This Sounds Familiar

Our Library has a wonderful service called the Bestsellers Club.  If you have favorite authors, you can add them to your bestsellers list and the library will notify you when their latest novel is available for pick-up.

It has been awhile since they have sent me an email for any new novels.  That is OK by me since I am still reading all of the Sherlock Holmes stories.  I purchased the complete set of books and have been enjoying them immensely.

But a few weeks ago I decided to check my library account and see what was next in line for my reading pleasure.  The novel listed is 'The Quest' by Nelson DeMille. 

I am not sure why I decided to Google it, but I did.  I guess I must have been looking for reviews, though I rarely do that unless I am already reading a book and debating whether or not I should finish it.

The first thing I saw was a release date in September.  I would have quit right there, except the next entry had a review.  I thought that was odd, so I read the entry.  Here was someone saying she picked up the book at a used book sale. 

I then checked DeMille's website and he also showed it to be released in September.  Then I saw the publisher's website which said it was a rehash (my word) of an earlier novel.  A novel from 1975.

Really?  I am rather tired of movies that are remade and TV shows that reappear.  Has no one any new ideas other than reality TV?

This is not the first time I have encountered the novel reissue.  I have found myself in the past reading a novel and thinking it sounded familiar when I discovered an author note (which I tend to not read) in the front of the book saying it was an early novel that he thought he could improve on. 

A fellow blogger, Jo, has found herself reading a reissue of Patricia Cornwell's 'Blow Fly' thinking it was the latest of her Kay Scarpetta novels.  At least she also got it from her library.

They say you can't tell a book by its cover.  That must be because they change the cover and reissue it to fool you into another purchase.  Now, in the likelihood I have absolutely no memory of this novel from another lifetime, I may just end up reading all of it again.  That's what aging will do for you.

2013      1975