darkoshi: (Default)
Darkoshi ([personal profile] darkoshi) wrote2013-09-01 01:36 pm

Cyteen and lost memories

I've started reading Regenesis, the sequel to Cyteen. This morning, I read the plot synopsis of Cyteen on Wikipedia, as I wasn't sure how much of the background story being mentioned in Regenesis was a part of the prior book. All I remember about Cyteen, besides it being a very large book, was that it was about a cloned girl, and her interactions with a few other characters. It was probably about 20 years ago that I read Cyteen. ::wow, twenty years!:: I didn't enjoy Cyteen as much as I did some of CJ Cherryh's other books.

Yet the Cyteen plot mentioned on Wikipedia doesn't seem at all familiar to me. Did I really read that story? According to Wikipedia, one edition of Cyteen was released as 3 separate books. I remember the book I read being very large, so I think I did read the whole big thing, not only one of the smaller books.

This kind of thing happens a lot with me lately. So many books, movies and TV shows are reruns or sequels, for which I only vaguely remember the plot of the original series. I feel that to get the most of the current story, I'd need to go back and re-read or re-watch the original story to refresh my memory. Yet I don't have time for doing that, and it doesn't seem like it would be worthwhile. If I already read/watched the old story once, and it didn't leave me with enough of an impression to keep me from forgetting about it, what's the point of reading or watching it again? It's not likely to have more of an impact on me the second time around than it did the first time. Even if I enjoyed the story a lot the first time, re-watching or re-reading something is never as exciting and enjoyable as the first time.
charcoalfeathers: Anime Hermione with "certifiable bookworm" and a heart (books)

[personal profile] charcoalfeathers 2013-09-02 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah.. I've been the same way lately. I wanted to finish off the Wheel of Time series, and I was thinking I ought to at least re-read part of it.. then I got bored and figured maybe I'd re-read chapter summaries.. then I got bored and figured I'd just read the last book. I wasn't really lost, but it didn't have the same impact, and to be honest, I got bored with that too and started skimming battle scenes. *shrug* I ended up feeling that the book was relatively awful.