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Smiling Shelves

Deja Vu When Reading

1/24/2014

18 Comments

 
I recently had a strange experience while reading a book, and I'm curious if I'm the only one out there that has had this experience.

I was reading Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson. I picked this book up last year in the bargain book section of Barnes & Noble. I was absolutely thrilled to discover it because it is a prequel to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Her Anne series is one of my all-time favorites, so I was excited to hear a plausible story of what happened before the series begins.

As far as I knew, I had never heard of this book before, let alone read it. But as I began reading it a couple weeks ago, I had the strangest feeling of familiarity. It's like I knew what was coming next, but only just as I reached that part. I couldn't have plotted it out for you ahead of time, but each next event had an "oh, yeah, I remember this" moment. How is this possible if I hadn't read the book before??

The book was published in 2008. I can't list every book I've read in the past six years, but I can usually remember if I've read a book or not. Before picking this book up, I was very certain that I had never read it before. But having those experiences while reading, I'm no longer so sure.

The only name I have to describe this is déjà vu - the feeling of having read something that I haven't actually read before. Has anyone else had this feeling while reading a book, or am I alone?
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18 Comments
joyful link
1/25/2014 12:38:52 am

That is strange! I don't think i have experienced that exactly in reading but a story line may sound familiar to me. I am interested to know about this book though!

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
1/26/2014 07:30:51 am

It was definitely a strange experience! I should have my review for Before Green Gables up the first week of February so you can see what it's about.

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Jamie
6/13/2014 05:09:34 am

I am so glad you posted this!!! I am currently taking a course in which one of the required readings is Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". I have never read this book before...at over 1000 pages I would have remembered!!! I am only 200 pages in and have had "déjà vu" twice while reading. It kinda freaked me out since that kind of feeling never came to me while reading before!!!

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
6/14/2014 09:31:13 am

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone! It really is a weird feeling, isn't it? I wonder where it comes from!

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Sean Harrison
11/12/2018 04:05:46 pm

I just had this experience last night while reading Tunnel Through the Air by WD Gann. I have never read the book before. I got to the part where Robert is writing Marie whom he loves. He is sure she loves another man. He is engulfed by jealousy. After reading these two letter to her I was certain I have read it before. It was really bothering me. I was trying to remember reading this book but it did not come to kind and I have had no reason to read this book prior to my doing so now. I even knew how Marie was going to respond to these letters with her own. I knew she would say he is being stupid and is totally misguided by his jealousy. And then she did just that! It is still bothering me so I did a google search and found this thread. I want to put my finger on this feeling. It’s like I have this feeling of a word being on the top of my tongue but I can’t think of it. I want to know what this memory is. I can’t give a context to my memory of reading this book before.

DJ Donnie
10/29/2015 02:13:43 am

Actually, coming here is the result of the exact same feeling I've had for the past few. I've been reading William Napier's Attila trilogy, and I just finished the third book 2 days ago. I loved the first two books, but only in the third book we get to properly "spend time" with General Aetius.
The more I read, the more I got the feeling of familiarity like this is something I've experienced before. By the time I reached the point of the battle of Catalaunian Fields between Aetius/Theodoric's forces and Attila's Hunnic horde, I was officially freaked out.

I've become immersed in stories I'm reading before, but this was way off the scale. I felt everything Aetius felt, and the part that freaked me out the most was the feeling of kinship to Attila.

I finished the final book 2 days ago and I'm still feeling freaked out by the blatant familiarity of all this. Am I nuts???

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Swati
6/29/2018 12:00:06 pm

I am also searching for answers as I have read this new vampire court saga married to the prince of darkness by angel twist.... I m freaking out about it know I have seen the two scenes of that novel in my dreams years ago but I remembered them. How can that be possible is it my destiny to read this book or are we supposedly sharing a common dream unknowingly.

