Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Really Liked But Can't Really Remember

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week, we're talking about books we really liked at the time that have kind of faded in the memory banks. As someone who reads quite a bit, I find this happens fairly often...I have a good opinion of the book when I've finished it, and then within a couple months, I'll remember only a vague outline. Here are some books that I'd need a refresher on if I ever had to describe despite liking them when I read them.



A Brave New World: I read this in high school and thought it was incredible and I could not do more than describe the gist of it if I had to. It's going on my "to revisit on audio" list.

Under the Banner of Heaven: I hated Krakauer's Into The Wild, but loved this when I grabbed it at the airport on the way back to Alabama for my second year of law school. I remember how compelling it was, but remember few of the actual details besides the most egregious ones.

The Kite Runner: My clearest memory of this book, which I know I thought was really interesting because I'd not read fiction from that area of the world much yet (I was in college), is that an ex-boyfriend lent it to me and I prepared what I'm sure was a truly embarrassing letter about how I wanted to get back together to tuck inside when I returned it. Luckily he told me he didn't need it back when I tried to give it to him.

Memoirs of a Geisha: This is sort of cheating, because I listened to it on audio a few months back so I DO remember it now, but holy smokes I'd forgotten SO MUCH of the plot. And I'd read this multiple times, too!

Never Let Me Go: I think the themes resonated so strongly in this book that the plot kind of just fell away because it's not really about the plot, is it?

Skinny Legs and All: Like many of Tom Robbins' books, this book has multiple plot threads, so I'm not going to give myself too hard of a time about the fact that I remember little about it except how much I've liked reading it the several times I've done so.

The Lovely Bones: I read this in high school and think I re-read it once (maybe twice?) in college and other than the central conceit I could tell you almost nothing about it except that I liked it so much that it still lives on my shelf.

The Interestings: I read this only a few years ago and while this is probably the one I remember the best on this list, how little I do actually remember is extra annoying because I loved reading it so much!

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: I think my memories of this book get conflated with the movie (Blade Runner), even though I'm very clear on remembering that when I saw the movie (in college) after reading the book (in high school), the book was better.

Child 44: Another one I read fairly recently and is all fuzzy anyways! In my defense, this is a thriller and the plot is all twisty-turny so the odds were stacked against me.

4 comments:

  1. Great list! I had to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for uni and I must admit I really didn't like, Dick's one of those authors who just isn't for me sadly. Memoirs of a Geisha is definitely one I need to cross off my TBR, though! I don't think I've ever heard a bad thing about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Memoirs is a lovely book and tells a beautiful story. I'm sue Goldman made enough off that one book to live well forever, and I know there were issues with how he used his sources, but his writing is so lovely I wish he'd write something else. Androids I remember really really liking...I've got it on audio, so I'll revisit it that way and see if it measures up to my memories!

      Delete
  2. I don't remember The Kite Runner either, but liked it! Under the Banner of Heaven and The Interestings I do remember, though.

    Child 44 has been on my TBR forever. Was it good?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really liked Child 44, so much so that I bought a physical copy after I read it on the Kindle. I'm not usually a mystery reader and I miss all but the most blatant plot holes, but I liked its energy and twists/turns!

      Delete