How I Find the Books I Read

I’ve been thinking about my book-buying habits lately. Partly because I’ve been reading ebooks on my iPad and partly just because I’m fascinated by the evolving business of publishing.

So I decided to be systematic.

Here’s a list of the books I’ve read in the last year, and either how I found out about them or why I chose to read them.

What and/or who influences your reading decisions?

1. The Echo Maker, A Novel/Richard Powers – Chosen for book club. (Hated it.)
2. On Writing/Stephen King – I’d heard about it online. (Loved it.)
3. Darwin’s Radio/Greg Bear – My partner Greg recommended it. (Loved it.)
4. Black Hole/Charles Burns – My in-laws gave it to me. (Liked it.)
5. The Gunslinger/Stephen King – I’d read it as a kid and wanted to revisit it. (Enjoyed it as a kid. Hated it as an adult.)
6. Zeitoun/Dave Eggers – I love Eggers and followed reviews and news of this book online. (Liked it.)
7. Darwin’s Children/Greg Bear – Sequel to Darwin’s Radio. (Meh.)
8. Olive Kitteridge/Elizabeth Strout – There was unending buzz amongst bookish types online. (Loved it.)
9. The Book of Fires/Jane Borodale – I was sent a review copy by Penguin Canada. (Loved it.)
10. Body of Lies/David Ignatius – My brother gave me a copy when he finished reading it. (Meh.)
11. Lowboy/John Wray – I’d asked for it for the holidays a while back, I believe because I’d read a blogger’s review somewhere. (Loved it.)
12. The Swarm/Frank Schatzing – My friend Kevin had suggested it for our book club a few years back and it stuck in my head though we never ended up choosing it. (Liked it.)
13. Starfish/Peter Watts – Greg recommended it because of our discussions of The Swarm. (Liked it.)
14. Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer/John Grisham – I was sent a review copy by Penguin Canada. (OMG I hated it so much.)
15. South of Broad/Pat Conroy – My father-in-law lent it to me. (Liked it.)
16. In the Land of Invented Languages/Arika Okrent – Heard about it online. (Loved it.)
17. The Shipping News/Annie Proulx – Common knowledge. It had been on my list for a long time. (Loved it.)
18. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues/Tom Robbins – Common knowledge. I’d picked up a used copy. (Hated it.)
19. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest/Stieg Larsson – International phenomenon. (Didn’t like it.)
20. Smilla’s Sense of Snow/Peter Hoeg – My friend Elin recommended it during a conversation about enjoying The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (Loved it.)
21. The Strain/Guillermo del Toro and Peter Hogan – Lots of buzz amongst geeks online. (Hated it.)
22. The Hunger Games Trilogy/Suzanne Collins – In the last few weeks, I noticed lots of talk of it online amongst friends and others. (OMG I loved it so much.)
23. The Secret Hour/Scott Westerfeld – My friends Michelle and Stephanie recommended it. (Enjoying it.)