can't remember a thing!

Do you ever do this? Have you ever picked up a book, and said to yourself, "I really want to read this!" and then about 1/2 way through Chapter One, you say to yourself, "I think I've read this before!" Well, it happened to me recently. But, I have a real problem with it...

You see, I read a lot. And I don't usually keep the books I've read. I lend them out, and they never get returned. Or I give them away to charity or sell them at garage sales. As a result, there are a lot of books that I've read, that I don't really remember that I've read. I thought I could keep all the books I read, but that concept did not fall into the "keeping my house clutter free and organized" category. So, about 6 years ago, I started keeping a list of the books I've read. Now, some of you might think that odd. Keep a list of books that you've read?? But, it is so "me"! It falls right into the I-love-list-making, I-can't remember-a-thing, OCD-type personality that I have. So, it was the perfect option for me. Now...I only keep the books that I think are really good, that I want to read again, or that 'spoke' to me on some level.

So, let's go back to my first paragraph again. I picked up a Nicholas Sparks book called "True Believer". It's an older one of his novels, and I honestly thought that I hadn't read it.

But, part way through Chapter One, I thought that it sounded very familiar. I remember the character, and the premise of the story. Into Chapter Two, and now the story is really sounding familiar. Crap...he's visiting the same diner he visited before. And the characters are all named the same. Have I read this before? I check my list. Nope. It's not there. Well, then, I must have read it before I started keeping my list. I check the copyright date in the book. 2005. I started keeping my list in 2004. So, that doesn't make sense. It's not on my list, so I haven't read it since it's been published, so why does it seem so familiar????

I couldn't figure it out. Maybe I started to read it, and (for whatever reason) put it down and never finished it? My list only contains the books I've finished reading, so that could be the reason. Either that, or I'm simply going insane.

Then I took a trip to Nicholas Sparks website. It was there that I learned that True Believer is the Prequel to another book "At First Sight". And low-and-behold....I HAVE read "At First Sight". So, now it all makes sense!!! No wonder the characters and the town were so familiar! But, I can tell you....for a few days there, I thought my brain was really messed up!