I think many of us would agree that our TBRs are taller than all of us combined, and then some.
Look, this is a fact that comes with the trade. Oh, you want to read one book? Well, here are at least 17 related releases that you may like, and each of these recs come with their own sets of recs, and so on. TBRs branch violently, I tell you. It’s vicious cycle. #SaveUs
Thus, we read. And we read a lot. But naturally, and especially when you’re exposed to so much, there is bound to be some that are memorable enough to be recced to a friend or, even better, to be made into a favorite. And then there are those books that take up brain space only when the pages are open. And once the book’s finished? Poof. All traces of it are gone, in the memory area, at least.
I dedicate this post, as the title may imply, to those books. The forgotten ones: those with generic storylines, or hideous covers, or obscure titles that make them both forgettable and impossible to look up on Goodreads. Mainly because Goodreads hates us and will pretend it doesn’t have the slightest idea what we’re talking about if we misspell one letter. One letter.
But I digress.
And oh! Let it be known that I am linking up with Top Ten Tuesday with their prompt: Books I Really Liked But Can’t Remember Anything/Much About.
EVEN THOUGH THIS POST IS THREE WEEKS LATE.
My timing is horrible. Procrastination is a thing. HELP ME.
Here’s to the forgotten, unmemorable books.
And I Darken by Kiersten White
Ah, I remember AND I DARKEN. It was my most anticipated read of 2016, and I was quite excited to read it … only to discover that its plotline was slower than me trying to finish my WIP (<– it’s true) and that there was not much stabbing and impaling as you’d expect from a genderbent Vlad the Impaler novel. Vlad the what, you say? The IMPALER. We therefore needed much more sharp knives and acts of impaling than what was actually granted in this one.
Thus, it was not memorable enough. In fact, I already started to forget most of what was going on even while reading the purple thing. There’s this grand reveal at the end, but I did not even know who was who, so many reads were going “Oh, that’s so clever!” or “I knew it!”, while I was in the back thinking “WAIT WHO DID WHAT NOW?”
It’s not my proudest moment.
As Red as Blood by Salla Simukka
A Snow White retelling .. as a thriller. That sounds quite interesting, right? Right?
Well, yes.
This one was fun and all in the moment, but after I turned the last page, I sort of .. blanked out. I remembered enough to get me through writing a review, mind you, but that was all the capacity my brain gave this one. It still sits prettily on my shelf, mind you, but other than that? Yeah, I don’t know either.
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
I remember this one as that book that I reeeeally wanted to read and was very excited about but got massively disappointed when it turned out to fluffy fluff. Though now, looking back, I guess I was quite moody and grumpy that day because, since then, I’ve developed a peculiat fondness for the satirical and the nonsensical. BUT ANYWAYS.
I vaguely remember something about many jokes, much sass, historical fiction (!!!), people turning into horses and getting married to that horse person .. and not much else.
Plot? What plot? I know nothing.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Oh god. Oh no.
I’m drawing a total blank on this one. I believe there was some nice description of food and a revenge plot somewhere in there and a weird magic system and I think I did not like Shazi. There. That is my review of this book 2 years later.
*mild existential crisis occurs as I realize that it really has been two years and that time is a crazy thing aND WHO EVEN AM I*
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Hi, hello, have we met before?
Apparently, we have. Two years ago. It was summer, in June. (No, I do not have a good memory. Bless Goodreads for having the Date Read feature thingy. Thank you, GR, old friend). I remember thinking this one was disturbing and weird. There were killer ballerinas, I think? Yeah, that’s about right. And prisons and drugs and ghosts.
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. Ruin and Rising, too.
Why. Why am I like this.
Okay, but to be fair: I did not much like the Grisha trilogy. I’m sorry! But Leigh is queen in everything but her second and third books because a) they put me to sleep, and b) they are NOTHING compared to SoC and CK. Fight me.
But I do feel oddly sentimental toward these books. I remember next to nothing about them (Mal was annoying and Alina was a sun person thing?) but .. warm fuzzy feelings, man. They’re still there.
Magonia by Maria Dahavana Headley
Oh, Magonia. The only thing I remember about you was that you were genuinely one of the most bizzare books I ever had the pleasure/displeasure to meet. There were flying blue-skinned and feathered bird people, I think? That are bird pirates, and have a ship in the sky? And their rib cages hold a bird inside, I believe? Yeah, I’m glad this one is shoved into the dark recesses of my mind and not anywhere near the forefront. No one needs this kind of weirdness to be memorable every day.
*squints at cover a but*
Yeah, I do not want to remember Magonia. I liked it in my youth*, but I’m a grown woman now. Ish. With better tastes.
* “my youth* means, like, two years ago.
I think the reason these books slipped my mind is because I just .. think differently now? I mean, I still like them, I do, but changing tastes is a thing that exists, so. I can’t fault myself entirely for liking different things now and forgetting about the old. But nostalgia. NOSTALGIA. These books are so old and sentimental and fluffy. Bless them.
So, add to my list! What books
have you not thought of in a long
time? Do you still enjoy them?
And how much time
should pass before you actually
begin to forget a book
you read? (Don’t hate us,
dear books, but these are
legitimate questions).
Sad to hear that you don’t remember much of And I Darken. I see stuff about it everywhere but still have yet to pick it up.
I read Siege and Storm a few years ago and gosh I don’t remember any of that series. I actually never got around to reading the last book because I just didn’t care by the time it came out
This is so me! Sometimes when I read many books in a short period of time – like a week, I start to mix up the names of the characters and I’m just so horrible at memorizing things. I don’t know how some people remember details after years of reading the book, when I’m just like ‘yeah, it was about a girl and some dragons and some swords, it was goood’.
But I think it’s normal considering how much we read.
Lovely post! <3
I 100% agree about And I Darken by Kiersten White and The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma. I actually finished The Walls Around Us one night, woke up the next morning to write my review and REALLY struggled with it. I had already forgotten a lot of it. I had to flip back through the book to pick back up on the things I wanted to write about… What a mess!
Erica | Erica Robyn Reads