okay let me go entirely overboard and do all the books I've read in the past year. Hope this is helpful!
1. reread of an old favourite - originally read because a friend's relative had given it to her for her birthday as being a very long fantasy book on the new york times bestseller list, and I borrowed it from the friend when I was out of reading material on a camping trip we were on together
2., 3., and 4. continuing to read a series I've been working on for a while - originally read a book from the series when I picked up a copy for cheap at a used bookstore because I vaguely recalled having heard of the series from somewhere, though I couldn't recall if it had been talked about positively or negatively, but I thought it looked worth finding out.
5. Reread of an old favourite - originally read because it's by the same author as #1 on this list.
6. further in the series from #2-4.
7. A coworker had read it for a book club and recommended it to me.
8. reread of an old favourite - originally picked up because it was by the author of other books I'd enjoyed, probably the first book I ever read by the author was given to me by my mom when I was a kid because she'd enjoyed them when she was young.
9. Someone I follow online posted an exuberant review of how awesome this book was.
10. Reread of an old favourite - originally picked up because it was by one of my favourite authors as a teenager. The first book by this author that I was introduced to was read aloud to my class in school.
11. Reread of an old favourite - originally read because it was given to me as a birthday gift by a relative.
12. reread of a book I'd enjoyed previously - originally read because it was by an author I really like. The first book by this author that I was introduced to was a decrepit copy that lived in my grade 4 teacher's classroom and I picked up because it looked exciting.
13. God only knows.
14. I think this was from one of John Scalzi's Big Idea guest posts
15. I'd read and enjoyed books by the author before and this one sounded particularly fun.
16. most famous book by a famous canadian writer/artist, so obviously I had to read it at some point in my life.
17. Enthusiastic post about the book by an online friend/acquaintance
18. It was mentioned in a nonfiction book I'd loved when I was a preteen and somehow managed to remember the name of the book as something I'd enjoy, over a decade later when I stumbled across a copy in a thrift store.
18. Enthusiastic post about the book by multiple online friends/acquaintances
19. Enthusiastic post about an untranslated Japanese adaptation of a musical based on this book, by an online friend/acquaintance
20. reread of an old favourite, same author as #10
21. Stumbled across it in a used bookstore and thought it looked fabulous
22. Recommended by one of my parents
23. stumbled across at a used bookstore's going-out-of-business sale or I probably wouldn't have bothered buying it
24. Reread of an old favourite; I have NO IDEA how I originally came to read the book/author
25. Reread of an old favourite, same author as #24.
26. Stumbled across it in a used bookstore and thought it looked fabulous
27. Someone I followed online a very long time ago said something complimentary about it once, I think.
28. Reread of an old favourite - originally introduced to me by one of my parents
29. Famousish book by famousish 19th century author that I'd always kind of intended to read, aided by the complimentary things that Hark! A Vagrant said about her once
30. Recommended to me by my financial advisor.
31. Reread of an old favourite, same author as #24.
32. Reread of an old favourite - originally introduced to it because it was part of the very small fiction collection at my childhood church library and I eventually read pretty much EVERYTHING that library had to offer
33. Highly recommended by a close friend
34. Had read and enjoyed other things by the author before, and came across this one in a used bookstore.
35. Browsing the library, I think
35. Had read and enjoyed other things by the author before.
36. Had read and had conflicted opinions about other books by the same author and I keep reading her in the hopes that ONE OF HER BOOKS will lack the problematic elements....
37. By same author as #36.
38. Reread of old favourite - I have no idea how I originally began reading the author's works
39. Browsing the library
40. The internet (including some friends) said lots of complimentary things about it, and a friend owned it so I borrowed it.
41. Ditto.
42. Frankly no clue
43. A friend highly recommended it, another friend owned it and lent it to me
44. A parent highly recommended it, a friend owned it and lent it to me
45. Someone I follow online said good things about it
46. Birthday gift from a family member
47. Another book by the same author as #16
48. I'd previously read it online for free (posted freely by the author) and discovered it in print form in the library
49. Browsing the library
50. Browsing the library, plus vague memories of possibly having heard friends speak of it in positive terms
51. Reread of an old favourite - originally read from browsing the library
52. Second book in same series as #51
53. John Green's Crash Course Literature youtube series, plus a friend saying it is one of his favourite books
54. My place of employment had a copy and I thought it looked interesting.
55. Reread of old favourite, by an old favourite author who I have no idea how I first encountered.
56. By an author I really love, who I'd first encountered by browsing the library
57. reread of a book by same author as #36
58. Recommended by XKCD, iirc
59. Highly recommended by a friend
60. Enthusiastic post by an online friend/acquaintance
61. I think I somehow ended up reading an interview by the author (who I'd never heard of before) about this book and really appreciated the things the author had to say
62. Another book by same author as #16
63. What felt like EVERYONE I KNOW online was posting extensive paeans to how good this book is
64. Reread of an old favourite. Originally read because I found it in a library book sale and thought it looked fun, combined with that I was pretty sure I'd heard of the author in positive terms somewhere before
65. Book I purchased new! IS THAT A FIRST FOR THIS LIST. Anyways I bought it because I'd read and adored every single short story the author had put up for free online. I don't remember how I was first introduced to the author, but I'm pretty sure it was an online friend/acquaintance who posted something about one of her stories.
