Comments on The Book Vixen: How Do You Retain Important Facts When Reading a B...

Stephmartin71 - I have had Lover Mine on my...

2010-12-03T09:03:08.202-08:00

Stephmartin71 - I have had Lover Mine on my bookshelf since it was released in April and I still haven't had a chance to read it! I can't wait :)

I've got 2 now since last night ;) one of them...

2010-12-02T13:56:58.636-08:00

I've got 2 now since last night ;) one of them is Alexander Ivy's #7 Devoured by Darkness ( one of the few series that I'm all caught up on except this book & luvin the whole series. Especially Levet, He is a secondary charater & a gargoyle. The men all hate him & the women all love him and he is really sometimes lol, funny and the other one, which is also all caught up until this book is JR Wards Lover Mine. It was originally released in hardcover but I waited for the mass market release. This was also a hard wait to read because it was already out and everyone was blogging about it. I don't buy HC's they don't fit on my wall library unit which was built to mm's. So I'm really n a pickle once I'm done with my next 2 reads :)

Stephmartin71 - I want to know what book yo...

2010-12-02T13:33:39.079-08:00

Stephmartin71 - I want to know what book you have in your hot little hands!!

I understand completely. For me, I have to force m...

2010-12-02T13:30:11.252-08:00

I understand completely. For me, I have to force my compliance ;) Unless I have to read it out of order, It waits until book 3 ;) and yes, I have a book right now in my hot little hands that I'm just dying to read but it WILL wait until I'm done with what I'm reading. But I aggree, sometimes this is very hard to stick to.

Stephmartin71 - I would prefer to have a fe...

2010-12-01T10:15:24.111-08:00

Stephmartin71 - I would prefer to have a few books of the series in my procession before starting to read it too. But sometimes there's that series that you just want to read right now :)

I purposely held out on reading the Hunger Games trilogy because of the cliffhanging ending in the 2nd book. (I have all 3 books now but haven't been able to read them yet.)

Wow, from comments, I didn't know these tools ...

2010-12-01T07:59:11.958-08:00

Wow, from comments, I didn't know these tools (wikipedia) were available to search facts like this.

I hate to write this w/potential backlash possibilities but unless I have to read a specific book at a certain time, I wait until I have at least the first 3 bks to that series. I find for me, that once I've read the first 3 bks in a row, most of the "Important Info" stays with me.

Of course you take chances w/this method. * You have to be aware of spoilers & not read them ;) *Be able to want to invest money in those 3 bks based on reviews, blogs & opinions (<-I'm able to overlook opinions depending on what's written)and *Also you will have to take a chance w/those Authors (new & old). This system so far has really worked for me. If the concept of the series is good & It's a genre I read, I gladly take my chances because their is nothing worse then trying to buy book #1 in a series 2 or 3 years later. Just wait, maybe 5-10 years it won't matter w/the influx of readers & need to save the trees, physical bks will be impossible to buy anymore and I'll have my stash until someone loots me ;) I hope this helps
Stephmartin71(at)yahoo(dot)com

I use Wikipedia. I go on there and read the reall...

2010-11-30T18:11:13.881-08:00

I use Wikipedia. I go on there and read the really detailed summary, and then whenever I start reading the next book it all comes crashing back. Wiki is so convenient!

Melissa - I wish I had known about that bef...

2010-11-30T11:44:25.024-08:00

Melissa - I wish I had known about that before I decided to re-read Hush, Hush. LOL

I use Wiki, just used it recently to refresh mysel...

2010-11-30T11:22:00.202-08:00

I use Wiki, just used it recently to refresh myself with Hush, Hush.

Small Review - I like when an author does a...

2010-11-30T11:11:28.880-08:00

Small Review - I like when an author does a recap but not a lot do. Some may do flashbacks or character memories but I always feel like I may be missing out on stuff.

Kate Kaynak - Yes! We loved the Previously on Ganzfield!! I hope other authors jump on board.

Ms Ulat Buku - I am going to be in your shoes when I read Beautiful Darkness. I will not want to re-read BC because it's a long book. And there was a lot of details and stuff going on in BC. Please share the sites you use! I would be ever so grateful :)

Ashlie - I don't think it's weird at all. I think it may need to be something that I should be doing. I use to summarize a book in my reviews but stopped doing that. So for the most part, me looking back on my own reviews wouldn't really help. I have been known to scour the reviews with spoilers on Goodreads though.

Besides Wikipedia, does anyone know of any other s...

2010-11-30T11:02:58.671-08:00

Besides Wikipedia, does anyone know of any other sites where you can find a summary (with spoilers) of a book?

Like MoviePooper but for books...

Intertwined by Gena Showalter wasn't on Wikipedia :(

I"m afraid I'm not really organized enoug...

2010-11-29T21:46:29.497-08:00

I"m afraid I'm not really organized enough to keep notes :( I often find myself a few chapters into a book thinking "this sounds really familiar"....dduhhh! I often rely on an author's website to give me a brief synopsis or better yet - find a series that is all done and read them all back to back. I'm reading the Hellions series by Jeffries right now. There was such a long time between the books that I actually had to re-read the first book because I was lost in the first chapter of the second :(

Is it weird that I keep a journal as I read? that...

