Good Books??

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Some of my favorite include: The Boxcar Children, The great Brain, Redwall, Hank the Cowdog, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Bridge to Terabithia.

Call me childish, but you cant beat the classics😀
 
amwatts0322 said:
Some of my favorite include: The Boxcar Children, The great Brain, Redwall, Hank the Cowdog, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Bridge to Terabithia.

Call me childish, but you cant beat the classics😀
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So true, children's books can make good reads for adults! Roald Dahl is extraordinary in this category. Everyone needs to make an effort to read Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl.
 
I second The Lovely Bones; also reading the author's 2nd novel: The Almost Moon which is quite good as well. I also recommend The Kite Runner, The Namesake, Like Water For Elephants, A Fine Balance,The Poisonwood Bible,Memoirs of a Geisha, The Good Earth, A Million Little Pieces.....I could keep going. I LOVE reading - it's a fantastic way to avoid doing Organic Chemistry Lab write-ups. :laugh:
 
has anyone read "a year of magical thinking" by joan didian? Im thinking of reading it and i want some peer reviews.
 
jad2121 said:
has anyone read "a year of magical thinking" by joan didian? Im thinking of reading it and i want some peer reviews.
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Yes, I have!! I read the book over 2 years ago (the same month when it came out), so bear with me, my memory might not be so strong.

I found it to be sort of strange and unsettling. On one hand, I could empathize with her grief and tragedy, but on the other hand, there was still something bothering me about the book. For the longest time, I couldn't pinpoint it -- I just knew I was getting annoyed as she rambled on. And then I realized what it was: it was her continuous objectivity about the death of her husband. You're going to have to brace yourself for a cold, hard analytical look into death and tragedy. For someone who has suffered from a tremendous loss, she is unusually detached and stoic about the situation (she'll go on and on about medical details about her husband's death -- like an emotionless drone, it's scary). But I think her method of coping is what made the story even more tragic and haunting (her refusal to really ever acknowledge it). Just my take of it, anyway. She writes really elegantly, I must say. I remember being impressed, although I had wished she had shown a little more emotion in her writing.
 
I am half way done with "The Selfish gene" by Dawkins.Its really good.
 
I'm working my way through The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nature at the moment (Matt Ridley). It is well written and I'm enjoying it.

I finished Einstein's Relativity a few weeks ago. It is really short and really good (it took me a while to get through it though- dense material).

A friend recommended The Selfish Gene by Dawkins, so I will be reading that over break as well. I'll give you a heads up if I enjoy it.

I'm assuming you enjoy reading science related things. If you are partial to literature, Kafka has also been a favorite of mine for some time now-The Metamorphosis or In the Penal Colony are condensed intellectual pleasure in word format.
 
I really liked "Good in Bed" by Jennifer Weiner. It's an easy read and even though it's a "light" book I think it really deals well with some of the tough issues women face about body image/beauty/etc...

This is also the author who wrote "In Her Shoes" (Much better than the movie BTW)
 
Ah! I just thought of one of my all time favorites - 100 Years of Solitude by [SIZE=-1]Gabriel García Márquez. He also wrote Love in the Time of the Cholera.
[/SIZE]

(The two titles listed immediately previous to this must have brought these to mind.)
 
HumidBeing said:
Ah! I just thought of one of my all time favorites - 100 Years of Solitude by [SIZE=-1]Gabriel García Márquez. He also wrote Love in the Time of the Cholera.
[/SIZE]

(The two titles listed immediately previous to this must have brought these to mind.)
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😍
 
HumidBeing said:
Ah! I just thought of one of my all time favorites - 100 Years of Solitude by [SIZE=-1]Gabriel García Márquez. He also wrote Love in the Time of the Cholera.
[/SIZE]

(The two titles listed immediately previous to this must have brought these to mind.)
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I loved the first 80% of One-Hundred Years of Solitude. The last bit, though, just dragged on unbearably. I think it was simply a matter of the characters I was most emotionally invested in no longer being part of the story. I simply didn't care about the ones introduced near the end - they weren't nearly as interesting.
 
