Summer Reading List (fun or interesting books)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
I don't know how I forgot about this before:

The Great Influenza

and any of the "This I Believe" books from NPR. They are so good, it is really good as an audio-book because they have the original recordings from the series. They actually have Eleanor Roosevelt's "This I Believe" recording that she did as an ad-lib. I liked it very much.
Members don't see this ad.
 
Wow! So many great thoughts and suggestions!

Dana Gabladon has swallowed months off the lives of the ladies in my family. Good stuff, I'm told.

Arthurian legend... yeah! Awesome. I was accused of writing my senior research paper in lit without references. "It seems like you did this from memory." Yeah. Tennyson, McCaffrery, TH White... sure, I knew it and dreamed it.

Q, can't agree enough about 'Hitchhikers'. Great stuff. Read all of them. They are terrific.

You all are amazing! There is fodder here for a long long time.
 
spiderpete said:
You all are amazing! There is fodder here for a long long time.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking that there isn't enough time in one summer to make it through all of the good suggestions everyone's posted. :laugh:
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Sadly, I've never read Steve King's Dark Tower series.
 
.
 
Last edited:
Finish reading Emperor of All Maladies
Finish reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
This Won't Hurt a Bit by Michelle Au
Something fun and mindless
 
Ooh I would like to +1 the person who said "Tao of Physics", I have it too and hope to read it : )

-Migraine by Oliver Sacks
-Red Moon Rising by Matthew Brzezinski
-Inside Out (memoir about being blacklisted during the Cold War)

Due to unfortunate circumstances "BRS Gross Anatomy" is also on my summer reading list (and precludes all of the aforementioned titles)

If I can make it through all of these, I am treating myself to "This is a Book" by Demetri Martin : )

This is my "last summer" so I gotta get all my leisure reading done! : p
 
has anyone read The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett?
 
sf49rox said:
Sadly, I've never read Steve King's Dark Tower series.
Click to expand...

Go for it, it's really good. And now that it's finished, you won't have to wait months for the next installment.
 
SBB2016 said:
has anyone read The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett?
Click to expand...
Yes, great book. Met her once and got her to sign my copy, as well as another book of hers called "Betrayal of Trust." Would also recommend "And the Band Played On" if you're into public health. It's about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Another good one is "Bad Blood," which is about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.
 
Kill bin Laden. Written (under pseudonym) by the Delta Force commander tasked, in 2001, with tracking down and killing Osama bin Laden. Great read.

I have a weird obsession with learning about elite special forces teams like Delta and DEVGRU, so this one was right up my alley.
 
Damia said:
Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (starts slow, but JUST READ IT. Suddenly you will look up and realize the sun is coming up and it's several hours until the stupid bookstore opens so you can go buy The Wise Man's Fear***)
Click to expand...

Holy, crap that book is AMAZING. I just need to say thank you. To Damia. And to SDN.

You know... I guess, SDN has been great for this whole med school advice thing. But I think its most important contribution to my life has been the recommendation of this book. :) Seriously, seriously AWESOME.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
kraskadva said:
Go for it, it's really good. And now that it's finished, you won't have to wait years/decades for the next installment.
Click to expand...
Fixed that for you. Seriously, his non-existent publishing schedule on those books is why I absolutely refused to read them until they were all done. Once they were, however, I found them to be an amazing series and loved every page.

I do not aim with my hand;
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.
I do not shoot with my hand;
He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my gun;
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.
 
spiderpete said:
Adding "Emperor of Maladies" and "This Won't Hurt a Bit" to my list. Maybe they'll be my first Kindle-on-the-iPad reads. :) And then I'll dig deeper into all these fine suggestions.

Highly recommend Game of Thrones, first two books especially! If that's your cup of tea, check out Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
Click to expand...

I'd also add in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Bonus: the entire series is done, so no worries about untimely deaths.
 
Here we go; I knew we had a summer book reading list thread. Adding "Daemon" and its sequel "Freedom" by Daniel Suarez. Warning: you need to have some tech savvy (or at least be willing to work your way through a lot of techie explanations) in order to read these books. But it's well worth it for those who are willing. Total page-turners. I read them both back to back in one day. :thumbup:

On Amazon, they compare this guy to Michael Creighton, but I think he's more like Dan Brown (author of "The Da Vinci Code").
 
On the list:

Lisa See's 'Dreams of Joy'
Stockett's 'The Help'
Terry Pratchett just put out two new ones. MUST get them and read them.
'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat'
Gregory Maguire's 'Mirror, Mirror'
'The Land of Painted Caves'
And 'The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing'

Recommend:
Michelle Au's book and blog.
The Hunger Games Trilogy. Say what you will, I LOVE 'em.
Anything Terry Pratchett. Seriously, do it!
If you're dying for some chick lit try Marian Keyes or Jennifer Weiner. :love:
 
-Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
-Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking by Susan Cain
-The Selfish Gene byRichard Dawkins
-Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky
-Guyton and Hall's Textbook of Medical Physiology 12 Ed.(various units and chapters)
-The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
-Various Journal Articles(either related to orthopedics, neuroscience, CardioPulm physiology)
 
catswym said:
"This won't hurt a bit" ~Michelle Au
"Health at every size" ~Linda Bacon
"Between expectations: Lessons learned from a pediatric residency" ~Meghan Maclean Weir
"The third life of Grange Copeland" ~Alice Walker
"the Carbon Diaries 2015" ~Saci Lloyd
"seed to harvest" ~ Octavia Butler (actually a collection of four of her books)
"great house" ~nicole krauss

That's just what I have on my nightstand at the moment to read.
Click to expand...
Linda Bacon is an idiot.
 
