The Anticipation of the End

You know that feeling you get right before finishing a really good book? You next the next page is the last page and though you really want the author to write another sequel and continue with the characters stories you know that the end, the true end, is coming soon.

I love that feeling.

I just finished The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson. It is an incredible book, and worthy sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes which is what I remember as officially selling me on YA Fiction. (If you haven't read either of these books, you definitely should. They are witty and entertaining.)

On the second to last page of  LLBE I got that feeling of anticipation. As Ginny was sitting on that train, thinking about what she would do next, outlining her future, I knew that this story was really ending. I didn't want it to. I wanted another about what would happen to Ginny in college, who she would meet, and what would happen with the guy she chose. (What? You thought I was going to tell you who it was? You wish.)

But I knew that I wouldn't get anymore. Ginny's story of adventure with the little blue envelopes was over, and the rest was left for us, the reader to imagine.

Which kind of sucks, to be honest.

I have always thought that was the hardest part about being such an avid reader: Getting to the end of the fantastic books.

There have been times when I did not want a book to end so much, that I set it down and never read the last page or chapter. But I don't do that anymore, because that is almost harder in a way. Waiting so long for an ending, almost getting there, and then stopping. It's just so...painful. Not letting yourself reach the ending is just being cruel to yourself. (Let's not develop masochistic tendencies boys and girls.)

The best books always have the best endings, even if you want them not to end. Read the last page, end the story. I promise it will be worth it.

The last sentence of The Last Little Blue Envelope is"It's always easier to say good-bye when you know it's just a prelude to hello." That sentence definitely applies here as well. Say good-bye to those good endings, and say hello to new ones.