"Walk On Water" by Michael Ruhlman. Its a non-fiction book, a journalist's view of the intense world of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery. (It's the surgeons who 'walk on water')
 
pakbabydoll said:
Last book I read was Harry Potter 7!!! So read HP 7 if you have not read it yet. It's really good.
Right now I am trying to read Darwin's ghost (midway through)
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The Harry Potter series is awesome.
 
I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and WOW!! Hosseini is such a talented writer, I didn't think this book could surpass The Kite Runner, but it did. I can't wait to read his future works!

Anyone have recommendations about books that are similar to his?! A friend recommended Bricklane & The Namesake. I didn't really like the former but The Namesake was brilliant!
 
i was at barnes and nobles today, and found a whole bunch of collections at discount prices. collections by alvin shwartz( more scary stories...from when we were kids) edger allan poe and various others. im sure i misspelled some of the authors names, but i dont care.
 
I'm going to go grab "A Song of Ice and Fire" tomorrow but to add my two cents to the discussion:

For anyone who like Sci/Fi or Fiction:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (& sequels) by Douglas Adams
Ender's Game (& sequels; Also look into the sidestory: Ender's Shadow & sequels) by Orson Scott Card
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
Memoirs of a Geisha
 
"I Am America, And So Can You" by the hilarious Stephen Colbert.

I hate the writers' strike. I need the Colbert Report.
 
Richard_Dawkins_The_God_Delusion_sm.jpg
 
If you want to learn how to invest the fortunes you will inevitably get from medicine or whatever you end up doing:


A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel


It's a VERY good book that explains why certain strategies are good and bad. It also gives a time line for investing and how much of your money should be invested in what at what age.
 
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

France at the start of WWII. Be sure to read the appendix for the rest of the story. 🙁

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

A bit slow at the start but an interesting story of early 20th cent. Egypt

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

A memoir of a growing up in a disfunctional family-- you'll laugh. cry and be amazed. I wish the AMCAS essays I read were as well done.
 
LizzyM said:
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

France at the start of WWII. Be sure to read the appendix for the rest of the story. 🙁

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

A bit slow at the start but an interesting story of early 20th cent. Egypt

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

A memoir of a growing up in a disfunctional family-- you'll laugh. cry and be amazed. I wish the AMCAS essays I read were as well done.
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That's asking for a lot :laugh:
 
I have tried to read 100 years of solitude like 10 times. I always get through 80 pages and then get so bored I cant keep going. It always makes me feel so stupid because on the back of the book it has these unbelievable reviews: "This book should be required reading for the whole human race". I'm in the human race, and i'd rather stare at a wall than finish one more page of that book.

Also I suggest "Fear of Flying" by Erica Jong. Its really really good.
 
LizzyM said:
I have the same problem with Love in the Time of Cholera -- but I never seem to get more than 20 pages in before I tire.
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I wanted to read Love in the Time of Cholera really badly until I discovered that it was the same author as 100 Years of Solitude. After 2 pages of that book, I put it down. :laugh:
 
Some books I have read recently:

- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - Half way through the book and it is incredible. She also wrote The Fountainhead which is equally phenomenal.

- Better by Atul Gawande - inspires you to go the extra extra mile

- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut - Will make you laugh out loud

- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - Will also make you laugh out loud

- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - Amazing memoirs of an MSNBC.com writer who endured a, to put it mildly, crazy childhood.

- Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon - Told from the perspective of an autistic child, very original.
 
meddog said:
Some books I have read recently:

- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - Half way through the book and it is incredible. She also wrote The Fountainhead which is equally phenomenal.
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I feel that an unfortunate number of people my generation has been unduly influenced by Ayn Rand, who wrote The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Wikipedia notes that "her ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciation." I will confess, I am of the latter party.

Her ethical stance is what bothers me the most. She claims, "Man - every man - is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others...The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." In objectivism, the ideal person is completely and fundamentally selfish; you do only what makes you happy. She considers happiness a way of measuring how good you are doing at life; it's a barometer the body evolved to determine how successful one is. She does protect her philosophy against hedonism; it is instead rational egoism.

