I was going to address a question I got about my reading life with my April TBR tomorrow. Then I started writing, and it was longer than an intro to an already long post should be. So it gets its own post!
Question – How much do you actually remember of what you read?
If I’m recalling the conversation where this question was asked correctly (heh, irony), it came from someone who thinks they don’t read a lot. They read about a book a month (which is a lot, relatively speaking, as many people don’t read at all), and they really delve into it. That is, they read it slowly and also end up reading articles and listening to podcasts or watching interviews about the book, the topic, and/or the author. They join the fandoms of their favorite series and dabble in their own fanfic with their favorite characters. They go all in.
And that’s fantastic. I love that so much. What a thorough, beautiful way to approach reading!
I don’t do this with most of the books I read, but I typically have at least one deep dive going on at a time (e.g., my current hyperfocus babies are organ/music theory and Heated Rivalry). My brain does love a rabbit hole, and focusing on a book/series or a theme and reading/researching it so thoroughly definitely scratches that itch.
However, while this approach often helps with my memory, the main factor that determines how well I remember a book is simply how much I connect to it, regardless of the length of time it takes me to read it.
The books I really love (i.e., rate 4.25 and above on StoryGraph) – I remember vividly. I remember how it made me feel, where I was/what was going on in the world when I first read it (because I am likely to re-read it), what I loved about the characters and specifically why I disliked some of them, some obscure plot details, and maybe even a direct quote or two. I will be absolutely insufferable (or delightful, depending on whether you’re a person who likes joy at all) any time this book comes up in conversation. Which will be often, if I have anything to do with it.
Most of the rest? I remember generally – basic plot, favorite character(s), intersecting themes, etc. Enough to chat about it at book club, especially if I read it within a few months of discussion time. After that, I will need to google a character list and a brief synopsis before I can contribute effectively to the discussion beyond, “I really liked it” or “This scene was funny.”
And there are about a handful of books I finish every year that, even only a few months later, I could not tell you what they were about to save my life. But that’s rare. Most of the time, if a book is that lackluster to me, I don’t finish it and thus don’t count it toward my total list for the year. The exceptions to this rule are usually things I’m reading for book club that I would probably not have even started otherwise. I’ve noticed that as I get older, I’m more likely to slide a book over to the DNF pile (but not the official, public one on Goodreads…I have feelings about this) if it doesn’t hold my interest. I feel like this leaves more room in the library of the old mind palace for the books that do.
How about you? Are you an intentional deep-dive reader, a multiple-books-at-a-time chaos reader, or something in between?
M. Suzanne Terry 