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Heather
9/2/2018 06:34:41 am

I have had this happen for quite a while now. I have been reading and all of a sudden I feel like I have read the book, it's to the point where I can even remember what's going to happen, right down to how it will end. It feels like a dream that you still remember when you wake up but the longer you are awake it starts to fade but not all the way.
I have a couple theories, some crazy, some slightly scientific from internet research. Here goes.
1. I am psychic , hey I am to an extent, scares people some times. Brother told me to call my cousin she wants to talk to me, I ask if my ex and father of my kids was dead, he freaked and said how did you know? Stuff like that. Pregnancy before they know, miscarriages. It weirds me out.
2. I actually read the book(s) and for some reason I can't remember that I read six books from one series. Not very likely.
Or 3. The scientific reason. That similar to what some scientists think causes deja vu, it's a misfire of sorts in the brain. Not something dangerous, just that your brain is taking a current happening and treating it as a memory rather than a current moment in time. Did I explain that clear enough?
Like your brain says to you, your not jumping rope, you jumped rope.
Your not reading this book, you read it.
This still doesn't quite explain how you semi know what is going to happen, so unless I really am psychic, or crazy, there should be a reasonable explanation.
What if we simply read so many books, that the stories become predictable?
What if we are just imagining how we want the story to go and it just happens to go that way.
So either our brains are bored and writing the story ahead of time, writers are getting predictable, our brains are firing wonky, we are all suffering from reading deja vu, or we are psychic.

We could just all be batshit crazy, maybe just I am. No seriously, ignore me I am a little crazy and this last week has been one of my worst.
Let me know what you think of my theories or how much medication you think I need, lol and I will pass your recommendations to my shrink.

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kye
9/12/2018 12:13:35 am

this happens to me quite frequently. the deja vu is usually about a page long before the feeling subsides.

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Lisa
10/16/2018 10:22:05 am

Yes! The book I'm reading just now. Beltane. Every word seems familiar and get I'm positive I've never read it before the author Alys West only published it 2 years ago.

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Brooke
1/11/2019 10:54:52 pm

I just noticed this happening to me this year. I would be reading books that there is absolutely no way I could have read and forgot because they haven’t been published long, but I feel like I have read them before. It just happened again with the Maybe Someday series by Colleen Hoover. Is it possible I did read the first book in the series and just forgot? I guess but not likely. However, the newest book titled Maybe Now came out in 2018 so I know I haven’t read it, but I already know the things that are going to happen before they do. It is the strangest sensation. I had to look this up to see if other people were experiencing this because it’s making me feel crazy lol..

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Brooke
1/11/2019 10:57:47 pm

Oops, I meant it started happening to me last year, 2018...

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Zeon
7/30/2019 09:32:20 am

It happens to me as well, but not when I read. For an example I might go to school and the first period I have this feeling that this has already happened not only once but many times it was so cool and freaky. I thought I had special powers. It still happens to me.
I was nervous to tell anyone till I came across the word déjà vu and realised I'm not alone. It made me feel kind of sad actually to know that I'm not so special but at the same time relieved as well

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Ashley
1/27/2020 07:40:05 am

I had an experience like this. I don’t remember the book title, but I distinctly felt like I had read the book before. The further I read into it, the more familiar it became. I could predict what came next right before it happened. I couldn’t tell you the book, I could only do it as I was reading. But I am sure that I had never read it before. I thought deja vu was just for experiences and not for reading but I’m glad I’m not the only one who did this.

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Cassidy Stearns
7/21/2020 10:41:08 pm

This is happening to me now, with both a chapter book i’m reading to my children at night (that i’ve definitely never read before) and a new book that there is also no way i’ve read before. It’s kind of tripping me out to be honest

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Laura j
11/15/2020 10:12:35 pm

I just googled “deja vu while reading” and found this thread. I’ve had this happen to me multiple times recently. It’s such a strange feeling especially when you know you haven’t read the book before. I’m so glad I’m not alone.

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Jss
12/15/2020 08:48:59 am

Happen to me a lot . But difference is i get deja wu for single coversation or event in story . It is almost 5-6 sentence long . half down the the sentences i stop and i know what i am going to read next .

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Stephanie
1/3/2021 08:16:21 pm

Yes, I recently had this happen to me. I am reading the Harry Potter series and I only remember reading the first two books but as I read the third and fourth one I have read things that I remember reading before. I know it’s not from the movies because it has been parts that were never in the movies. I now think I may have read them but just I forgot somehow!! Glad I’m not the only one l!

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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

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