SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
Members' Chat
>
Does real life ever mirror the book you're reading?
date
newest »
newest »
Anna, you always create the most interesting threads!
This has happened to me on more than a few occasions, It happens more when I'm writing, though. I typically listen to YouTube on low in the background, just enough to drown out the outside noise(apartment living). The amount of times that I'll write down a word just as someone in a video says it, or the amount of times the conversation changes as if in relation to the last sentence that I wrote is sometimes momentum breaking. Feels like you're seeing a glitch in the Matrix.
Haha thanks, you should see all the ones I almost posted but didn't :P
I don't do audiobooks, so the likelihood of this happening to me is pretty slim
The date/time/rain type ones can happen while eye-reading! :)
You could also be on vacation and the book mentions the country/city you're in (and you didn't know this and choose to read the book because of that), or you could be reading in a library/coffeeshop and the characters go to a library/coffeeshop, etc. It can be anything, it's just the knife-wieldy things that are *more* likely when audiobooking, although I'm sure we'll hear from someone* who regularly stabs things while eye-reading.* Why do I feel like I just summoned Ernest :D
Well, there was the time I was reading Dracula and a bat came and lighted on the window screen. Does that count?
This might not count because of timing, but a few years ago,I was rereading Jane Austen’ “Emma,” as part of group read, and noticed that the Penguin edition I was using for the first time identified a now-obscure reference to a “Cremer” as a nineteenth-century composer and music publisher, Johann Baptist Cremer.I thought to myself that this was nice to know, but that I would probably never encounter any of his music.
One of his pieces turned up on the local classical music station, probably a few hours later, before I could forget the name (which I had to look up just now).
I’d say that totally counts, Ian. That sort of serendipity happens to me all the time. I “discover” something and then it pops up all over the place for a while.
Yep that happens to me all the time, too. You focus on something and then you’re tuned into it and more likely to notice it in the world. This is actually a concept that was brought up in the same book that inspired this thread 😄
(I almost named this thread serendipity/bookception, so we’re definitely all on the same wavelength.)
I don’t recall seeing or hearing it since then. It turns out there are actually a couple of albums of his music, as I found by checking Amazon Music just now, but under the alternative spelling of “Cramer.” If I haven’t noticed his name on the station’s playlists since then, it may have been because I wasn’t looking for, or because of the spelling difference.
I think the closest thing like this that has ever happened to me is that the university I did my undergrad at was mentioned. It's a pretty average public school so both times I was shocked at the mention (One was the Anubis Gates and the other was the movie Crazy Rich Asians)
Mod
This happened to me recently when a character was celebrating a birthday when I was reading on my birthday. Turning the same age and also on a Tuesday!!
Mod
Boink, that’s way cooler than any of mine!I remember the milch cows, there were milch goats popping up at the same time, too. This is similar to my caravanserai thing I posted in the new words thread. (Just read another caravanserai book in the last few days.)
New words: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Anna wrote: "I'm sure we'll hear from someone* who regularly stabs things while eye-reading.* Why do I feel like I just summoned Ernest :D"
LOL, Ernest is usually too busy causing trouble to read, but otherwise he would identify with that very much! I could see feeling like I’m on the opposite side of that if he ever gets the timing right. I judge when it’s time for me to trim his nails based on how much it hurts when he jumps in my lap and starts kneading my legs while I read. If I were reading about a character being stabbed at the right time, I might feel like real life was mirroring what I was reading.
I don’t have too many experiences like this, aside from the really easy ones like being tired when a character is tired (that one happens a lot), having a headache or feeling ill when a character does (pretty rare), or hearing a storm or rain when the same is occurring in the book (semi-frequent). I'm not usually doing much while I read that's likely to mirror my books though.
Please make sure to come back and tell us if Ernest stabs you (while you're reading about a stabbing)!
Mod
I'm sure this has happened and I can't remember a specific situation. Most often though, I see people in books. It's one of the things I find amazing about literature. Whether written hundreds of years ago or set in an imaginary future, people are people. I like seeing humanity in this lens (mostly) and I often see pieces of people I know ... and sometimes even myself.
Oh yes! ^_^ Melanie <3 coming in hot with deep thoughts and here I was goofing around with grilled cheese XD (I mean the pan was also hot.)Yes, I wholeheartedly agree, reading about humans often makes me think of irl humans, and that's why I sometimes prefer reading about aliens and sentient trees. What a pity those stories are also written by humans (that we know of), so the same truths usually apply.
