at the bar.)
Let me Know what you do/think whilst reading books.
Reading fiction is meant to be an escape, if only for a short time. If the author does it right, we can be those people or part of that world.
It can make me feel a little sad or melancholy at times, especially fantasy. Despite all the faults and problems and so on, of living in those worlds, I envy the characters’ freedom, like Conan’s. Their ability to move around, and explore and feel awe for the world around them, like the Fellowship of the Ring. That’s part of what I love about reading the genre, it brings you back to a simpler, and in some ways better, time. I think Tolkien was right, things are always getting worse. The Hobbits knew how to live.