I just finished House Of God by Samuel Shen and am now working on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.

Reading may take a back seat to a MCAT retake, however. I think I probably did well enough, but well enough is rarely satisfying...
 
slp2doc said:
I am also currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo! Amazing so far! I just finished Moby Dick (took ~30 hours to complete); and, for the remainder of the summer, transitioning into fall, I have Lawrence of Arabia, Paradise Lost, and then The Adventures of Pinocchio. Realistically speaking, these four books, on top of postbac studies, will probably take me until Christmas to finish.

Totally worth it though!

Are you enjoying CMC so far?
Click to expand...
Very much - it's my second time through :)

In my already non-existant free time I look forward to making it through more of the classics. Lawrence of Arabia may find it's way towards the top of the list.
 
Just finished Jane Eyre. Onto Infinite Jest and Eating Animals... clearly going to finish Eating Animals first, and when that happens I don't know what I'll read to contrast with Wallace. Also reviewing physics before fall starts since high school physics was a looooooong time ago...
 
Chanandler Bong said:
Just finished Jane Eyre. Onto Infinite Jest and Eating Animals... clearly going to finish Eating Animals first, and when that happens I don't know what I'll read to contrast with Wallace. Also reviewing physics before fall starts since high school physics was a looooooong time ago...
Click to expand...

I'm currently reading Anna Karenina, which is brilliant; I hated War and Peace and I'm glad I'm giving Tolstoy another chance.

I just finished The Mold in Doctor Florey's Coat, which my uncle in Singapore sent me since he's trying to support the only likely future scientist/doctor in this generation in my family.
 
I'm currently reading Anna Karenina, which is brilliant; I hated War and Peace and I'm glad I'm giving Tolstoy another chance.
Click to expand...

I have Anna Karenina waiting on the Kindle... maybe I'll pick up that when Eating Animals is over. Though some more nonfiction would be nice, too.

Also, if you like the Russians, Nabokov's Despair is awesome!
 
I've been terrified of Nabokov ever since I chickened out on Lolita six years ago, maybe I'll pick up another book of his. I've been meaning to read some Dostoevsky, though - The Demons or Notes from the Underground, maybe work my way up to Brothers K.
 
Un-chicken! Lolita was captivating -- one of the few things I was able to read for fun during undergrad (because as an English major, you generally just stick to whatever 17 books are on your syllabus).

Never read Dostoevsky, but now as I read about him on Wikipedia I definitely want to...
 
Since I finished my MCAT, I started reading The House of God. Loving it so far. I'm about halfway through.
 
I've been meaning to read more Stephen King. I loved Salem's Lot and Lisey's Storey but I HATED The Stand, and everybody says that's his greatest.
 
I just finished The Emperor's Gift which is an awesome read for WH40k fans :)
 
Chanandler Bong said:
Just finished Jane Eyre. Onto Infinite Jest and Eating Animals... clearly going to finish Eating Animals first, and when that happens I don't know what I'll read to contrast with Wallace. Also reviewing physics before fall starts since high school physics was a looooooong time ago...
Click to expand...
Infinite Jest cost me exam points last year. Couldn't stop. Broom of the System is similar, so far. I hate that there won't be any more DFW.

I recently finished State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. Surprisingly good - I think I was 8 the last time I finished a book and then immediately started over at the beginning to make sure I didn't miss anything. Of particular interest for aspiring ob/gyns.

I read a ton of Rory Stewart this year, and I need him to write more stuff right away He trekked across northern Afghanistan after the 2001 war started (The Places In Between). He served as a provincial governor in the coalition government of Iraq (The Prince of the Marshes). Badass life; impeccable prose.
 
SBB2016 said:
has anyone read The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett?
Click to expand...
I read it on a beach vacation a couple years ago, surrounded by friends reading fun trash. I barely remember what friends I was with, but I remember everything in the book.
 
For those of you into Russian lit, I highly recommend Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych (which is a quick read) and Dostoevsky's Brother's Karamazov is definitely worth the time.
Both offer insight into death and suffering... which is basically what doctors deal with all day.
I also love Candide (obviously not Russian)
 
Cancer Ward by Solzhenytsin is amazing for the exploration of death, as is Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain (about a Tuberculosis Sanitorium).
 
currently reading: Skinny Legs And All -Tom Robbins (if you haven't read any of his work, I recommend Jitterbug Perfume)
on the list:
Innumeracy - John Allen Paulos
Motherhood & Feminism- Amber Kinser

What a great idea for a thread :)
 
seeingstars said:
currently reading: Skinny Legs And All -Tom Robbins (if you haven't read any of his work, I recommend Jitterbug Perfume)
on the list:
Innumeracy - John Allen Paulos
Motherhood & Feminism- Amber Kinser

What a great idea for a thread :)
Click to expand...

