I am off to defend my title in the “Love Sux” quiz at my Galaxy Paranormal Romance Book Club tonight and it got me to thinking about how much we retain from what we read. I won last year (after a death match between Maria and myself) and I have to say I am not that confident about winning again this year. I think Maria is more likely to win. I haven’t slept for two nights because of this heat wave, so my normally scrambled brain is well and truly fried. Also, last year Sofia gave us a sheet of questions to think about, so at least I could scrub up on series I had never heard about before! I know I am going to loose… The prize is a $20 gift voucher, which would have been nice. The thing is, I never test well. It was a big downfall when I was at uni (give me essays any day of the week!) and it is becoming an issue at work. I just don’t retain anything over than a general feel for the book and random facts long after I have read a book. TV shows and movies are even worse, because I don’t have words to read. I remember panoramas from those, but not say, the name of Planet X in Star Wars or the name of the person who spied on the Firefly crew, even though I am obsessed with Star Wars and Firefly. I can’t remember even half the books I have read, nor the names of authors. I have no internal filing system in my memory, and I have problems retaining facts. But I love reading. I love getting lost in the story. And when I am reading, the rest of the world fades away. The problem is, when I finish a novel, it starts to dissipate into wispy threads of memory and nothing else.
So my question is, how well read do you think you are? In the realm of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy, and in the wider realm of Speculative Fiction? How does that reflect on your conversations? Can people even guess that you are a long term reader of a genre, or do you have a blank look on your face when they ask you about a book you read six months or sixteen years ago? Can you sit down and discuss nuances of novels/series with other readers, or do you stick to wider themes in the genres? And if you entered a quiz or took part in a trivia night (tell me where I can sign up!), with no access to the internet or your books, could you answer the majority of questions right? I would love to hear what kind of knowledge everyone has about their genres! It doesn’t have to be the genres I mentioned above. Maybe you read crime fiction, classics or contemporary fiction? Does your feel for the plot, characters and secondary facts from a narrative last forever in your mind, or do you find they become elusive?