66. Reread of an old favourite. Originally read because it is an extremely famous work of 19th century literature
67. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and I'd enjoyed books by the author before.
68. Next book in same series as #67.
69. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and I vaguely recalled having heard good things about the book
70. Reread of an old favourite (also because it was free on project gutenberg), but have no idea how I was first introduced to it
71. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is the sequel to an old favourite
72. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is the prequel to a book I enjoy
73. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is by an author I like - I think I was first introduced to the author by a parent
74. Read because it was free on project gutenberg, is by an author I like, and came highly recommended by my sister.
75. Next book in same series as #70
76. Next book in same series as #70
77. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and also is extremely famous
78. Read because it's by an author I mostly like and it was cheap at a thrift store
79. Purchased new! Purchased because it's the book form of a blog type thing I've been following and deeply enjoying for years
80. Latest book in a series I've been following for a long time. Originally began the series because the author is a fandom BNF whose works I've generally loved, and because I'd heard very good things about the series from online friends/acquaintances
81. Reread of an old favourite. First read when I was a wee kiddie and it was read to my class in school, which I had mostly forgotten had happened; first read for the second time when a couple fandom friends got really into a new movie adaptation of the book and as a result they got into the book as well.
82. Famous work of 19th century literature that I've always wanted to read; same author as #29
83. The author is an old favourite and I discovered that there's a book of hers I'd never read before.
84. Reread of an old favourite, by same author as #83
85. Reread of an old favourite, originally read because it was highly recommended by a close friend and also I knew I'd heard positive things about the series elsewhere too.
86, 87, and 88. rereads of old favourites, the rest of the series begun at #85.
89. Seems like everywhere I turned online all of a sudden, everyone was discussing this book and how INTERESTING and WELL DONE it was. Including multiple online friends/acquaintances.
no subject
1. reread of an old favourite - originally read because a friend's relative had given it to her for her birthday as being a very long fantasy book on the new york times bestseller list, and I borrowed it from the friend when I was out of reading material on a camping trip we were on together
2., 3., and 4. continuing to read a series I've been working on for a while - originally read a book from the series when I picked up a copy for cheap at a used bookstore because I vaguely recalled having heard of the series from somewhere, though I couldn't recall if it had been talked about positively or negatively, but I thought it looked worth finding out.
5. Reread of an old favourite - originally read because it's by the same author as #1 on this list.
6. further in the series from #2-4.
7. A coworker had read it for a book club and recommended it to me.
8. reread of an old favourite - originally picked up because it was by the author of other books I'd enjoyed, probably the first book I ever read by the author was given to me by my mom when I was a kid because she'd enjoyed them when she was young.
9. Someone I follow online posted an exuberant review of how awesome this book was.
10. Reread of an old favourite - originally picked up because it was by one of my favourite authors as a teenager. The first book by this author that I was introduced to was read aloud to my class in school.
11. Reread of an old favourite - originally read because it was given to me as a birthday gift by a relative.
12. reread of a book I'd enjoyed previously - originally read because it was by an author I really like. The first book by this author that I was introduced to was a decrepit copy that lived in my grade 4 teacher's classroom and I picked up because it looked exciting.
13. God only knows.
14. I think this was from one of John Scalzi's Big Idea guest posts
15. I'd read and enjoyed books by the author before and this one sounded particularly fun.
16. most famous book by a famous canadian writer/artist, so obviously I had to read it at some point in my life.
17. Enthusiastic post about the book by an online friend/acquaintance
18. It was mentioned in a nonfiction book I'd loved when I was a preteen and somehow managed to remember the name of the book as something I'd enjoy, over a decade later when I stumbled across a copy in a thrift store.
