Kilbourn Public Library Book Club

The Kilbourn Public Library book club selection for September is the non-fiction book The Woman Who Can't Forget by Jill Price. Jill has the first diagnosed case of a memory condition called "hyperthymestic syndrome"--the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life since she was fourteen. Her memories are like scenes from home movies, constantly playing in her head, backward and forward, through the years; not only does she make no effort to call memories to mind, she cannot stop them.

The Woman Who Can't Forget is the beautifully written and moving story of Jill's quest to come to terms with her extraordinary memory, living with a condition that no one understood, including her, until the scientific team who studied her finally charted the extraordinary terrain of her abilities. Her fascinating journey speaks volumes about the delicate dance of remembering and forgetting in all of our lives and the many mysteries about how memories shape us.

Would we want to remember so much more of our lives if we could? Which memories do our minds privilege over others? Do we truly relive the times we remember most vividly, feeling emotions that coursed through us then? Why do we forget so much, and in what ways do the workings of memory tailor the reality of what's actually happened to us in our lives? Let us know what you think.