Month: September 2014

Yesterday when I got up I started reading a book, so I read from just before 8am and finished it around 9.30pm. I simply could not put it down it was so exciting. This morning lying in bed I was thinking about writing my review of it, but cannot for the life of me remember the name of the book or what it is about. I have absolutely no memory of it, nothing, other than reading a book so good I had to finish it in one go!

I am reluctant to look it up on my kindle to see what I have read as I wish to search for triggers enabling me to bring all the information to mind and there is a part of me that doesn’t wish to hurry this process. Take it slowly, do it right, no frantic word search in my mind to find the key, no frustrating inward shouting at myself ‘what is it about’. 

I will make another cup of coffee and see if I can work through this methodically to prove that I can remember it with the correct triggers I can give myself.

Right here goes: it was a thriller, but not horror …………. there’s the trigger and I have it – Before I Go To Sleep. Eureka! that was easy.  My first memory was a hotel room….can I remember the names; Ben, Claire, Dr ?, Adam, but what was her name..Christine! Eureka again!  Do I remember the details of the book?  Some, not all, if I try to give you an outline I would get confused, I would not be able to get the sequence right but it does not matter because I know how it made me feel when I was reading it. I was excited, on the edge of my chair, I couldn’t put the book down and felt guilty about all the things I should be doing as I was reading, but still I could not put the book down.   

So how do I review books when my memory about the storyline itself is so poor? I go on the fact that I know what I like, how a books makes me feel when I am reading it and what emotions am I get from the way the words make up the story.  Does a book make me think, do I break down the plot in my mind, can I see what the author is trying to show me. Did the book give me the escape that I enjoy?

What the author is looking for in a review is whether the reader loves the book on as many levels as possible. No book will be loved by ALL because we have different tastes and enjoy different styles of writing. I struggled with the first Harry Potter book and could not read the rest because I dislike the way J K Rowling writes, however millions of people love reading the series. I do however love the films and believe her imagination is wonderful.

When I look at my Goodreads read-books-list there are titles I have no knowledge of reading or what the books are about which means I could read them again as if they are fresh to me, but reading a style of writing that is comfortable is not challenging my cognitive processes. Finding grammatical errors in a book with writing that lacks the finesse of established skilled authors exercises my cognitive skills, because I am determined to focus on understanding the story. This is not always easy when there are days when I struggle with the construction of sentences and have to read the same paragraph repeatedly to make sense of it.  It is often easier for me to leave the book and do some writing.

In my thoughts words flow so easily, I don’t struggle to express myself and can say exactly what I want to say. The difficulty begins the moment I come to speak aloud, then the ability to retain this flow is completely lost; the connection between my brain and mouth is faulty.   I can however write better than I can talk and I believe this is because I am a touch typist. I think – and the words appear in front of me like magic, but if I stop to construct a thought to write it down it disappears. Sadly though this ability does not encompass my memory.  I do have to read over what I have written and rewrite quite a bit though because my fingers are sometimes wayward and write their own things down!  The process of writing takes more time and effort than it used to.

But today I am rewarded finally with some memory of the book I am about to review, so with the addition of flicking through the pages to remind me of the story and using the notes I have made whilst reading, I shall write my review.