I’ve been reading quite a decent amount since I was a kid, and I’m now in my late 20’s. I’ve recently realized that the books I’ve read in the last couple of years, I struggle to remember much about them.
I can remember the general outline of the story, or most of the major plot points, but any character names or place names I struggle to remember.
I’ve been going through and reading many fantasy/sci-fi series, and it usually feels like once I get to book 2 of whatever new series I’ve picked up, I can’t remember the previous series I read.
For example, I’m currently reading The Thief series, and really enjoying it. However I’m finding that I can’t remember much of the names or characters from the Red Rising series, which I read just before this. I can remember most of what happens, and I remember really enjoying it, but names just get lost entirely.
If you were to ask me what happens in the books I read the last couple of years, I would be able to tell you in quite decent detail, but I’d struggle with any names.
The only exceptions are books I read when I was young, like the Lord of the Rings books or the Hyperion books.
Does anyone else have this issue? How can I better remember details like this?
Are you good with names in general irl? I’ve never been great with names in real life or in books. For that reason I’ve always appreciated books with an index of characters to help me keep track. Sometimes I make one myself for books with a lot of characters.
My theory is that some people’s minds index via proper nouns more than others. I’m more likely to remember a story you told me than your name. It usually takes me multiple times meeting someone before their name sticks unless I make a concerted effort, but I’ll remember they said they worked in construction and had 2 dogs. Just to throw a wrench in my theory I’m somewhat likely to remember the dog names…
No, not really. That’s a good point too, I just never thought about it that way since I can remember all my childhood characters so vividly.