Me: Pride and Prejudice… Check. I’ve read that.
Brain: Wait a minute.
Me: What? I’ve read it.
Brain: You sure?
Me: I remember every scene.
Brain: Delete Colin Firth from the equation.
Me: … Well, crap. Now I don’t know.
So I started the Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime Tag originally by Perfectly Tolerable, where you basically count up the number of books on this list that you’ve read. But the number of books I’m almost but not quite sure I’ve read turned out to be just about as much as I know I’ve read.
Does it count if you aren’t quite sure? Like some of them I’d put money on but then I have to ask… Does it count if you don’t remember anything about the book?
Then I couldn’t remember if I read The Sun Also Rises. It turns out the one I remembered reading is A Farewell to Arms. So why doesn’t that count? It’s a Hemingway. What makes one a book of a lifetime but not the other? What makes many of these books must reads? For who?
I’m sure books like Kitchen Confidential really rock and are favorites for some people but I have absolutely no desire to read some of them. Of course it’s possible that I won’t remember them even if I did.
Also possible I strolled off topic and over thought this list by just a little bit.
Books on the List I’ve Read (Positive):
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Gone Girl
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Life after Life
Lolita (so disappointing considering the controversy)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game
Persepolis: Story of a Childhood
The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Book Thief (*an all-time fav)
The Fault in Our Stars
The Great Gatsby
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Hunger Games
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Lord of the Rings
The Poisonwood Bible (*an all-time fav)
The World According to Garp
To Kill a Mockingbird
Man do I read a lot of books that are adapted into films. It’s probably how I hear about many of them in the first place.
Books I Maybe Read. Probably. I Kind of Think So but I Can’t Be Sure… Maybe I watched the Movies:
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
All the President’s Men
Angela’s Ashes (I know I had a copy of this once)
Catch-22
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Farenheit 451 (or possibly snippets of this in a writing book once)
Fear and Loathing (it was either the book or the movie and I think I read the book and decided not to see the movie)
Slaughterhouse 5
The Age of Innocence
The Catcher in the Rye
The Golden Compass
The Right Stuff
Man some of this stuff just runs together for me! Among the books that I want to read from this list: A Wrinkle in Time, Dune, The Secret History and the Wind in the Willows. Anyway, it was fun. I love lists. I just wish I had a better memory other than saying, “Well, I feel like I read it.”
Ha! I was exactly the same, especially the children’s books. Did someone read the Very Hungry Caterpillar to me? Maybe. Am I going to re-read a book for four year olds? No.
I had exactly the same P&P moment too – I’m pretty sure I read it for school but all my memories of it involve Colin Firth too (usually dripping wet) so…maybe? I should probably re-read that one anyway 😊
Good to know I’m not the only one. Children’s books are especially tough to remember!
Thanks for participating! I have the same issues! A couple years ago I decided to try and make a list of every single book I have ever read. This soon proved to be impossible for two main reasons. First, there are too many obscure random books I have read to remember them all. Second, I looked at tons of online lists to try and find the ones I have read and I ran into the problem of not being able to figure out if I had read the book or not! Its been driving me nuts so I have had to re-read a few books to make sure I have read them so I could add them to my list haha. Since then I have been using goodreads to keep track of everything I have read and it has been super helpful!
Goodreads is a great tool but I had the same problem. I think I read this but… Maybe I should do as you suggested and just reread/read the ones that I think I’ve read and get them on the list for sure at last! It was a fun tag though. I love all things lists I just have a far easier time remembering the movies I’ve seen then the books I’ve read 🙂
haha I love how you did this post- and I relate- sometimes I can’t remember if I’ve read something or just seen the film or read another one of the author’s books 😉
Always good to know I’m not the only one!
Haha, I relate so so much!! I’m in the exact same situation for school readings I’ve been asked to do in the past as well at a different school and I’m just… caught by surprise. It’s so weird! Really throws you off… Great post!
Thanks!
It’s sad mostly what I remember from school are the ones that I didn’t like!