Addicted

Have you ever been addicted to books?
So much so that you can't function as a normal person while in the middle of one?
Your thoughts are stuck in the world with the characters, and their story that's being told.
Your hands shake, they itch to be turning the next page.
Does this addiction get worse when you're forcibly forced to put the book down...and you're in the middle of a climax or a cliff hanger?
Do you find yourself thinking in the style of the book? Using their quirks, their manner of speaking?
Do you find it difficult to not have your mouth repeat those terms, speaking quirks?

Yah....I do.
There are just some books that are that good.
The ones that totally draw you into the world, immerse you, and make it difficult to surface back into the 'real world' without sounding totally obsessive.

I had was superbly addicted when I was younger.
I inhaled books like a second food source.
You rarely found me without a book in my hand, or nearby.
And you could tell when I was in the middle of a good one whenever my response to the 'how are you?' question included "I'm in the climax of a book....and I can't read it right now."
Yah, being social was totally difficult at these times. Because more often then not, others around me hadn't read whatever I was reading, and so I had no outlet to talk about it.
..not that I'm sure I would have wanted to talk about it when I got the chance, I'd be worried somebody would spoil it for me. And I hate being spoiled.

It was an addiction bad enough that reading the final page of the book, and not having the next book -if it was a series- right there to pick up....that I would get depressed. (not literally) but I would go into a reading funk. Where, surely no other books in the world could be as great as this one here that I just read. How could anything ever top that? That. Work. of. Genius?!
But days or weeks, after finishing that Wonderful Book, I would pick up another one, just to get my mind somewhere else, and discover. That truly. This book too is a masterpiece.
Or the next book would just confirm that not all books can be written like that one.

Only, has I grew older, I found it difficult to find such 'addicting books.'
I could still read them, like them,
but truly enjoy them? Truly get sucked into their world? Truly couldn't function whenever in the middle of one? Not so much.

So I would and still do return to 'the favorites' the books that really, I could read over and over again and not care because I love the books so much.

I was able to string the 'addiction sense' along a bit this way. Particularly if the book was part of a series. As once that book came out, I could go immerse myself back into the world that I found sooo immersable and real.

But really. Recently, I hadn't felt that addiction.
When was the last time that I truly couldn't participate in life until I finished a book?
Really, it had to be with the Harry Potter books.
I remember one where we were on vacation, and I was in the middle of reading it when I had to go to bed....and I spent that whole night tossing and turning, unable to truly sleep because I had to know. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? My mind flew in a hundred different directions, desperately wanting to know the answers. What happens afterwards? How will they get out of this predicament, how would the character react?
I barely slept a wink that night because I needed to know.
And it wasn't even the last Harry Potter book that did this. Really..It was one or two before that.

But since that point. Not so much.
I rediscovered this feeling this week.
When I reread Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and was able to continue straight into the new release in this series with Words of Radiance.
Everything seemed to be consumed with that need. That need to know what happens next. Does what I want to have happen actually happen in this book? Or will I be strung along waiting desperately for book 3 to come out...in a year or so or longer. Do my favorite characters live? Do they die? Do they come back? Do they ever get over this flaw?
I didn't quite spend the nights tossing and turning like I did on that Harry Potter book, but I found it difficult to fall asleep those nights where I had to put the book down. I found myself dreaming of the characters, or using them as jumping points for even crazier dreams.
If I had a moment to close my eyes during the day -like while on work breaks- I found myself working out possible solutions to why things had happened, how they could have possibly turned out this way, what could be done to make the problems better again.
Really, I sequestered myself in my room once I got home from my work obligations. I couldn't be social. I couldn't interact. I had to find out what happened next!
My work hours were spent trying to not run around the store screaming "BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" I found myself shaky in some cases. Needing to know.
I found that I had to leave the book home, just to keep myself from disregarding my work duties in order to find out what happens next.
Seriously. It was pretty bad.
Good thing it only took me 3 days to read the book.
But finishing it....ah. It was great. I loved it. I want book 3 to come out in two days. But seriously...it's not going to.
And now...now I find myself in that funk. What could I possibly read next?
I have options for sure. A couple of series I haven't read in a while that I want to reread.
But not yet. I have to 'detoxify' myself from this book first. Get it out of my head...kinda... enough to be able to not compare the two.

But oh. This small relapse into my book addiction. Felt wonderful.
Totally unhealthy for any socialness, but oh, so wonderful. :)

-Sarnic Dirchi