Lasting Impressions

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I suspect that I have a visually inclined memory, a theory upheld by my vivid recollection of some of the art we have enjoyed at all those exhibitions since retiring. A hypothesis perhaps also confirmed by a frequent inability to recall the names of even the main protagonists in the books that I have read. Should I switch to reading comics and picture books or on the basis that I can also fail to put a name to a face in real life, is it erroneous conjecture? Could it actually be that I'm just bad at names? Is it another age thing?

As you know I am undertaking 3 x 60 challenges for my big birthday year. A quarter of the year into it, I am pleased to record that progress is good; I'm a little behind target with the number of swims and also unfamiliar places visited, but anticipate making up the loss in the summer months. The reading challenge however has been managed to perfection, meaning that by 31st March I had indeed read 15 books. 

Could I tell you the names of them? Yes because I have listed them and, of course, if they are not actually on my bookshelf there is a copy on my virtual shelf at Goodreads.

Could I tell you the names of the main characters? Probably not in all cases, although and for obvious reasons Rebecca in the book of that name would be an exception. 

Could I describe the plots? Definitely.

Could I identify the books I really liked? Yes and in so doing I have made a patent discovery: a little like art, they are the ones that made the deepest impression, that spoke to me in a personal and unique way  and, therefore, about which I recall the most.

To assuage your curiosity, those that made the most profound impact were:
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones.

Exactly as art and sculpture do, they disturbed normality for me, surprised and jolted me out of passivity and stimulated an emotive response.


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