Forgotten books

RosiesMaw2

I’m sure I’ve told this one before, but here goes.
I regularly take a bag of books to our local Oxfam book shop but rarely escape without a quick browse and a couple of purchases.
Once I was reading one of of my Oxfam purchases and realised I had read it before. So what?
I looked inside the cover and not only had I read it before, I had given this actual book to Oxfam (and bought it back again! )

Evidently a good read!
My sister who used to work in a library, said one old lady borrower used to make a particular small pencil mark on a particular back page, so she could tell which books she’d already read.
Just pencil, so they never said anything to her. But I can’t help wondering whether it ever occurred to another reader to rub it out…

RosiesMaw2

I’m sure I’ve told this one before, but here goes.
I regularly take a bag of books to our local Oxfam book shop but rarely escape without a quick browse and a couple of purchases.
Once I was reading one of of my Oxfam purchases and realised I had read it before. So what?
I looked inside the cover and not only had I read it before, I had given this actual book to Oxfam (and bought it back again! )

Off topic RosiesMaw2 but I was out with my DD for a meal.
“Nice handbag Mum” she said. Turned out she had put it into the charity shop and I had bought it! It was in lovely condition and never used.
(She’d never buy anything from a charity shop😁)

I recently re-read a George Orwell (A Clergyman’s Daughter) hardback that I evidently bought in the early 70s - proof being the stamp inside saying British Council Library, which would have been in Nicosia. (I hadn’t nicked it - they used to sell off some old titles.)
I vividly remembered or two minor incidents in it, and the main theme, but much of it was like reading it for the first time.

RosiesMaw2
🤣🤣
I’ve never done that, but I have bought books, where the title has changed and not realised I’d read it from the blurb.

I’m sure I’ve told this one before, but here goes.
I regularly take a bag of books to our local Oxfam book shop but rarely escape without a quick browse and a couple of purchases.
Once I was reading one of of my Oxfam purchases and realised I had read it before. So what?
I looked inside the cover and not only had I read it before, I had given this actual book to Oxfam (and bought it back again! )

That’s a great idea to promote reading. I must admit I’m a ebook fan, but our house still has loads of real books.

I volenter in a bookshop once a week All the books are free to take away We are a charity that saves books from landfil
You can take upto 8 books and three childrens books each visit
So many people are regulars its a wonderful charity run by Trustees and volenters like me who love books all types and like to talk to people about what we have read and any recomendations and generally like to be good listeners Have met so many nice people over the years who just are passing by and cant believe they can leave without paying for any books that catch their eye We get them from Schools Libraries and donations from the general public who know of our brillant service to all who know of us and spread the word We are situated in a large outlet shopping centre so many footfall customers and universy students from University nearby
Books are back in fashion well they never went out of fashion just out of mind when kindles etc came on the scene and ipads and PCs too took over our lives Good in many ways but sadly bad for our eyes(blue light) and brains in many other ways
Long Live the Printed Word !!!!

Another Borrowbox fan here.

I use BorrowBox, free and easy to use, if a title is ‘out’ you can reserve it. I borrow a lot of audiobooks from BorrowBox which means I can sew or knit whilst listening.

Gin

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!

Yes, I remember this book well and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Thank goodness....I thought it was just me.

I thought I was alone in forgetting the title and author as soon as I've finished reading. I'm so glad I'm not. I've started writing down the name of an author that I like, but find it irritating that libraries only have three or four of the same author. We are lucky in Cheshire in being able to visit any library with the same ticket, but they all have the same three or four. I've requested books in the past, and then found I've read them already.

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.

That is interesting Indigo. Must be wonderful in Russian.

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.

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.

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.

True💕

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!

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.

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.

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!!

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

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.

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.