Do You Suffer from Biblio-Amnesia?

Fear not, you're not alone. Many are afflicted!

From a piece in the Washington Post...

I wondered this recently after I came across a copy of Edward Hoagland’s “The Tugman’s Passage” at a rummage sale and snatched it up. I’ve followed Hoagland’s nature writing for years, so I welcomed the chance to read more of his work.

But on the drive home, a faint feeling of déjà vu began to unsettle me. Hadn’t I already read this book? Soon, a quick scan of my living room bookshelf revealed my first copy of “The Tugman’s Passage,” its pages dog-eared to bookmark choice passages.

I was shocked that a once-cherished volume had slipped so conclusively from my consciousness. Revisiting pages I’d once identified as memorable, I registered not the slightest trace of recognition.

It’s not because Hoagland’s prose is forgettable — or that it should be. At any rate, he’s in great company. A few years ago, I was at the cash register with a copy of “Speak, Memory,” Vladimir Nabokov’s classic memoir, when I remembered that I had already bought the book and read it in another season of my life. But my impressions of what was inside “Speak, Memory” spoke not a syllable, rendered mute by the march of time.