Good call on Tom Robbins, kinda forgot about him. 'Skinny Legs and All' and 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' kept me sane during my Army AIT. They were just surreal enough to remind me that what I was going though was a distorted view of reality, as best ;)
 
NightGod said:
Good call on Tom Robbins, kinda forgot about him. 'Skinny Legs and All' and 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' kept me sane during my Army AIT. They were just surreal enough to remind me that what I was going though was a distorted view of reality, as best ;)
Click to expand...

I've read all of his books except for this one, he's one of my favorite authors. A good one for AIT, I'd imagine, I was reading the Harry Potter books in AIT.. and yes, I cried when Dumbledore died, haha...made me look really tough :D
 
A girl and her pig

Awesome book. Ignore the crappy reviews on Amazon, they're from peta whackoes trying to boycott it. If you like any sort of cooking look into it!
 
I'm currently reading "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" by Atul Gawande. Great read, so far. Brings up a lot of interesting points about medicine and its practice.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using SDN Mobile
 
for the females on the thread i highly recommend the "fifty shades of grey" series - just hang in until chapter 7 of the first book.

:oops:
 
I can't get enough Dostoevsky

Just finished Notes From the Underground, currently reading the Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment

Other books on my list

Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut
Re-read Catch-22
Despair - Nabokov
Count of Monte Cristo
The Selfish Gene - Dawkins
Read the Great Gatsby again before the movie comes out
 
Last edited:
Some wonderful books I've read that I'd recommend to anyone:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley by Patricia Beard (VERY interesting read even if you have no interest or background in finance)
The Game by Neil Strauss (Ladies, if you take this book seriously, it WILL irk you. However if you see the book through, you'll see its a comedy about a misguided guy's romp through the world of dating. This was recommended to me by a self-proclaimed pickup artist, so originally I thought it'd be a terrible waste of time but I gave it a quick glance at Barnes and Noble and couldn't put it down.)
 
mommy2three said:
for the females on the thread i highly recommend the "fifty shades of grey" series - just hang in until chapter 7 of the first book.

:oops:
Click to expand...

So it gets better? I kinda gave up on it at around page 70.

Someone mentioned the death of Ivan ilych by Dostoevsky ...I highly recommend it as well. I absolutely love Russian literature. :D
 
AgmalLella said:
So it gets better? I kinda gave up on it at around page 70.

Someone mentioned the death of Ivan ilych by Dostoevsky ...I highly recommend it as well. I absolutely love Russian literature. :D
Click to expand...

oh it gets better - it kicks in at chapter 7. the second book is also good. the third book is kind of so -so.


i also echo the sentiment n the dark tower series, green mile also excellent. rose madder is very good and not typical king.

my other guilty pleasure is the sookie stack house series
 
Red Dragon
Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal

All of these are by Thomas Harris. I'm sure many of you have seen the movies, not sure how many have read the books. I just finished Red Dragon yesterday, and I could barely put it down the past couple of days. It was an absolute page burner. My step dad has a copy of Hannibal and I'm going to try to find a copy of Silence of the Lambs at Hastings tomorrow.

Now that the mcat is out of my life (for now anyhow) I've been able to get back to easy, interesting reading. Not wordy passages about art or some other bull.
 
DrMidlife said:
Infinite Jest cost me exam points last year. Couldn't stop. Broom of the System is similar, so far. I hate that there won't be any more DFW.
Click to expand...

Aaaaaah so true. His short fiction is just as postmodelicious. The Girl with Curious Hair has so many keepers.

If you like sci-fi and haven't read Dune, drop whatever you're doing and read Dune. Most epic sci-fi epic ever. And speaking of tragic author losses, FH died before finishing the seventh and final book, leaving his son and Kevin J. Anderson to have their painful literary way with it.

I don't often read nonfiction, but Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World makes you realize the impact of historical cultural bias. I didn't know how racist I was!

The Sun My Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh isn't a cover-to-cover book, but if you are stressed by wherever you are currently, just open to a page and start reading, you'll be back at the ground floor in no time.
 
"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien (I cried throughout iy)
"Drown" by Junot Diaz
"The Brief Wondrous Like of Oscar Wao" Junot Diaz (I need to re-read this one)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

alwaysontime
When to start prepping for summer 2025 matriculation PostBacc?
Replies
1
Views
510
glycolysister
G
Z
Halfway through SMP - apply this summer or wait?
Replies
5
Views
589
Zach123!
Z
DR. Tran
Interest in Psychiatry
Replies
12
Views
2K
DR. Tran
DR. Tran
S
DIY Post-bacc Courses: Summer
Replies
3
Views
1K
GreenDuck12
G
H
Nontrad trans URM, not enrolled in pre-med yet, interested in plastics
Replies
26
Views
1K
AW125
A
Top