# Novels you read, really read, and can't remember at all **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996 "2012-01-28T16:54:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/41 "2012-01-29T23:44:53Z")
Arthur C. Clarke’s 2061 and 3001. I recall the former had something to do with a space cruise, and in the latter they brought Frank Poole back to life, but other than that, I can’t remember a thing about them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/42 "2012-01-30T00:09:13Z")
> [@Mr.Rope](#): > > Wuthering Heights. There was a thing about locks. I had a general idea of what _Wuthering Heights_ was about before reading it, just because it is such a well-known book. I actually got around to reading it a couple of years ago and…I still only have a general idea of what it’s about. I read _House of the Seven Gables_ as a teenager, and several years later it occurred to me that I had only a vague idea of who the main characters were, basically no idea about the plot, and really only remembered the chickens clearly. I re-read it, and soon afterward realized that I couldn’t remember much more than I had after the first time. I could do a better job with the basic premise and plot now, but I’d have to do a lot of “And there’s some other guy…I think he’s their cousin or something…anyway he seems nice but really he’s not, although I can’t remember what he actually did that was that bad.” > [@CatherineZeta](#): > > I read _The Bell Jar_\*\* when I was around 13. I know the general plot and that it’s about Plath’s own life, but whenever I mention that I’ve read it people ask me all sorts of detailed questions (usually about the fact that the main character- I don’t even recall her name- has an abortion) and I’m like, “Uhhh…” I feel like I do remember _The Bell Jar_ pretty well, and off the top of my head I can recall a number of specific scenes from the book, but I have zero recollection of the heroine having an abortion. I remember that the heroine doesn’t want children and that there’s a scene where she goes to a gynecologist for birth control, but I don’t remember her ever _being_ pregnant in the book. I just checked the Wiki summary and there’s nothing about an abortion there, so I’m wondering if maybe it’s other people you know and not you (and me) that are confused about what happens in _The Bell Jar_. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/43 "2012-01-30T01:32:32Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Return of the Native… Diggory Venn the reddleman. That’s all I remember. We had to read that in high school. We called it “Return of Morpheus.” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/44 "2012-01-30T02:08:41Z")
I don’t think that there’s anything about an abortion in _The Bell Jar_. At one point, when she loses her virginity, she bleeds profusely and has to go to an emergency room. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/45 "2012-01-30T02:50:45Z")
> [@Mr.Rope](#): > > Wuthering Heights. There was a thing about locks. Also this one. I was just thinking about this last night, actually. Watching Downton Abbey had me thinking about British literature, and I realized all I could remember of Wuthering Heights was the name “Heathcliff,” snow, and that it’s a bit of a downer. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/46 "2012-01-30T03:02:16Z")
I have a shelf on my goodreads account exactly for this - [I Read But I Remember Nothing](http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/504424-bup?shelf=i-read-but-i-remember-nothing). _ **Great Expectations** _. Pip works for some woman with a twenty-year old wedding cake. And… _ **A Modern Instance** _. A woman marries a scoundrel. _ **The Awakening** _. I remember the last page, which I won’t spoil. But nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/47 "2012-01-30T03:50:04Z")
> [@bup](#): > > _ **The Awakening** _. I remember the last page, which I won’t spoil. But nothing else. I will. She kills herself. There, now none of you have to read The Awakening. I’ve given you all a great blessing. Merry Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/48 "2012-01-30T13:59:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > _Good Omens_. I saw a copy at a used bookstore, bought it. Sitting in the car in the parking lot I was leafing thru it. I had read it! I didn’t remember it because it was so bad. > > But I’ve read it twice more now, just out of spite (?), and it’s just as bad as the first time. Whew, I’m not the only one who thought it sucked. I know the OP said to discount assigned books, but I’m going to count **The Sparrow** by Mary Doria Russell, which was assigned reading in college English. I read it, wanted to like it, hated it, and couldn’t tell you much about it now other than Jesuits in space. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/49 "2012-01-30T14:13:11Z")
_A Separate Peace_ Something about some guy in school and some problems that came up. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/50 "2012-01-30T14:26:40Z")
