Hey, I've read this book before....ever have one of those moments?

[raccoon]

Last week I checked out an audiobook to help keep me entertained during the coming predicted winter storm.

I started listening, and some of the stuff seemed familiar...the parents having a restaurant....the heroine driving to CA....and then I realized,

"I already read this!"

(It was a J.A. Jance book, WEB OF EVIL. Good read, BTW.)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. I read, on average, four books a week.

When I got my first iphone I started keeping track of them all by author so I could check to see if I've already read one. I still end up bringing home books I've already read.

Jance, btw is one of my favorite authors. Having lived in Tucson for the last four years, I can often visualize the locations she writes about in Bisbee, Sedona, Tucson etc. Makes reading her work more fun.

[NightWatcher]

2. I've bought a book that I already had before

And no, not as in a collector version, I've done that too, but I've bought a couple of books that I had packed away before. Soon, hopefully I will be able to build a huge bookcase build-in in my living room where I can see what I've got. I have had books in various states of boxes for almost ten years.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Older I get, the more that happens.

I will probably get to the point that 1-2 books is all I will need. I can just read them over and over and over, blissful in my Olds-heimers.

[raccoon]

4. I wish I could read some books I love, for the first time again: Earth Abides, In Cold Blood,

Going Wrong (by Ruth Rendell).

[pipi_k]

5. Yep, it's happened

loads of times, especially when I bought the actual book, not realizing that I had bought and read it before.

Now that I have a Kindle, it's impossible for me to buy a book more than once without being notified.

Now, when I re-read a book, it's on purpose.

[Aristus]

6. No. Never.

I remember every book I've ever read. That's getting into the tens of thousands now. I don't mean I remember the content word-for-word. (I'm not a freak...) Just if you told me the title, author, and read me the first line, I could tell you if I read it before.

That's not boasting, by the way. There are a million things that I can't do, and would look pretty ridiculous attempting. I just have a good memory for the things I've read.

[lovemydog]

13. Same. Some books I devour,

some I read slowly, some I speed read. With most biographies I speed read the early childhood stuff. But I seem to remember every one pretty well. Yet I'm lousy at remembering the name of someone I just met. I think I get more attentive & engaged with books, partly because I feel like I'm meeting a super interesting person & I'm attracted to their ideas.

[irisblue]

7. I've done something similar

the last time was with a continuing education packet, I was so proud I recalled so much physics, I didn't recall I done that unit the year before.

[olddots]

8. I put all the duplicates next to each other on shelves

to remind myself that I have a shitty memory .

[cwydro]

9. Yep.

I've done that.

[bikebloke]

10. A few times.

Books I've read while out of the country, then see them again in the library. With different covers, I think they're new to me. Reading the first pages, it's deja vu all over again.

[hedgehog]

11. Oh, thank heavens I'm not the only one who repeat buys books!

Usually, what happens is I see a book I'm interested in that's on sale, so I buy it and set it aside for later. Then, I may see the book on sale again, and buy it again.

BTW - I just re-read my Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the books are in poor shape - may I buy another edition?

[csziggy]

12. Often, but I don't mind re-reading a good book

I had a terrible time during the period publishing companies were adding a teaser of the first chapter of the author's next book in a series at the back of their paperbacks. I'd read those teasers, then six months to a year later when the new book came out, I'd skip buying it because I'd read the first page and think I already had it.

Even if I had kept track of the titles, it might not have helped - I've found several where the title on the teaser chapter was different from the published title - and the teaser chapter was not at the beginning of the book.

Now I no longer try to buy the latest books. If I want to catch up on an author I use the internet to get a list of their books. Then I visit my favorite online used book store and fill in the titles I'm missing. Right now I am reading P. D. James' Adam Dalgliesh books - many of which I have never read and most I haven't read for decades.

[tanyev]

14. Which is why I keep a Have Read list.

My library's catalog database allows you create lists and I use it keep track of items I want to read/watch/listen to, and everything I have already read/watched/listened to.