I confess....

...in addition to not having blogged in several days [hey, I've been hard at work on the sequel to Rogue Theta!] I also must confess something:

I read for the moment.

You might say, "Huh?"

And if you did, I would explain that I don't store massive amounts of literary trivia in my head. I don't have the plots of every book I read memorized, nor do I keep track of characters or situations from other people's novels. [Unless I'm in the middle of editing of course.]

In essence, what I read goes in, rolls around in my head until I read The End, and then the file is purged to be replaced by the next book I read. Sure I retain a general feeling of good will toward a story that I particularly liked and I do have a few permanent records in the wallbanger file that I can call to mind whenever the discussion of train wreck plots or TSTL characters come up, but on the whole, I don't remember much of what I've read long after I've read it.

Is that bad? I mean, I read a lot of books. I don't memorize them. I enjoy them for the moment, and then I move on. I tend to only remember how I felt when I finished a particular book. Good or bad goes in my mental database, happy or disappointed. The rest gets deleted to make room for more.

Maybe that's why I can read books over again that I've read in the past. The knowledge that I liked the book remains, but the details of the plot have been erased so they seem brand new.

Or it could be that I could use massive doses of ginko.

Do you retain the plot details of any book you read? Can you name seconary characters in them - not just from your all time favorite books or the classics that you've written essays on for school - but from the majoity of novels that have made their way through your TBR pile? Or do you read for the moment, enjoying the plot and characters in the NOW and then clearing that space in your brain for something new when you're finished?