Mourning books

Just after breakfast he looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and cried, “This is just like Harry, Mum. It’s just like Harry all over again. What am I going to do?”

Leo is in mourning; he will finish his last Percy Jackson book today. He’s already feeling the pain and he’s warning me that this one is going to be hard: Harry-level-hard.

In years past, he has mourned Geronimo and Thea, Cam, Nate, Flat Stanley, Junie B and Judy Moody, all the various fairies (Disney, Rainbow, and Realm), Encyclopedia Brown, the Boxcar Children, 39 Clues, Droon, Wimpy Kid, all the mysteries (A-Z, Calendar, and Capital), the Erin Hunter books, and many more.

But, as all book lovers know, some losses hurt more than others. Sometimes it is truly painful to close the cover and part ways with the story and its characters. How long will it be until you stumble upon another that makes you feel that way again? You feel a loss, and as with any loss, you mourn.

Leo looked visibly pained when I told him it was the last Jack and Annie (his first true love), the last bit of Dahl, and the last Potter. In these moments, he often shed tears. After he’d digested that very last page, he roamed about the house looking dazed, lost, downtrodden.

Leo will muddle through and eventually get past this recent loss, just as I did when I said goodbye to Anne with an e, Dahl, Narnia, Little Women and Little House, and many, many others. He will get through it, just as we all do. Until then, I’ll let him be alone to have his last moments with Percy, so that he can savor every last drop.

What is the last book you mourned? Please share your mourning books woes here.

***

Finishing a good book is like leaving a good friend.

~William Feather

***