Forgotten books

I use BookBuddy app -free. You can add books, review for your own information and note any you may loan out. Great.

I had this problem, I've started keeping a notebook with the name of the book and a synopsis to jog my memory

How great to know it’s not just me who really enjoys reading a book but then can’t remember much about it to tell anyone. Was surprised to learn recently that my 45 year old daughter is the same.

As Aveline said, such a relief to know it's not just me 😊

I do remember some of the classics I read as a young woman. I've enjoyed rereading some of them in my older age. Currently I'm revisiting 1984 by George Orwell. It's terrific, but nothing like what I remembered from before!

There are loads of apps that let you scan the barcode or enter the ISBN of books, so you can keep a list as you, and also add all those from your bookshelves. The good thing about apps is you can then carry your list everywhere, and check before you buy ot borrow a book.

That's the advantage of me having a Kindle. When our book club says 'let's read so and so' , it reminds me I already have it in my library and have read it. It causes lots of hilarity in the club.
Glad it's not just me.
I think keeping a note book could also be a very good idea.

I fortunately rarely forget which books I’ve read (I’m sure it will come) although I can be hazy on the content of some.

I do, however, loathe when a book has different titles in the UK and US, as I’ve been caught out a few times - I’ve learned to quickly scan the plot b fore buying now.

Oh, what a relief! I’m far from alone!

Yes, same for me - but not for much loved books, usually classics, which seem to get better with re-reading. So I can sit in the dentist's chair and mentally go away and 're-read' the whole of Pride and Prejudice , which makes the dentist experience so much easier. Jane Austen never lets me down, and I have several times re-read Jane Eyer too, and enjoyed it each time. On the other hand when I re-read Wuthering Heights I could not understand why I'd liked it the first time! Melodrama to me. If you like Jane Austen I do recommend you also try Elizabeth Gaskell. She is not the same of course, but she writes brilliantly, and is more aware of the social context of her characters. Many people have enjoyed her book Cranford, but not read any of her other books. I recommend Wives and Daughters and North and South, if you have not read her before. Some of her other books had a big social impact in the past (as did Dickens) but can make painful reading. So start with one of the ones I suggest here - very readable and engaging.

I have found that as one ages, authors and title names do not stick in my memory. Those I read years ago I remember, only a few days ago I had an example. A friend had been to Guernsey and I asked her if she had read ‘ The Book of Ebenezer le Plage’ a fascinating book telling tge life of an islander written in a sort of patois but very understandable and interesting. I First read it in the 1970s so of course it is long out of print but I this morning I received a second hand copy for just £4 , I am thrilled to bits. I seldom read books more than once, they have to be really memorable. I did re read Edna O’Brian’s ‘Country Girls’, a cracking good read, not long ago.

My library fortunately tells me if I have read a book and very often of four chosen, two I have already read!

Two a week??

I abe exactly the same problems. I read a lot, forget the titles, pick up something I’ve read before and then recognise it. I usually keep going though and reread the book with the same enjoyment as when I first encountered it. I’m glad I’m not alone in this. I thought I was going quietly gaga.

I thought it was just me. Always been an avid reader. Love books. However, like others I finish one book and pickup another. I can remember if I enjoyed a book or if I couldn’t get on with it. Those memories stay with me for ages but the title, characters names, author and much about the story escape me.
Thought it must be an age thing as I remember books I loved asa child. Loved Little Women, Gone With the wind and War and Peace. No trouble remembering any of the characters, authors or story lines. I did wonder if part of the trouble is that going from one to another so quickly our brains don’t have enough time to assimilate (short term memory)the content before accommodating it as it should in long term memory.

Lovetoppaint037 I am impressed, you read War and Peace as a child. Did you read it in translation or in Russian?

I have been an avid reader all of my life and when I first started work found it hard to get enough time to read. Then when I was working in london I used to have a system of three books at a time. So one was by my bed, another in the drawer at work, and the third would be in my bag to read on the tube. I had no trouble reading these books. I was a female Oliver Twist at my secodary school when in the 2nd year I asked if there were more fiction books that I could have as I had read all the books they had. At first the librarian did not believe me, but then took books at random from the shelves and I told her what they said. She asked me to wait and then brought another couple of teachers in who also asked me to tell them about the books . But then did then get more books from another library. I still read voraciously, have various books that I keep to reread, love going into a second hand book shop for the joy of finding something new . and NEVER read it on kindle. I want the pleasure of the feel of the book and the look of it etc. Certain books give me much solace when things are hard and I watch out for a book I read called Girl of the Limberlost as a child . Many memories are connected to books. Reading the fire scene in Jane Eyre when I was meant to be asleep but couldnt stop until I had read it. The pleasure of Jane Austin and the Trollope novels - Anthony Trollope I mean. I have no worries about rereading books and still love belonging to the library. REading gives me such pleasure and I do my best to make sure my brandson loves books too , whilst I know he is using the computer but he is still happy to have books as present. What could be better or cheaper than on a miserable wet afternoon than to sit in comfort with a coffee and a good book? I plan to continue all this winter too. So far the government hasnt found a way to charge me for reading - and if it is too cold I shall go to bed and read!!

