This weekend I popped over to ARe to buy some books and I apparently bought 2 books I’d already read and the sequel to a book I apparently loved (5 stars!) but can’t remember at all. I have a vague feeling of overwhelming angst and pain when I think about the previous book but nothing stands out as to the plot and characters.
Now I could put this down to having a bad reading memory but the thing is, that’s not really true. I actually can remember details and specific scenes from many, many, many books. When I stopped to think about this fact, I realized that most of the books I remember are physical books. I can look at my shelf of print books and remember details about a lot, if not most of them. I can remember exactly where I was reading some of them. I have vivid memories of the books, reading them, and their plots.
The problem comes in when I try to remember many of my ebooks. Even the books I really loved seem vague and blurry. I can remember feelings in general, such as I really liked that or I didn’t. I can remember some specifics about books, in fact I can remember quite a few ebooks. However this is a small percentage compared to the memories I can recall for my print books.
I think what it comes down to is simply I remember the physical print books more. I remember the covers because I’m used to seeing them more, either carrying them around or on my coffee table/shelf. I don’t have those visceral memories about ebooks. I have the same memories about most of my ebooks – either reading on the computer or on my ereader. I can remember covers if I see them but I don’t remember what the cover is for a particular book.
Since I read m/m almost exclusively as ebooks, I just don’t remember the books I read anywhere near as much as the other genres where I’m still reading print/physical books. I was really surprised by this when I figured it out.
Is anyone else the same way or do you simply remember everything you read, regardless of format?
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