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| Presented in order of publication. I actually first read them the other way around |
As I've said before, I now say again - memory is a funny thing. In a couple of recent posts, I told the story behind my first experience of the above two books, which I've now re-read for the first time since reading them back in 1973 and '75. I was surprised by how much of Rog's book I remembered, not only before I started my second journey through its pages, but as I was actually reading it. In quite a few instances, I would begin a paragraph and know how it concluded before I got to the end of it. I certainly enjoyed the book, but it held no real surprises for me, serving merely to refresh my memory.
Colonel Sun, however, was an entirely different affair - I could recall hardly anything about it. Apart from some details surrounding the torture scene (but not so much the torture itself) near the end of the story, it was as if I was reading it for the very first time in my life. When I'd first read it, back around 1975, I found it pretty underwhelming, and perhaps that's why I never gave it a second thought and consigned it to the far recesses of my mind. I suppose if one never exercises a memory from time to time, it atrophies and dies. That's not to say that, given the right conditions, the memory cannot be resuscitated at a later date, but sometimes the 'right conditions' may never present themselves.
Strange thing is, I actually enjoyed the book this time around, and found it fairly engrossing. I'd certainly recommend it as a worthy addition to the literary collection of any James Bond fan. However, I'm amazed at just how selective memory can sometimes be - even for someone like me who prides themselves on their powers of recollection. The fact that I could remember the act of reading the book, but not much about the book itself (apart from the cover) makes me wonder just how much else I may have forgotten down through the years - and how much of what I do recall is reliable.
Anyone had any similar 'memorable' experiences?