18. Enthusiastic post about the book by multiple online friends/acquaintances
19. Enthusiastic post about an untranslated Japanese adaptation of a musical based on this book, by an online friend/acquaintance
20. reread of an old favourite, same author as #10
21. Stumbled across it in a used bookstore and thought it looked fabulous
22. Recommended by one of my parents
23. stumbled across at a used bookstore's going-out-of-business sale or I probably wouldn't have bothered buying it
24. Reread of an old favourite; I have NO IDEA how I originally came to read the book/author
25. Reread of an old favourite, same author as #24.
26. Stumbled across it in a used bookstore and thought it looked fabulous
27. Someone I followed online a very long time ago said something complimentary about it once, I think.
28. Reread of an old favourite - originally introduced to me by one of my parents
29. Famousish book by famousish 19th century author that I'd always kind of intended to read, aided by the complimentary things that Hark! A Vagrant said about her once
30. Recommended to me by my financial advisor.
31. Reread of an old favourite, same author as #24.
32. Reread of an old favourite - originally introduced to it because it was part of the very small fiction collection at my childhood church library and I eventually read pretty much EVERYTHING that library had to offer
33. Highly recommended by a close friend
34. Had read and enjoyed other things by the author before, and came across this one in a used bookstore.
35. Browsing the library, I think
35. Had read and enjoyed other things by the author before.
36. Had read and had conflicted opinions about other books by the same author and I keep reading her in the hopes that ONE OF HER BOOKS will lack the problematic elements....
37. By same author as #36.
38. Reread of old favourite - I have no idea how I originally began reading the author's works
39. Browsing the library
40. The internet (including some friends) said lots of complimentary things about it, and a friend owned it so I borrowed it.
41. Ditto.
42. Frankly no clue
43. A friend highly recommended it, another friend owned it and lent it to me
44. A parent highly recommended it, a friend owned it and lent it to me
45. Someone I follow online said good things about it
46. Birthday gift from a family member
47. Another book by the same author as #16
48. I'd previously read it online for free (posted freely by the author) and discovered it in print form in the library
49. Browsing the library
50. Browsing the library, plus vague memories of possibly having heard friends speak of it in positive terms
51. Reread of an old favourite - originally read from browsing the library
52. Second book in same series as #51
53. John Green's Crash Course Literature youtube series, plus a friend saying it is one of his favourite books
54. My place of employment had a copy and I thought it looked interesting.
55. Reread of old favourite, by an old favourite author who I have no idea how I first encountered.
56. By an author I really love, who I'd first encountered by browsing the library
57. reread of a book by same author as #36
58. Recommended by XKCD, iirc
59. Highly recommended by a friend
60. Enthusiastic post by an online friend/acquaintance
61. I think I somehow ended up reading an interview by the author (who I'd never heard of before) about this book and really appreciated the things the author had to say
62. Another book by same author as #16
63. What felt like EVERYONE I KNOW online was posting extensive paeans to how good this book is
64. Reread of an old favourite. Originally read because I found it in a library book sale and thought it looked fun, combined with that I was pretty sure I'd heard of the author in positive terms somewhere before
65. Book I purchased new! IS THAT A FIRST FOR THIS LIST. Anyways I bought it because I'd read and adored every single short story the author had put up for free online. I don't remember how I was first introduced to the author, but I'm pretty sure it was an online friend/acquaintance who posted something about one of her stories.
66. Reread of an old favourite. Originally read because it is an extremely famous work of 19th century literature
67. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and I'd enjoyed books by the author before.
68. Next book in same series as #67.
69. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and I vaguely recalled having heard good things about the book
70. Reread of an old favourite (also because it was free on project gutenberg), but have no idea how I was first introduced to it
71. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is the sequel to an old favourite
72. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is the prequel to a book I enjoy
73. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and is by an author I like - I think I was first introduced to the author by a parent
74. Read because it was free on project gutenberg, is by an author I like, and came highly recommended by my sister.
75. Next book in same series as #70
76. Next book in same series as #70
77. Read because it was free on project gutenberg and also is extremely famous
78. Read because it's by an author I mostly like and it was cheap at a thrift store
79. Purchased new! Purchased because it's the book form of a blog type thing I've been following and deeply enjoying for years
80. Latest book in a series I've been following for a long time. Originally began the series because the author is a fandom BNF whose works I've generally loved, and because I'd heard very good things about the series from online friends/acquaintances
81. Reread of an old favourite. First read when I was a wee kiddie and it was read to my class in school, which I had mostly forgotten had happened; first read for the second time when a couple fandom friends got really into a new movie adaptation of the book and as a result they got into the book as well.
82. Famous work of 19th century literature that I've always wanted to read; same author as #29
83. The author is an old favourite and I discovered that there's a book of hers I'd never read before.
84. Reread of an old favourite, by same author as #83
85. Reread of an old favourite, originally read because it was highly recommended by a close friend and also I knew I'd heard positive things about the series elsewhere too.
86, 87, and 88. rereads of old favourites, the rest of the series begun at #85.
89. Seems like everywhere I turned online all of a sudden, everyone was discussing this book and how INTERESTING and WELL DONE it was. Including multiple online friends/acquaintances.