Do you forget bestsellers as soon as you read them?

Question

My girlfriend has been reading a lot of Nora Roberts lately, because her grandmother gets them from a book club and unloads them on my girlfriend a few times a year. After she finishes a novel, I'll ask her what it was about, and half the time she has no idea. This scares me. Does everyone have this experience with genre novels?

Answer 1

I have that same experience with genre fiction. Unfortunately, so much of genre fiction (my sweet tooth is sci-fi & fantasy) is derivative. I'll remember outstanding books, but most are merely time killers, about like watching the average TV comedy or drama. Anyone who has ever watched Law & Order repeats knows the deja vu feeling of not knowing whether they've seen the particular episode, even when the episode is over.

Answer 2

I feel the same way about reading a lot of Danielle Steel books.

I work at a library and Nora Roberts/JD Robb books go out quite often.

Yes to answer your question sometimes I do forget what the book was about that I finished reading.

(Just a FYI JD Robb is also Nora Roberts, in case your friend doesn't know that already.)

Answer 3

Certain books I have read I forget a lot about them as time passes however, I don't forget them right after I have read them. The books that really hit a nerve with me or are great reads, are pretty hard for me to forget. It has been a year or so since I read James Frey's A Million Little Pieces and I still remember it quite well and I remember Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones as well as her book Lucky very well and I read both of those quite a few years ago.

Answer 4

I tend to forget them also. I read so many books and so fast that I don't retain much about them. A book has to be exceptional for me to remember much about it. Non-fiction, even "popular" non-fiction is a different story because I am learning from them and I want to remember what I've read, but even that is a problem at times. What I hate is when I buy a book that sounds interesting and find out I've already read it. It embarrasses me, when someone asks me about a book I enjoyed and can't tell them the detail. A memory idiot!

Answer 5

I only forget the books I don't want to remember. That includes "classics" I don't enjoy, as well as genre fiction. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is; if it resonates with me, I'll remember it. However, I don't think I've ever read a book that I couldn't give at least a basic plot summary after just having finished it.

Answer 6

I usually remember the main ideas and the gist of the book, but unless it's really touched or changed me, I hardly remember the details. I've forgotten what happens in a few of the books I've read, but I can usually tell people a little bit of what the books I read are about. She could have forgotten, or maybe she just doesn't feel like explaining it to you. : )

Answer 7

It depends on what you mean by bestsellers. One author of bestsellers whom I favor is Umberto Eco, author of "The Name of the Rose," "Foucault's Pendulum," and "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loanna." These are great, and I have read them several times. Other novels of Eco are not worth the person's time: "Baudolino" and "The Island of the Day Before" are examples.

Maybe buy your girlfriend "The Name of the Rose" in cheap paperback. If your girlfriend reads it and has no idea, then, in the immortal words of Avril Lavigne, "I don't like your girlfriend!" "I think you need a new one!"

Answer 8

If the book is really good, I almost never forget what I read. Your gf must not enjoy them that much.

Answer 9

Maybe she doesn't like them: When you don't like a book, you tend to daydream or think about other things when trying to read the book.That has happened to me before. (Many Times!)

Answer 10

When you are reading for pleasure, you often don't remember the book, but you have a great time reading it.