2010-11-29T17:57:36.212-08:00

Is it weird that I keep a journal as I read? that way I can always reference it when I read the next in the series, and it always helps me write my review later. Sometimes I'll read my review of the previous book in the series before I start the next one, or I get together with my friends that have read the previous book and we'll talk about what happened.

While I do enjoy rereading, I always have so many books in my TBR list that I want to read as many new ones as possible. It's hard for me to go back.

Great question and post! Thank you for asking!

Ashlie@Bookish Novelties

I hate it when this happens. Right now, I'm re...

2010-11-29T17:42:45.146-08:00

I hate it when this happens. Right now, I'm reading Beautiful Darkness and I can't seem to remember the details from Beautiful Creatures. Rather than read the whole book as a refresher, what I do is I normally search the net for a one pager synopsis of what happens in the previous book. Wikipedia is normally quite accurate but I've stumbled upon other sites as well that provide detailed synopsis. But you are right,ideally for me its better to wait till the series is all out before you start reading them. Then at least if you get hooked, you don't have to wait long for the next book. :)

I reread all the books when it's a series wher...

2010-11-29T12:10:33.070-08:00

I reread all the books when it's a series where the foreshadowing and overreaching arch are really important to me. Like in the Harry Dresden series or Guardian series. I care about them so I want to be fresh. Plus, I noticing new details that I missed the first or second time reading it.

For series that I follow but don't have much of a continuous arch I just skim my review (or someone's review) until I start remembering details. Or I skim the end of the book.

But I enjoy rereading, so this is no hardship for me.

Ok I do admit to being a bit wtf has happened some...

2010-11-29T10:37:03.974-08:00

Ok I do admit to being a bit wtf has happened sometimes, but I get over it...try anyway. Cos to re-read all books, nope, I would not have time for anything else then

I have the same issue and usually it depends on th...

2010-11-29T10:00:48.872-08:00

I have the same issue and usually it depends on the series. I have been known to reread whole series to get up to date for a new release, but most of the time I hope the author has been good at filling in what's happened previously without being repeative.

It's tough. I recently read book 8 in a series without reading the previously 7 books at all and I was happy not to find myself lost at all. If a books well written enought then important story points should come up naturally without reading a huge backlist! :)

Yay! I'm so glad people like the "Previo...

2010-11-29T08:24:26.977-08:00

Yay! I'm so glad people like the "Previously, at Ganzfield..." refresher. I put it in because it's what I wish I could have for other book series, but I didn't know if other people felt the same way. Thanks for the affirmation!
- Kate

I wish I had an answer because I have the same pro...

2010-11-29T08:23:21.289-08:00

I wish I had an answer because I have the same problem. I love it when an author writes a little section at the start of the next book recapping whatever happened in the previous book(s). I don't like it as much when they do this in the actual book (I can't skip it then).

I'm thinking I might just have to start taking notes. I try to hold off on a series until after it's already been published, but sometimes I can't wait. I've also had it happen to me a few times where I thought a book was a stand alone when I started it, but only realized at the end that it's the first in a series.

I don't like rereading because I feel guilty what with having such a huge TBR. I think notes will have to be the way to go.

This has been an issue for me too. I PREFER to jus...

2010-11-28T19:57:18.356-08:00

This has been an issue for me too. I PREFER to just wait until I can get my hands on an entire series, but sometimes it's too hard to wait to dive into a new book!

Ruby - I like character memories as well. T...

2010-11-28T18:58:03.754-08:00

Ruby - I like character memories as well. That's a good way to remind a reader of important stuff from a previous book.

Comacalm - Weeks to a month or two works for me. That's why I like discovering books where the entire series is already out. It kind of feels like cheating but what can I say :)

Larissa - I think I'm going to start keeping notes and putting them in the Private Notes field on Goodreads. Seems like the best way to go.

@BV ooooh I did not know about this Private notes...

2010-11-28T18:53:34.521-08:00

@BV

ooooh I did not know about this Private notes thing... LOVE it! lOL

After reading the first book in a series I either ...

2010-11-28T16:46:03.811-08:00

After reading the first book in a series I either read the second straight away or after a couple of books, can usually remembered what happened very easily (as this will only be a couple of days, I read a book a day practically). Or, I read the sequel months after, due to it not being released yet. If this happens I read the book before it again to remember.

I usually re-read...I'm ok with re-reading, mo...

2010-11-28T16:45:19.837-08:00

I usually re-read...I'm ok with re-reading, mostly because I discover things that I missed the last time I read the book. That is if I don't remember what happened. But if I love a series, I'll usually remember some details. I'd rather re-read a book than spend entire pages of say book 2 reading about what happened in the first one. I don't like that. A character remembering about the past is good, but entire paragraphs just make me skip pages...

twimom101 - wikipedia?!! I need to check th...

2010-11-28T16:22:21.456-08:00

twimom101 - wikipedia?!! I need to check this out! Thanks :)