Huh. I was just going to suggest a book, but I think now I'll use it as my next bookclub pick. So, I'm not telling.

You can call Powell's and have them transfer books from the warehouses (most but not all of them) to a store for you to look at. It takes a while and is generally a pain, but it's an option.

I'm on a major reading kick lately (even dusted off the library card and have tons of books in the queue/on the waiting list.)

It's actually my best remedy for the chronic insomnia I'm dealing with lately (purely stress-related, mostly situational stress that should ease in time, one hopes) - I can get to sleep but I can't stay asleep. And when I wake at 1:30 (or 2:30...or again at 4:30, ugh), reading's the best way to either soothe my brain or send me back to sleep for a short bit.

I read...doze...wake up & read a bit more...doze a bit more.

I'm doing a major re-read of my favorite children's book series of all time - the Anne books (Anne of Green Gables, etc.) Both Blink and The Tipping Point are on order, as is that organization And I've got an interesting book about Portland that's nevertheless not interesting enough to move it to the top of the 'insomnia reading' queue yet.

"The Chosen" is a great book. If you like it, you should also read "The Promise".

I'm glad we go to different county libraries... :)

Thanks for the reminder about Wallace Books. It's a 20 minute walk from here, yet I haven't been there in years.

OOPS! Last weekend I bought the only used copies of Tipping Point and Blink that Powell's had at the Burnside store.

Do you remember what you read? I don't read nearly as much as you do, and even do, so much of what I read disappears from my head it's as if I never read it at all. I read Tipping Point a few years ago, but only have a vague memory of the specifics of the book. I've read several novels through the book club I belong to, but couldn't tell you much about them aside from general themes or impressions. I often can't remember character names or specific events. I'd already forgotten that I read Dragonflight for the book club, except that the book is here on my desk to remind me...

Nicole: Do you remember what you read? I don't read nearly as much as you do, and even do, so much of what I read disappears from my head it's as if I never read it at all.

This is a difficult question to answer.

I almost certainly never remember the details about what I read. Names and places and facts and figures are lost on me, forgotten almost as soon as the book is finished, if not before. There are exceptions, of course — it's easy for me to remember names and places in my favorite books, and I tend to be better able to remember names in classics, probably because they show up elsewhere in literature — but for the most part, I'm at a loss when it comes to remembering details.

However, I am good at remembering broad brush strokes. I can remember plots. I can remember meanings. I can remember feelings. If a book is well-written, I can remember long chains of scenes. For example, I could recount a plot summary for As I Lay Dying with little trouble and high accuracy, though the only time I ever read the book was six years ago.

On the other hand, certain books are entirely forgettable. For example, the class of books I call "Oprah Books" often fade from my mind within days. (As an aside: I'm not necessarily opposed to all books Oprah chooses, especially now that she's on her classics kick. However, there's a certain subclass of her choices that are prototypical Oprah books — The Poisonwood Bible, The Rapture of Canaan, She's Come Undone — that I just can't retain. Just the other day I was trying to remember what we'd read for book group two months ago. I couldn't recall. I had to look it up: Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a very Oprah-esque book. (It wasn't bad; it was just unmemorable.) Then yesterday I saw something about a new book from Kate Atkinson. Where had I heard that name? I looked it up. She's the author for Behind the Scenes at the Museum. The details of that book are beginning to fade, though certain parts of it will stick with me.

One benefit of not remembering books well is that I can always reread them and experience the same pleasure as the first time. It's great! (This happens with movies, too. Kris loves to tell how the second time I saw The Sixth Sense I was surprised all over again; I'd forgotten the plot twist.)

One final thought: I've been listening to audio books for about a year now. I find that my retention rate is much higher when I audit a book than when I read it. I'm able to recall much more detail when the book is read aloud to me. Why is that? I don't know. But it's a fact. I still might not know dates and names and places, but I know much more minute story elements than when I read for myself.

Interesting answer on retention, especially that you remember audio books better. I've been dabbling with audio books over the last year or so and have had the same experience: I have a much clearer recollection of Across the Nightengale Floor (audio) than I do of the sequels (which I read) even though I read the sequels much more recently. The reader for The Secret Life of Bees was excellent and made all the difference in my enjoyment of that book.