I read _The Jungle_. I remember a little of the “grossout” stuff that the book’s famous for, but not much. (I guess after reading Stephen King, I didn’t find it that out there.) Mostly I remember the socialist diatribe that the book ends with. And very little else. _The Great Gatsby_. Um, they went on a car ride, I think. And maybe there was a party? Very little recollection of this. _Walden_. I read the whole thing for a class in college, and I’ll be damned if I can tell you anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/51 "2012-01-30T14:46:19Z")
Oh, come to think of it I don’t remember much about _Gatsby_ except the absolute essentials - the dock light, Gatsby’s past, Daisy, etc. And I think something awful happens to a dog. I don’t remember much of _David Copperfield_ except Uriah Heep, a bit of the boys’ school, “dear Peggoty”, and the childlike wife. Actual plot, nothing. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/52 "2012-01-30T15:16:49Z")
I have to read a book several times for it to stand a chance at being remembered. Even books I liked! A number of the books mentioned so far are on my “read it, liked it, can’t remember it” list. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/53 "2012-01-30T16:14:12Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Main Street, Sinclair Lewis. I suspect it had some elements of satire. I read this when I was about 13 or 14, and the only thing I remember about it is the local youths mocking the heroine’s pretensions with “Ain’t my cat got a long tail” or some similar phrase. In college, I read at least 3, maybe 4, of Proust’s\* À la recherche du temps perdu \*books in an English translation. The only thing I can recall is the bit about the madeleines right up at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/54 "2012-01-31T03:19:00Z")
Just answering the OP: Pretty much all of them. This also applies to TV and movies. I forget them extremely quickly, which is both good and bad. Bad in that it makes it hard to talk about them or recommend them to others, but good in that you can read/watch them again fairly soon and have it be just like new! ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/55 "2012-01-31T14:51:22Z")
Eragon By Christopher Paolin: When I saw the trailer for the movie, I thought to myself “I don’t remember any of that happening” Little, Big By John Crowley which is a shame because I do remember I really enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll try reading it again. Does the Illuminatus Trilogy even have a plot? After seeing a recent TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights I’m glad I never wasted my time trying to read it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/56 "2012-01-31T15:52:19Z")
_To The Lighthouse_ by Virginia Woolf. I know I had to read it in high school, but I cannot remember a single word. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/57 "2012-01-31T15:54:39Z")
I don’t remember the name, but there was one novel, about 150 pages in, when I realized that I had read it before. :o ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/58 "2012-01-31T19:12:28Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I don’t remember the name, but there was one novel, about 150 pages in, when I realized that I had read it before. :o I did that! _ **Pigs in Heaven** _ by Barbara Kingsolver. I remembered, wrongly, that I had read _ **Animal Dreams** _, so I tried **Pigs in Heaven**. About 50 pages in I thought, wow, she’s reusing the characters from the other book. About 100 in I realized that I had read this scene before…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/59 "2012-01-31T23:12:55Z")
I’m relieved that so many of you have no memory of movies you’ve seen. My husband thinks I’m inventing things that didn’t happen when I remind him of scenes in movies we’ve seen together. He’ll have no memory whatsoever of a movie a few months later. I was getting worried. I’ve read books that were classics and remember squat about them. They weren’t even assigned in high school, either. I know I’ve read _Lady Chatterley’s Lover_ and _Madame Bovary_, and if they didn’t each reference a woman in their titles, I wouldn’t even remember that the lead characters were female. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996/60 "2012-02-01T02:04:51Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > In college, I read at least 3, maybe 4, of Proust’s\* À la recherche du temps perdu \*books in an English translation. The only thing I can recall is the bit about the madeleines right up at the beginning. Oh yes! I read these as well, and fondly recall that he was in love with a woman whose name started with A (Albertine?), and that he was in bed a lot. Though that last part may be a conflation with Proust himself. Plus a whole section on salons? This may be worse - or better - than I thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-you-read-really-read-and-cant-remember-at-all/610996.md?page=2)