Weird question maybe but I find myself being so sensitive at times that I have to put down the book I’m reading and wait some time before I read again.
It can be for example when it all is looking dark and I don’t think thing are going to turn around. It’s silly I guess but I feel so overwhelmed and nervous that I need a break at times.
I’m reading the last chapter in Simon Scarrows book The honor of Rome. Reading the last chapters and I just know things are going to go bad. Or at least I fear it will so I have to take a break before reading again.
I know it’s silly but wondered if someone else felt the same at times.
I am currently paused reading. GRRM’s Fevre Dream. Paul Tremblay’s books, especially The Cabin at the End of the World.
You could always try putting the book in the freezer.
I’ve had that happen. My adrenaline dumped and I had to put the book down. Jo Nesbø - The Redbreast.
I had to physically stop because my hands were shaking. I honestly wish it happened more.
Then again, I also do that when a book is too fun. Like I am shaking with having such a good time and I need to stop for a sec.
sometimes i would take breaks after reading exceptionally beautiful chapters of tess of the d’urbervilles because i’d have the excruciating feeling that it wouldn’t last and i wanted to let it linger a bit more and capture all the vivid images and trap them in my mind forever or something like that
Doesn’t sound silly to me… I had to put Kite Runner down about 2 months ago and still haven’t picked it back up
Call me sensitive I guess lol
I remember I told a Pashtun man whom I used to talk to a long time ago that I loved the Kite Runner and then he went on a long rant how Khalid Hosseini is biased and has an agenda to portray Pashtuns in a very negative light.
Anyway, you should read ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ as well. It’s amazing but you’ll definitely shed some tears.
Not sensitive at all, I was bawling reading that.
Ironically, “Intensity” by Dean Koontz, and the first few times I read “The Shining” by Stephen King.
I was getting frequent stomachaches in 4th grade and it took me way too long to figure out that it only happened when I was reading a book by Stephen King about someone on the receiving end of an autopsy while they were still alive. It was a short story, but I never finished it.
Haha, that’s the first book I thought of in this post, Intensity!!! I had to get up every couple of minutes just to check again whether all my doors and windows were locked. What a ride that book is!
100% agree on Intensity. I’ve been chasing that scared rush ever since.
No I live for that stuff. If the book can actually evoke dramatic and psychological tension in a palpable way, it’s probably an excellent book.
I had a hard time plugging my way through We Need To Talk About Kevin.
Not necessarily because it was ALL dark or intense… but really uncomfortable just the same
Blood Meridian. I had to put it down every now and then and “clean my brain off.”
Honestly pick a Cormac book and it fits this. Obviously blood meridian is probably the most difficult but all of his books took me ages to get through.
Yes absolutely!
When I read Devolution by Max Brooks, I had to take breaks for my mental health, especially because it was just so raw at times and really touched on a few squicks I have. Also, usually I have no problem eating and then consuming horror but I had to put it down after eating some ice scream because I could feel my stomach churning a little at the descriptions.
House of Leaves is another horror book that i had to make sure I was taking my time with, though it depended on the section I was in. With the really creepy descriptions and parts about the house, I took a lot of solace in my friend with whom I was buddy reading the book because we both felt this like, heavy vibe weigh on us reading it by ourselves. Also heightened my paranoia for a bit.
Finally, When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill is my usual answer for questions like these because I had such a strong visceral reaction to it. Certain characters evoked rage that I have rarely felt in my entire life, as I am typically I very laid back person and don’t express a lot. In some ways though, I had to finish the book because anytime I took a pause, I had uncontrollable crying jags every time I thought about the book. It definitely awakened something in me, thats for sure
My friend asked me to read the Cat and Mouse series. I could not finish Hunting Adeline (2nd book) in over 3 months (or probably even more than that). I kept putting it down because of the graphic scenes, it took me a while to process it
Douglas Stewart’s “Young Mungo” was like this for me. Some violent parts and a lot of despair - a brilliant book but very humbling.
Loved that book.
The good daughter by Karin slaughter… her books are too much for me.
Never really put down, but sometimes reaching the end of a chapter that drops some sort of info bomb that I didn’t see coming will make me pause to think WTF for a few moments. But then I want to continue, so it’s not too long
This was how I felt when I was reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
If you have a past with emotional abuse/neglect from childhood, this book can hit close to home. Some of the pages of my copy of the book are a little warped from a sudden burst of tears. But I’m glad I took my time with it by taking breaks. It was hard but ultimately, for me it was worth it.