Do You Have a Book Hangover?

book hangover

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A book hangover. Maybe you’ve heard of the term, maybe you haven’t, but if you’re a reader, you’ve probably experienced it. A book hangover happens when you finish a fantastic book or series but can’t stop thinking about it, to the point where it is difficult to start reading another book. Finding a book you love that much is a wonderful experience (for me, it’s basically any Brandon Sanderson book), but the aftereffects are painful!

A book hangover may be caused by simple sadness about leaving the book’s world. Or it could be deeper: when we readers get lost in a book, a phenomenon called emotional transportation, we truly feel what the characters are feeling, and being thrown back to the real world can be extremely jarring and deeply mournful. The feeling can last even longer if the book challenged your beliefs or caused you to take a deeper look at yourself, leading to personal transformation.

Are you experiencing this haunting feeling? Here’s how you can know for sure.

Signs That You Have a Book Hangover:

You recently binge read a book or series that left you with strong feelings about the plot or characters.
You can’t stop thinking about your last read.
You’re unreasonably depressed after finished a book, even though the book ended happily and satisfyingly.
You keep daydreaming about the world of the book you just finished. You may be imagining the character continuing on with a new plot, and maybe you even appear in the story in your head. Somehow, imagining that story is more interesting than reading a new book.
You check the author’s website way too often to see if they’ve released another book. (“It’s been a whole day! Do they have a new book yet?!”)
You get irrationally angry when someone makes a comment about how weird you’re acting after “just” reading a book. Except, it doesn’t even have to be comment—even a sideways glance will do it.

So you’ve confirmed you have a book hangover. Now, you want to get over it and go back to being a functioning adult who enjoys reading. Here are some tips to help you get there.

How to Get over a Book Hangover

Give it time: Taking a break from reading for a few days can allow the feelings to work themselves out.
Take a break with a different media form: Sometimes consuming a different form of media—such as watching a TV series or reading a comic book—can break you out of your book hangover funk.
Find a book in the same genre: You may just be craving more books of the same genre; try finding a similar book. You can browse our ebook deals to find some great reads!
Find a book in a different genre: Maybe the book you finished was so great, you don’t feel like anything similar can measure up. In that case, try reading a book in a completely different genre.
Read the first chapter of a few books: Stick with a new book for an entire chapter to give it a chance, but go through book after book until you find something that is compelling to you in that moment.
Read the book again: Reading the book that caused your hangover once again may give you enough time to process your feelings and move on.
Go back to a favorite read: Try reading a book that you’ve read before and loved. You already know you love it, so you can probably get through it and enjoy it, ending your hangover.
Try fanfiction: reading a few fanfiction stories based off the book can give you another taste of that world so you’re better able to move on to your next read. Even just browsing fanfiction sites with discussion about the book and fan-art can help you scratch that itch.
Write your own fan fiction: Imagining what might happen next in the world you just left? Write your own fan fiction about it—it can be very therapeutic, even if no one else ends up reading it.
Talk to someone: As you might expect, talking out your feelings with someone else can help you release those feelings and feel better.
Put your feelings on paper: If you have no one willing to listen to you go on about a fictional world, you can write your feelings down. This can take the form of a review on retailers (authors love that!), or you can post on Instagram or Facebook book communities and find others who also loved the book.
Know others have been here too: You’re not alone in this! This happens to all book lovers. You will get through it and enjoy reading again.