I remember the first time I had read a certain book by one of my favorite authors, this secondary character was introduced and promptly gave me the chills. Her thought processes and living situation were both a replica of mine many years ago. This character actually caused my feelings on these things to be validated. After reading that book, I wrote the author to thank her.
Aww, I love when that happens! I guess that's "I saw myself (or someone I know) in this book/character", another interesting thread if someone wants to start it :)(Not that I mind if you want to talk about it here, but it deserves its own thread, that's what I'm saying!)
actually, I've been informed that I and my husband are in one of my author friend's books, but i have never been able to figure out which characters we were. She had a habit of using real people as the models for the characters in her Romance novels. I'm figuring we were supporting characters and not main ones though
How did you not ask her?! I wouldn't be able to deal with the mystery! :D Or I'd make charts about the book, looking at every character from all angles to try and puzzle it out. Am I the silly maid or the angry shop lady, or perhaps the spinster next door who gets murdered?!
Anna wrote: "How did you not ask her?! I wouldn't be able to deal with the mystery! :D Or I'd make charts about the book, looking at every character from all angles to try and puzzle it out. Am I the silly maid..."unfortunately she was a tad bit coy about who was who (maybe she didn't want people getting mad at her?) and she's since passed away (chronic smoker who died of cancer of the larynx).
Highland Romance? We were probably loyal retainers or elderly relatives.
Hopefully! Or maybe the vicar's wife, or Mrs. Kravitz 😂
Considering how much dark fantasy I read, I'm rather grateful this doesn't happen in my life.
Since I am normally driving while listening to audiobooks, this doesn't happen much, but this is a fun topic.
Anna's good at coming up with fun topics!
Nope. That would be one boring book. Plus I tend to read a lot of spy thrillers. Fun to read, but probably not fun to live.
I'm currently reading Paint My Name in Black and Gold: The Rise of the Sisters of Mercy, and there's a passage that describes singer Andrew Eldritch's obsession before he became famous with the 1977 album "Low," by David Bowie.That felt strange, because for the last couple months I have been listening to that album a LOT.
I just finished the third draft of a novel where a character is knighted and suddenly has a stable job after flailing around in their life for a while, feeling lost. I just got a permanent job offer today after flailing around all summer so far after struggling applying to jobs since April.
Rachel, I’m assuming you finished *reading* that third draft, written by someone else, otherwise your post belongs in the Authors’ folder.(Also welcome! And yes, we’re sticklers about authors talking about their own work.)
CBRetriever wrote: "actually, I've been informed that I and my husband are in one of my author friend's books, but i have never been able to figure out which characters we were. She had a habit of using real people as..."There's a famous Australian author (now deceased) who used to live not far from me. I didn't much care for his work but read a few of his books, mainly as a kind of research.
Anyway, this chap had long had a crush on a friend of mine who was a fair bit younger than him and wasn't interested - despite his long persistence. She thought he was a bit of a creep and never read any of his books.
So, among all his books, there was one set in the beach suburb where I live, and when I read it I was amazed to meet two side characters who were very obviously this girl and her sister. And of course, there was a very graphic scene between the main character and the girl. I guess if he couldn't do it in real life he did it vicariously.
A bit sad really, but you don't always want to end up as a character in a book.
As for the main topic, yes millions of times. One of the more spectacular examples was when I read about an encounter in the (quite wonderful) Istanbul Cistern, where I had been just two days before.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Paint My Name in Black and Gold: The Rise of the Sisters of Mercy (other topics)Acts of Violet (other topics)
This has a higher* chance of happening when listening to audiobooks, but what I mean are things like:
- Your audiobook character says they need to brush their teeth while you're brushing your teeth. (This has happened at least twice, I can't remember the books.)
- Your audiobook character is chopping vegetables while you're chopping vegetables. (Again, at least twice.)
- The (audio)book mentions a time or date and that's the exact time or date. (At least once for time.)
- It starts raining at almost the exact time your (audio)book mentions it's rainy. (Once.)
- Your audiobook character says "She's kinda bossy but her grilled cheese was the best thing I ever ate after weeks of nothing but cereal" while you're literally making a grilled cheese, like it's sizzling there in the frying pan and you're poking it with a spatula! (This happened 30min ago and that's why I'm starting this thread finally, I've been meaning to for ages.)
My (real) life is very boring, I have never fought demonic chickens while listening to audiobooks, but maybe one day I'll happen to be doing something fun that matches my book. Anyone else have more exciting examples?
* I mean sure some of us eye-read while walking in(to) traffic, like I did today, but so far I haven't cooked or brushed my teeth while eye-reading.