In reading this form, I have come across mentions of books I had read eons ago, and decided to order to reread.  Many of these books are from the 70's.  One of these was the "Black Swan" by Day Taylor.  I ended up having to get it from England.  I remember reading this book!  But when I reread it, it was completely different from what I remembered.  Also a couple of Kathleen Woodiwiss's books, completely different than I remember.  Has this ever happened to any of you?

yes happens a lot, esp with the kid/teen books I read 'back then'. I found Pony Girl after loving that book from teh library - I checked it out all the time. yet when I re-read it as an adult there were things I didn't remember.

Johanna Lyndsey? A Pirate's Love I think is the title - I didn't remember the scene being 'rape' yet when I tried to re-read it that's what it seemed to be. totally different feel to it. :-(

I'm itching to re-read The Thornbirds.  I read it as a teen, and then fell in love with Richard Chamberlain when the miniseries was on TV.  LOL!  I saw a couple of copies at the library sale last week, but they were in pretty bad shape  (yea, I know...what do you expect from a 30 year old paperback book!).  It's going to be a keeper once I find it, so I'll keep looking for one in better condition. 

Yes indeed.  Sometimes even when it hasn't been that long, the book will have a completely different "feel" than I remembered.

Oh yeah - some books leave wonderful memories with us but they just don't stand the test of time. I've gotten rid of some of my long-time keepers for just this reason.

For some books I didn't keep I, too, have toyed with the idea of getting them again but with a TBR the size of mine I didn't think it would be money (or credits) well spent. Bad enough there are dozens of keepers that may not come up to their previous high standards.

Some years ago I spent quite a bit reacquiring some old Harlequin Presents I loved and was sorry I got rid of - am slowly reading through them but they just aren't the same. I'm 30 years older, times have changed, and what charmed me back then just seems old-fashioned now. Wish I had the $$$$ back. :(

Gail

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

I loved Mr. Impossible and a few others by her.   I decided to order a copy of this book because I couldn't remember reading it.  When I started it, I realized I had read it before and I just wan't impressed with it the second time.  I even skimmed through the second half. 

I have to mention that I rarely reread books, so it just might be that I lost interest after I remembered reading it before.  This is what convinced me I didn't really need much of a keeper shelf. 

Yep, I'm having the same thing with old Harlequins. They were my first romance novels, also from 30 years ago. I read a couple recently and they were not the same. It totally ruined it for me. The men were withdrawn, uncommunicative and emotionally & verbally punishing! Then they'd go off with the more "experienced" woman, leaving the virgin heroine to silently love her man from a distance, and be all accepting and loving no matter what he does to her. I'm not even talking the Regency romances which I can't stand because they have that same theme. These were comtemporary romances of the day. No wonder why there are so many women who stay in domestic violence situations to this day. They also grew up on these romances. They were taught by these types of romances to accept the crap that men hand out and think that is love. I wish I hadn't read these books again.