Unforeseeable Endings

Have you ever read a book, got to the end and you were just completely, utterly shocked? Me too. This has happened to me a few times and honestly, a couple of books I couldn't even finish because of this. I was so mad, or sad that a certain character died that I just couldn't bring myself to finish the book. As we're reading, we have this perfect ending in mind that we think "of course this is what's going to happen, they couldn't end it any other way." But, there is always - and I mean always - foreshadowing to what the ending will hold. You might not pick up on this while you're reading the first time, but read it a second time and you'll see it coming - not because you already know what's going to happen but because you will notice the subtle clues as to what the ending will hold.

While a surprising ending may not be one in your favor - you're either mad about what happened or mad that you didn't see it coming - the author did their job: they kept you guessing. They didn't make their intentions so obvious that you knew the ending before the book revealed it. Some books are like that - you can guess the outcome before you're even halfway through. I don't those are necessarily bad - they're just predictable. I like some books that surprise me. But, I must say there was one where I was so mad the author killed the character that I gave up reading his books for about 6 months (and then a new one came out). I think there's a certain line when it comes to surprise endings that authors might not want to cross. Killing off a well-liked main character has a definite negative effect of my view of the author. When this happened to me, I gave very bad reviews of his books to my friends who were looking for something to read. I was so mad, I didn't want anyone to ever read his books again. I know this is dramatic, and at the time I thought I was justified. This author is Nicholas Sparks, whom many of my posts are about. I love his books, but there's one that I just never could quite finish. Still haven't. He crossed that invisible line with me in that book, and I don't think I'll be going back to review the foreshadowing. But definitely, his other books have my support. He's my favorite author by far, and I'm pretty sure will continue to be so.

I hope you all enjoyed my blog. (I thought a final blog about endings would be quite fitting for this occasion).

Genres

As most of you who read this blog know, I love to read. But I've always been confronted with this question that I'm not exactly sure how to answer: What kind of books do you like? I usually answer with "Anything" and people think I'm either dodging the question or that I just don't know what genre I like. But it's the truth: I love it all. Each and every genre brings something different to the table, and depending on my mood that day, I may pick up a mystery, a romance, a suspense, or a non-fiction book. Yes, there are other genres as well, but these are just a few that I usually read and have lying around my house. I don't think you have to pick a certain genre of books and stick to it strictly. Try something new! You might just like that one too. I find that each genre has their own redeeming quality. A mystery makes you think and guess what might be happening. A romance makes you dream about the possibilities of love. A suspense may have you anxious and wondering. And a non-fiction may have you thinking about this person who lived this life and wondering where they are now or what really happened at the true end of their story.

Honestly, I never really liked the non-fiction books before my dad wrote one. It was a tribute to my grandfather (his dad) and it is amazing. I never knew all of the stories that my grandfather had to tell. My dad would go over to his house a few nights a week, and he would just tell stories and my dad would right them down. It's now been a year since my grandfather passed away, and with this non-fiction book telling the story of his life - from birth till the age of 89 - I will always have his stories. Not only is this book special to me, it gave me a reason to start reading some other non-fiction books. They're amazing simply for the fact that this "story" you're reading really happened to someone. I don't think many people get into non-fiction books a lot - at least, I hardly ever hear of it. But I now have a new-found respect for them, and I like to think they're one of my "favorites".

Give a different genre a try - you never know what you'll find.