Reading...ever hated that a book ended because you have come to love the characters?

I really am addicted to reading. I can no more not read than I can not breathe. If someone wanted to punish me for a crime, all they would have to do is take away every book I have on my shelves and not allow me to read anything for a month...I would be dead, extremely well punished, and probably "mad as a hatter" after those 30 days. 

I found these photos - see below (which I know are really ads). They seemed to picture how real the characters can become to me. Some of the characters in books I have loved have felt so real to me that when the book ended, a best friend had died and I cried at a happy ending for the sheer joy and pain of having known the character. 

What am I reading now...just finished I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. Great writing, and then hearing it on audiobooks (while I drive to and from work 5 days a week) was brilliant with the Welsh, British and American accents. It is the story of a group of girls who "adored" David Cassidy, the teen idol in 1970-1974 or so. How they contrived to go to his concert in White City, outside of London, England, where a girl in the crowd was crushed to death. How they entered a contest to meet their idol...and then 30 years later find out that they actually won the contest, and how it changes their lives....again. Brilliant story. 

On to The Tin Horse by Janice Steinburg in the car....sounds promising. Waiting for me on my bedside table is the hard copy of the latest Henning Mankell mystery, A Treacherous Paradise. Mankell is famous for his Kurt Wallander series, a Swedish detective whose angst continues brilliantly through a series of 10 mysteries (police procedure, not gore). If you are into mysteries, read the Wallander series in succession. You will not be disappointed.

 

Until next time, curl up on these rainy days with a cup of tea, a warm dog at your side, and a new friend in pages that will take you away.....