How well do you remember books after you've read them?

[elvet]

As I read the threads about recommendations and book discussions, I'm amazed that people can discuss details about books they read years ago. My retention factor must be very poor indeed. I think it stems from university days where I fell into the habit of speed reading to cover the masses of information I needed to prepare for exams; great for short term, lousy for the long haul. Even now that I try to read slowly and thoroughly, sometimes I find myself wondering what the book I just read a month ago was about. I've even bought books twice, having forgotten that I read them at all. One thing that helps me is repetition. My grasp of the Tolkien books is pretty good, but then I've read them multiple times. Also, the more I enjoy a book (i.e. get into a story), the more I remember. Series are great, reading multiple books with the same characters help entrench the story into my brain.
In general I can remember if I liked a book, and if given a synopsis, can usually recall the plot. But, unless I've read it very recently, I find it hard to participate in a detailed discussion. I've even had to get the book off the shelve to remember characters/places names.
Do any of you have tricks for enhancing retention, or does it just come naturally?

[sanityassassin]

my memory retention is very poor also (proberly why I couldn't go to uni) I can remember very little about books I have read a while ago but it does have a good side it means I can reread books over again and be surprised at bits you had forgotten but it is a double edge sword and means when you are disscussing books it helps to have a copy close at hand

[Brown Rat]

If I've read a book within the past twelve months, I usually remember plot and scenes fairly well, although names disappear. Past that, unless it's a book I really enjoyed or studied attentively, I remember things hazily, although I do remember if I liked the book or not. I rarely forget whether I've read a book, but if I have forgotten, I'll remember after rereading the first few pages.

If I'm reading a book to teach it, or to write a paper on it, I read it more closely and I annotate it, so I remember its details for a relatively long time. And if I read a book more than once, I remember a lot about it.

But after almost fifty years of reading, I must admit that most books I've read have now melded into one Meta Book in my mind . . . .

[BookStop]

I tend to get so involved in the books I read, I immerse myself and read at a frantic rate.

**Did I hear someone say something about eating dinne...Wow, I can't believe she's going into the woods alone with him!!!*** - turns page

So, I don't really retain a lot at all. It's fun to be me, because I do get to read my favorite books over, and over, and over, and like SanityAssassin said, you get to be surprised at bits you'd forgotten.

[chrispenycate]

To give the opposite viewpoint; I can frequently quote chunks of books I read (and enjoyed; fortunately my memory doesn't hang on to everything) thirty or more years ago. Certainly, I'll have forgotten most of the names, but then I've forgotten the names of all the people I knew back then, and I've a tendency to forget which particular book from a series held which events, or even which series from an author is which.
Apparently this makes me strange; but, I'm quite used to that.

[LeoCrow]

To be honest, i have only had time to read only one book this year and my memory isn't the strongest one so more or less i have forgotten most of the books i have read (and they are not few). I remember most of Isaak Asimov's books (perhaps that is why i keep "promoting" them every chance i get) and very few others that made a great impression to me. so yea, i remember the books i liked the most but not enough to be spoiled if and when i re-read them. i guess it is a blessing.
of course, as Brown Rat said, if i am to teach about a book, i definatelly read it more closely and remember more. but that's a different case alltogether

[sabinerak]

This thread is making me feel almost normal, for better or worse.

It seems like in so many forums/newsgroups where there are similar book discussions, there seem to be a multitude of readers who regularly read an 800 page novel in an hour and remember every single detail of what they've read for the rest of their natural lives. Other people in those discussions seem to take these comments in stride, often exclaiming their own agreements, "Me too!"

I've rarely done more than silently lurk as I certainly don't remember all the details of everything I've read and it might take me a couple days to get through an 800 page novel if I make sure to forego everything else I need or want to be doing.

It seems that I remember more from books that take me longer to read. I remember spending almost a year on Tad William's Otherland since I was spending the majority of my free time on computer games and much less on reading in general, but I remember a *lot* from those books even though it's been many months/years since I've read them.

