Deja Vu When Reading

1/24/2014

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?

26 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!

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.

Nisha

6/27/2024 01:46:53 pm

I am ready Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh and I just don't know why but I feel like I have read this book before even though I don't remember because if I did I would've remembered. And I als checked my reading list from 2020 to 2023 ad tis book is not there. I could've read it before 2020 but why don't I remember? I don't know where the plot is going but every chapter contains something which makes me feel like I've read it before .

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!!!

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!

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???

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.

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.

Arisblaze

2/11/2021 03:06:47 am

Think I have you beat there. I read fanfiction and over the years lost track of every thing I have read. Then recently (last six months) the deja vu began, or rather, the deja reve. Odd, because you're not supposed to be able to read anything you see in your dreams, and I've been able to scry in mine since I was a kid...

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.

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.

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..

Brooke

1/11/2019 10:57:47 pm

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 .

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!

Unknownnnn

8/3/2021 12:30:26 pm

This happened to me multiple times!! There were even times where I had thought of the next thing happening and actually happened (on some books). the weird thing is that i can't even remember what were the books I was reading the entire time. My whole memory of reading wiped. Not until i was aware of having Déjà vu while reading, then i started recording the books.

vega

12/2/2021 02:23:00 pm

i just had the same experience but with a webtoon. when i read the updated chapter last week, i already knew the contents of that chapter and the upcoming chapter. i knew they would lie down under a tree in the coming chapter and i could picture it the exact same way it was drawn in the webtoon. well according to my understanding you feel deja vu at the moment, like when something is going on you feel like it has already happened before at the same place and doing the same actions, i have experienced quiet a number of times. but this one really freaked me out since i did not feel the usual sense of deja vu. and since it had few days of time before the next release and the time i was actually reading the chapter where i felt like i have already read the chapter. so on the same day i went back and checked the older chapters if it had really not happened since i remembered the future chapter but there was nothing about it. am still confused about what this kind of feeling this is.

Kristine Flood link

1/19/2022 07:40:05 pm

Hi,I'm reading a book I got from the library last week Its called The Lonely Hearts Hotel..pages in I thought ,have I read this before..I know I haven't, googled it as a movie..nope..why do I know this story so well..I am not an avid reader,I have taken up more books over the past 2yrs but I know this hasn't been one..Its painfully familiar,frustrates me while I read it.Is this a true story? Was it a movie? I 100% have never read this random grab from my library yet I know the characters and I want to look for reason in this

Amanda Masse

6/6/2022 03:18:21 am

I just had this happen to me while I read It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, to the point where I knew how it ended before it ended. I had to look up whether there was a movie to the story or if the author got inspiration elsewhere but I couldn't find anything. Now I am currently reading Ugly Love, also by Collen Hoover and I'm having the same deja vu feeling. I always write down what books I read in a book and I keep all of my books so I know for a fact that I've never read it before. Maybe the story was predictable to me, I don't know but it kind of freaked me out.

Old Irish

1/13/2024 04:58:57 pm

I'm been searching the web wondering the same! I'm happy to know I'm not going crazy.

Bridget

7/6/2024 10:12:10 pm

This just happened to me while reading The Lost Bookshop…while reading a chapter toward the middle of the book, the cadence of the words and phrases began to feel familiar, and the words seemed to pop into my head like I knew they were coming next. What a strange sensation…I have experienced deja vu before in conversation and situation, but not while reading until now.

Deja Vu When Reading

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