Whenever my husband and I are reading the same series and a new book comes out. I need to re-read most, if not all of the series over again to remember what’s going on. While he can just read the previous book and that’s it.
I’ve tried to just read the previous book to keep my TBR pile down which, if it’s been a year or less, I can usually pick everything back up. However, anything more than a year… It’s gone. I don’t remember side characters, smaller plot points, background history, etc. I never really thought about this because while I didn’t remember the details, I remember the general outline of the story, the main characters, and how the book made me feel.
For example, I’m re-reading the Red Rising Series by Pierce Brown because Light Bringer came out 6+ months ago and I love this series and I really want to read it. However I also know that I don’t remember a dang thing about Dark Age except the Jackal now has a clone and that Brown wrote himself into a corner so he had to bring back Cassius from the dead. Beyond that, I don’t remember anything.
I normally don’t care that I forgot those details because it makes the re-read that much better. I get to kind of re-read the book like it’s brand new again. – Oh shoot! Ephraim ran head long into a cave full of killer robots with nothing but a broom because he was high on spirit berries! Yeah, forgot that epic moment! That’s soo great!
Yet, my husband gets annoyed because he can’t talk to me about a series if we aren’t reading it together because I don’t remember most of it. Now this has me worried. Is this normal? Do other people experience this? Should I go see a doctor about my poor memory?
by madcatscientist
10 Comments
No, it’s not weird. You don’t remember specific books, but nevertheless they contribute to the person who are, to paraphrase a famous quote.
My sister and I are the same way! My brain does not hold onto info I’m not using regularly. It’s filled with too much other stuff. It makes rereading and rewatching movies a lot more interesting tho
That’s normal for me. I often will read something, love it, recommend it to a friend, and then have no idea what they’re talking about when they comment on some character or plot point six months after I read it. I think it might depend on how fast one reads or how one processes the book. Personally, it doesn’t bother me. It makes a reread more fun, and in a series, I can usually figure out what I’m forgetting with context clues if I didn’t reread it.
I went through my list of books I read last year and could hardly remember what most of them were about, much less the details, I feel you 100%.
Normal for me too. My husband can remember every single detail and explain the book to me better than I can, even if I’m currently reading it and he read it a year ago. It annoys me, but I feel like my brain is very “use it or lose it,” and I’m not using the plot to every book I’ve ever read!
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
Nope, I especially forget the ones that are lacking… Couldn’t tell you the difference between The Locked Door by Frieda McFadden and Them Music by T. Marie Vandelly… they just exist in my mind as one. lol
For many years I used to forget the novels I read. With time I’ve become a lot better to mentally catalogue and remember books.
I think the key is that I’ve become a lot more picky in what I choose to read. There are a lot less duds among the stuff I read — this probably helps a lot with the retention.
There are only two distinct possibilities here.
1. This is normal. We consume a lot of media and have a lot going on in our daily lives. You’re not going to remember everything, even things you absolutely love. Whenever a friend of mine is reading a book, playing a game, or watching a movie/show that I recommend, I have to look up a summary of it to refresh my memory, and if they mention something specific I have to go back to re-familiarize myself with it. Especially if it’s been awhile. It would be more weird to me if you did retain all that information after so long.
2. There is something seriously wrong with me, and I need help.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
Not weird but you could read wikipedia summaries. I also write GoodReads reviews so I can go back later and see how I felt about the book. Not exactly the same as a plot summary but it is helpful.