A book I read in a day earlier this year barely seems to scratch my memory even though I recall having liked it well enough, though not in a favorite sort of way.

I also remember more from books I've discussed with other people, though this seems to happen too rarely to work for most of the books I read. Rereading will also prompt my memory.

On a good note, I get a lot of enjoyment from rereading a book because I don't always remember everything that happened as well as picking up details I may have missed in earlier readings. I usually cannot reread a book just after I've finished reading it though. I usually have to let a bit of time pass first.

[nixie]

Some books I can remember vividly even years later, others I have difficulty remembering after a month or so

[elvet]

On a good note, I get a lot of enjoyment from rereading a book because I don't always remember everything that happened as well as picking up details I may have missed in earlier readings. I usually cannot reread a book just after I've finished reading it though. I usually have to let a bit of time pass first.

Me too. It's like having a never ending source of books .

[littlemissattitude]

Well, I've read more books than I could ever possibly recall, so there are a lot of books, especially that I read when I was a child and teenager, that I don't remember at all - not a title, not a character name, not a think about the plot. It is as if I never read them. I just know that I read a lot of books during those years, because I remember the actual act of reading, and that I tended to get yelled at a lot for reading so &)%( much.

More recent books, especially those I liked a lot, I remember in general, but unless a book really caught my attention, I don't usually remember a lot of details about what I've read after a few months. If I want to discuss a book now that I've read awhile ago, I have to actually look the book over again. Usually, that is enough to remind me of more detail.

Sad to say, I have a notoriously selective memory. I can remember every motel and hotel room I've ever stayed in, which is quite a few since we traveled a lot when I was a child. I have a ridiculous number of passwords and web addresses in my head. I remember all kinds of silly trivia. Heck, I can still tell you our phone number from when I was six years old. And if a song that was out when I was in junior high or high school and liked comes on the radio, I can generally sing along and remember all the words even if I haven't heard the song in ten years or more. But I don't remember birthdays - I only remember my mother's because hers is the day before Christmas. And I've always had a hard time remembering the specific details of books and movies.

[steve12553]

Originally Posted by nixie

Some books I can remember vividly even years later, others I have difficulty remembering after a month or so

Me, too. I remember vividly parts of Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Siverberg and I know I lost track of my copy of that in grade school. And a few scenes from the Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek, also from grade school and forgot the author decades ago. There are some from last year i wouldn't have a clue.

[nixie]

One of the things that really annoys me is, some of the books that I can bring readily to mind are books that I didn't particularly like at time of reading

[steve12553]

Originally Posted by nixie

One of the things that really annoys me is, some of the books that I can bring readily to mind are books that I didn't particularly like at time of reading

Not me. I really enjoyed the ones I remember after 45 years or so. But it also occured to me that bothof the books I mentioed had a rather meloncholy ending. Maybe that's the key.

[Perpetual Man]

My memory is kind of funny, things that I could really do with remembering I forget - people, places and events are almost photographic - I can virtually remember every one who I went to school with where they sat, the teachers and their habits, just can't remember the important things they were trying to impart...

When it come to what I read it sticks with me, sometimes it takes a while to dredge it up, but think of an author and a bokk I can slowly start filling in the details. But I can't quote them, they generally seem to take a life of there own and remember characters and stories, almost like images. With some books it can be so vivid that I'll recall a scene trying to remember what movie it was from and then suddenly thinking "Oh, it was a book!"

I have to say though, as I get older and the more I read it's not working quite as well as it once was.

But as a whole I remember what I've read and generally only reread the stuff I really, really enjoyed

[the smiling weirwood]

I mostly read in class because school is so boring and so I go into a kind of book trance where I block out everything around me. I've found this is extremely conducive to memorization. If a book is especially boring or doesn't flow well, I often have trouble recalling major plot arcs but vividly remember inane details, but for the most part I have an excellent memory.