Don't you hate it when you pick up a new, much anticipated book & start to read

[baldguy]

And then, after a few paragraphs you realize that you've already read it before?

Or am I just getting old?

[cyberswede]

1. I had to stop reading the "next book" teasers at the end of books...

Because I would start to read the new book, and it seemed all too familiar, so I would *think* I'd already read the whole book.

But, yes, I've had what you describe happen, too.

[Demo_Chris]

2. yes. nt

[olddots]

3. I've actually bought the same book twice

a few times

[zanana1]

4. HAH!

I can't tell you how many times I've done that before. At first, I think to myself "This looks promising", then I realize it's a little too familiar!

[zanana1]

5. Who's your favorite novelist?

Mine changes from time to time. I used to read the classics but now I'm getting lazy and really enjoying Scot Turow's books.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. No, you're actually getting old if you don't remember that you've read it before

That's happened to me...

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. the plus side..

older I get, the fewer books I will need to clutter up the house.
Just the same 10 books, over and over and over and over............

[Xyzse]

8. Bought the same book a few times

But it is because I wanted to read it again, and maybe I lost it.
I also try to buy 1st edition hard covers of books when I can.

Still, no, when I buy a new book, I buy it hot off the presses usually, so I am pretty sure I have never read it before.

[mainer]

9. Be aware that US and UK books may have different titles...

for the same book. So it's not hard, if you travel a lot, to accidentally buy the same book.

[Aristus]

10. It's never happened to me. Give me the title and the author, and I can tell you if I've read it.

And I've read thousands and thousands of books.

I'm not grandstanding or anything; there are a million things I can't do.

But I'm a voracious reader, and I remember what I read.

[pipi_k]

12. I wish I could

do that.

Remember names of books and authors, I mean.

I've also read thousands of books, and even though I've read "Forever Amber" at least five times, I still wasn't 100% positive about the author's name.

[Spike89]

13. Used to be able to do that too

Then I noticed more and more titles being repackaged. Sometimes it is a novella "expanded" into a full novel, other times is seems to be just a new edition, with light editing/revision but the title is changed. I also had trouble with some of mega-epic fantasy series (WoT being the worst) because they are in most ways a single story spanning 12+ big-ass books and often were quite repetitive in order to help readers get back into the story after a year-long gap between books.

I also have trouble keeping "revisited" series straight (the Ender's Game series is a great example). If you've not familiar, Orson Scott Card wrote a great SF novel, Ender's Game. As is often the case, the success of that book gave rise to a pair of sequels to form a trilogy (very different from a planned trilogy--these are pretty much stand-alone titles). Years later, the author popped out a couple more books, turning the trilogy into a series (5 titles I believe). Even later, he came back and began retelling each of the original books from the point of view of secondary characters.

I sometimes go on book-buying binges and I'm much more concerned with possibly missing a book on my shelves that I haven't yet read.

[pipi_k]

11. Have

done that lots of times too.

I've also had to buy repeat copies of books I've read before because I've read them so many times (on purpose) that they started to fall apart.

My perennial favorites...books I've read more than five times over the years are


"Hawaii", "Centennial", and "Chesapeake" by James Michener (my favorite author)

"Green Darkness" by Anya Seton

and "Forever Amber" by Kathleen Winsor


I keep hoping they end up in a Kindle version someday so I can have a permanent copy...

[Spike89]

14. A permanent copy?

I get what you're saying, but it made me smile. I actually have books on 5.25" floppy disks (formatted for some obscure CP/M word processing application running on a Coleco Adam). The computer is still in my mother's attic (I think), but I seriously doubt I could get the CP/M program to boot (it was on a cassette tape drive). The book is permanent, just not usable.

Aside from the possibility of format changes occurring that might make your Kindle book file "unreadable" some day, Amazon has made it clear that just because you bought an e-book doesn't mean you get to keep it. They can, and have revoked and removed books that were purchased and installed on their devices.