Does a good book ever really end?

Does a good book ever really end?

I read a quote on the internet. It said:

A good book has no ending. ~R.D. Cumming

Now this really got me thinking. Does a good book ever really end? I had never thought about a book like this before. Obviously a book has an ending, in fact it has a beginning, a middle and an end.

I think, though, that what R.D. Cumming was trying to say is that when a book is truly a good book it lives on for the reader. I think this is very true in two different ways.

Firstly, I think about in the context of famous classics like The Great Gatsby or 1984. Books like these last forever in the collective mind or however you want to put it. Their significance in literature ensures that they won't end when the story itself comes to an end, their significance will continue and therefore they will never end.

I think that the same thing can be said for books that individual readers read that have some special significance for them. This is a small example, but I absolutely love The Clan of the Cave Bear series written by Jean M Auel. I re-read it when I get a chance and I recommend it to everyone. This isn't such a good example because he series still hasn't been completed (and just as an aside, I am beginning to believe that it never will be Jean...), but the same could be said for many books that I love, such as The Time Travellers Wife or Fraction of a Whole by Steve Toltz. They have never ended for me even though I have finished them, because I love them and I re-read them and I recommend them, and I talk about them. That is what keeps a good book alive in my mind.