I always forget books I classify as “not real literature, just entertainment” completely two minutes after I finish them. As a result, I have a ready supply of what to me are entirely unfamiliar books I read several years ago. It works especially well with mystery novels: I can re-read them five, six times, discovering anew who the killer is and feeling fresh shock every time.
This saves quite a bit of money.
Books that I classify as “real literature”, however, stay with me forever and I can reproduce quotes from them many years after reading them.
Clarissa's Blog 
Unfortunately, if I start rereading a mystery novel I already read I instantly remember everything and find I can’t enjoy it since I already know everything that is going to happen.
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It doesn’t usually work with books but it does work that way for me sometimes with mystery movies (especially the Poirot tv series and films). I’ve watched all of them twice and most of the time I’ve forgotten who did it the first time around (unless I figured out what was going on very early which happens sometimes).
I don’t have the ‘real literature’ vs ‘just entertainment’ dichotomy going on though and I often find genre literature to have better insights about (or perspectives on) what’s going on than more serious works.
This is probably why it’s a very good thing I never went into literature as I’d be laughed chased out of any conference I tried to defend “the big love”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Love
or Montana Gothic (easily one of the most disturbing books ever)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2709451-montana-gothic
Or asking if anyone present really enjoyed Moby Dick, really? Seriously?
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“This is probably why it’s a very good thing I never went into literature as I’d be laughed chased out of any conference I tried to defend “the big love””
– Oh no, not true. I’m considered a freak for my “real literature vs entertainment.”
“Or asking if anyone present really enjoyed Moby Dick, really? Seriously?”
– I loved Moby Dick. It’s Shakespeare that I don’t get. He’s just not a very good writer. 🙂
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I used to remember almost everything I read. Now, because I read so much I don’t remember half the things I read, but if I see something again, I’ll have recognition memory of the plot. Incidentally, I haven’t read much fiction, literature or otherwise in years. I had to give away so much of my library when I moved that I have two bookcases and one of them is almost completely empty. 😦
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I know what you mean! This is why I hate moving: books always have to be left behind because of how heavy they are.
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I have most of mine, the important ones all in PDF.
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I try to spend as little money on mystery novels as I can while still feeding my addiction. I’ve discovered that “friends of the library” book sales are an excellent source of cheap used paperbacks, but as someone who also gets rid of books at such sales, I have on more than one occasion, gotten a dozen pages into a purchase, only to realize that it’s a book I had not only read already, but bought at a previous sale and then donated. Mortifying. I wish I had either better or worse recall of such literature.
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I routinely find myself trying to purchase books on Amazon only to be told by the website that I already bought this book. Very embarrassing. I always look around the room to see if anybody noticed me doing this. 🙂 So I know how you feel.
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