I'm the same and so pleased I'm not alone. I keep a spreadsheet of books as I read them, and also keep a notebook of my favourite authors and all their titles. I award a mark out of 10. A bit OTT maybe, but it means I don't buy what I've already read. I have the Fantastic Fiction site on my phone which helps.

madeleine45

A Girl of the Limberlost
I remember it well and I still have it in my Kindle library.
I thought that Where the Crawdads Sing would be similar, but that was a much more complex story.

Applegran

Yes, same for me - but not for much loved books, usually classics, which seem to get better with re-reading. So I can sit in the dentist's chair and mentally go away and 're-read' the whole of Pride and Prejudice , which makes the dentist experience so much easier. Jane Austen never lets me down, and I have several times re-read Jane Eyer too, and enjoyed it each time. On the other hand when I re-read Wuthering Heights I could not understand why I'd liked it the first time! Melodrama to me. If you like Jane Austen I do recommend you also try Elizabeth Gaskell. She is not the same of course, but she writes brilliantly, and is more aware of the social context of her characters. Many people have enjoyed her book Cranford, but not read any of her other books. I recommend Wives and Daughters and North and South, if you have not read her before. Some of her other books had a big social impact in the past (as did Dickens) but can make painful reading. So start with one of the ones I suggest here - very readable and engaging.

I too forget books I have read, but some leave an ‘atmosphere’ behind, even if the details are forgotten.
I cannot reread a book as there are so many unread books and life is short.

I wish I could relax sufficiently in the dentist’s chair to reread a novel Applegran!
I’m a massive fan of Elizabeth Gaskell and visited Knutsford (the setting for Cranford) and put flowers on her grave. I’m hoping to visit her house in Manchester in the not too distant future. I’m so sorry she has passed, no more of her books to look forward to!

True💕

Indigo8

Lovetoppaint037 I am impressed, you read War and Peace as a child. Did you read it in translation or in Russian?

Yes it was in English. I asked my teacher which book she thought was the greatest ever writtten. She said it was a difficult one to answer but if pushed she would say War and Peace. I was 13 and asked my dad if I could have it for Christmas. I still have it.(Everyman edition) It is in three volumes and makes reading quite easy. I read it in the Christmas holidays. It is NOT difficult and there are other books just as long. It’s a myth that stops people reading it. It is also the most insightful explanation about the happenings on fields of battle at that time and what causes war. The characters are wonderful. I fell in love with Peter Basoukov and Natasha Rostov etc etc. I am 83 have read it a few times and I still love it. I am just an ordinary reader. If I can read it so can anyone else but the myth persists. Sorry to carry on about it but I still love it.

A book has to be really special for me to be able to remember it. Like most, I read and enjoy and then forget!
I often have two books on the go at the same time. One for reading in bed, and another which I read at lunchtime in the living room.
I'm a keen supporter of my local library, and also love my Kindle. There's a place for both.
Reading has been a huge part of my life and I've been a library member in Devon for over eighty years.

Sorry Lovetopaint037 Re-reading my post it sounds as though I was being ironic, I wasn't.

I read W&P when I was about 17 and I agree that, though long, it is not difficult, in a good translation. I regret that I have not got round to reading it again.

I have a bi-lingual friend whose mother was Russian and she read W&P in both Russian and English when she was a teenager.

That is interesting Indigo. Must be wonderful in Russian.

My DD lent me a book recently, “Wintering; the power of rest and retreat in difficult times.” Very readable and thought provoking, but I’m three quarter of the way through it and I’ve realised that I’ve read it before. It took just one paragraph to trigger that realisation. I have favourite books by writers that have made a huge impression on me. Foremost is Mary Renault. I’ve just started re-reading her Alexander trilogy, and some of her other novels set in ancient Greece. It was a joy to find that they are not out of print. She was a consummate historian and a mesmerising writer of historical fiction. Pat Barker, Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller are following magnificently in her footsteps.