I always forget what happens in a series!

[rcuadro]

I use wikipedia to get some info on the past books since they tend to have a summary

[speakingtohe]

I love a particular series because of the characters generally.

I also admire books that stand on there own especially if they are part of a series.

If I am enjoying a book I won't stop reading it because the main character has gotten married or has a few new bullet wounds etc. will usually try and locate the books where this happened, but it does not screw up a good book for me.

It's a bit like real life, when a friend or acquaintance emerges from the past with a whole different life. I may be curious but I don't cut them dead until I can find out when and where they got married or divorced or why they gained or lost that 50 lbs...

Strange as it might seem I also get a burnt out or bored if I read more than 3 or 4 books in the same series in a row.

Helen

[odiakkoh]

I dont start a series unless its done. Pretty much takes care of that problem.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I often forget what happened immediately after finishing a book, any book. Because of this, I do try to only read a series that is complete, so I can read all of the books in a row. I've been avoiding Fall of Giants for just this reason.

I also have a tough time remember what happened in movies and shows that I have watched. My husband has a far better memory for these things than I do, and he manages to fill in the blanks.

I hate to admit it, but I never remember books, movies or TV either. Sometimes I forget that I forget and find myself watching a movie I have seen before and tell hubby that this seems familiar. He'll usually tell me it's familiar because I've already seen it twice.

[Dopedangel]

I might forget names of characters but I usually never forget a story. Once I start reading a new book in a series I recall most of the previous happenings by the time I have read the first chapter.

[Nyssa]

I'm learning that the more books I try to read simultaneously, the more I forget. Three books is my absolute limit, and that doesn't work all the time.
I also know that if I want to make a book/series "new" again, 2 years is the magic number. Somewhere around the two year mark I seem to forget all but the very basics, if I even remember that. What I remember before then really depends on how much time/energy I put into the original reading.

[ATDrake]

I kind of have the opposite problem.

I have this nasty tendency to remember the most spoilery spoilers* many years after having just briefly skimmed over someone's random review/commentary paragraph which mentions in passing that X married Y instead of Z, or the murderer was A and they offed B and C but not D who was instead killed by E who tried to pass it off as one of A's, or M turned out to be N's secret love-child with O and was totally relieved not to actually be related to half-sibling L whom they'd been in love with all this time.

I don't even bother to read reviews or look up what-is-this-story-about synopses for certain types of books any more.

* For some reason, it only works for the details that will totally mess up the how-will-it-turn-out mystery/tension when first reading a story, and not for incidental things like so-and-so was educated at ASDF College and was on the competitive rowing team which is the source of their deep-seated rivalry with such-and-such from JKJK House who was also on the opposing competitive rowing team and the reason why they continually snipe at each other, as finally revealed in an amusing anecdote in issue #123 after readers wrote in and asked why couldn't they all just get along?

[FizzyWater]

I just read that paragraph I can't even remember it!

"competitive rowing team"?!

Gak, I need to go to bed.

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Sadly, that's the problem for me with George Martin - if I had to go back to familiarise meself, I'd be under the ground

Before the reading the latest book, I picked the previous book from the shelf and skimmed each character's final chapter. It was enough to refresh my memory, much like a television episode that begins with a few clips from previous episodes.

Originally Posted by Keryl Raist

I hit wikipedia and usually they've got a summation. After reading that, I usually remember the important bits.

If they don't have a summation, I hit the author's website and get caught up there.

Smart. I like that.

[Ryvyan]

Originally Posted by Keryl Raist

I hit wikipedia and usually they've got a summation. After reading that, I usually remember the important bits.

If they don't have a summation, I hit the author's website and get caught up there.

Me too.

Usually I'll forget, and if lazy, just read on. Details from past books will just come back to me!

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

my personal experience is that if I forget what the book was about it was not worth reading and remembering in the first place.

You must still be young.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by odiakkoh

I dont start a series unless its done. Pretty much takes care of that problem.

Keeps you from reading some series, as they never end.

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Keeps you from reading some series, as they never end.

Did the Wheel of Time ever end?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

"competitive rowing team"?!

Like they have at the Oxbridge universities: people paddling around in boats for fun and profit to uphold the fine sporting traditions and honour of the House.

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

Did the Wheel of Time ever end?

No. And the original author died mid-book, and the new author will apparently be taking up 3 books instead of the planned 1 to wrap things up.

I think for irony value the entire thing should loop around in a Moebius fashion and have the final book tie back into the beginning of the first one, like a never-ending infinity symbol.

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

No. And the original author died mid-book, and the new author will apparently be taking up 3 books instead of the planned 1 to wrap things up.

I think for irony value the entire thing should loop around in a Moebius fashion and have the final book tie back into the beginning of the first one, like a never-ending infinity symbol.

That would kind of fit the series title. I gave up around book 7 or 8, can't remember. It got soooo long.