The problem is that objectivism rejects as immoral any action taken for some ultimate purpose external to oneself; it denies altruism. You cannot justify your existence by service to others. There are interpretations which argue that mutual helpfulness and mutual aid between human beings is compatible with objectivism. But still, I find it very difficult to reconcile objectivist ethics with being a doctor. As a physician, your primary aims are those of your patient, not those of yourself. Your role is completely selfless; you should not exploit patients for your own gain. Modern medical ethics centers itself around values like beneficence, autonomy, non-maleficence, and justice. These are simply not compatible with objectivist ideas. Ayn Rand may be a moving writer. But her philosophy, as such, should not be blindly adopted, especially in the context of medicine.
 
Picklesali said:
Kindred Spirit, eh? Are you also a fan of Anne of Green Gables?

I can never decide between P+P and S+S, I also really like Persuasion. You?
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Wow Picklesali and Dodo, it seems like we MSTPers tend to like the same books! I read Anne of Green Gables 23423098 times as a kid, (and I still love it).

I love P+P, but I have to say that my favorite Jane Austen book is Emma.
 
amwatts0322 said:
Some of my favorite include: The Boxcar Children, The great Brain, Redwall, Hank the Cowdog, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Bridge to Terabithia.

Call me childish, but you cant beat the classics😀
Click to expand...


I used to read Hank the Cowdog books when I was in grade school. We had the Accelerated Reader program. I probably read 20 Hank the Cowdog books, I don't know how many are in the series.
 
aaj117 said:
OMG me too! but only in french...for some reason the english translation is really disappointing to me.
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Yea, people should only read the original Fr edition..🙂
 
nybrian said:
The Harry Potter series is awesome.
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I also have read the Harry Potter series. I was one of those people who was waiting at 12:00 in the morning to get it, and had it read by the next morning. There, I admit it.

I really enjoyed the series.
 
Begaster said:
I Am Legend's a novella. Quick read. 😉

I haven't read any of Murakami's shorts. So far, I've only read Norwegian Wood and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I have Windup Bird Chronicles sitting by my bed. Will read that after I finish Breakfast of Champions and House of God.
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Just finished House of God. Excellent book. Makes ya go "huh." quite often.
 
You guys are crazy! Love in the time of cholera is a great book and Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a legend!
 
jad2121 said:
I have tried to read 100 years of solitude like 10 times. I always get through 80 pages and then get so bored I cant keep going. It always makes me feel so stupid because on the back of the book it has these unbelievable reviews: "This book should be required reading for the whole human race". I'm in the human race, and i'd rather stare at a wall than finish one more page of that book.

Also I suggest "Fear of Flying" by Erica Jong. Its really really good.
Click to expand...

How reassuring, I thought it only happened to me. I'm sure Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an exquisite writer, but somehow I just can't get engrossed in his books. Okay okay, to be fair, I only gave him like 2 minutes...so it is partially my fault. :laugh:

Drogba, which did you find to be more engrossing: Love in the Time of Cholera or 100 Years of Solitude? Maybe I'll actually get somewhere this time.

And does anyone else get bogged down by Russian novels? They're just too lengthy!
 
TexanGirl said:
How reassuring, I thought it only happened to me. I'm sure Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an exquisite writer, but somehow I just can't get engrossed in his books. Okay okay, to be fair, I only gave him like 2 minutes...so it is partially my fault. :laugh:

Drogba, which did you find to be more engrossing: Love in the Time of Cholera or 100 Years of Solitude? Maybe I'll actually get somewhere this time.
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He has some shorter books and many short stories if you need something to warm up to him. Try Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Only about 100 pages.
100 Years of Solitude is like the bible of Latin American literature. Very dense and I don't think I would ahve enjoyed it as much if I hadn't read it in a class with a great teacher and intelligent students. Love I read on my own and enjoyed very much. If you need inspiration to read it just check out the beautiful quote in my sig.

And does anyone else get bogged down by Russian novels? They're just too lengthy!
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Again there is a lot of good short stories by the big russians. Try Death of Ivan Illyich by Tolstoy or Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky (the latter is longer and denser).
 
theunremarkable said:
I'm currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Very hard to put it down to study for finals. 😳
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Have you read The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini? I read that book and I really enjoy it. I'll go and get A Thousand Splendid Suns tomorrow.

To the OP, I recommend Memories of my Melancholy ****** by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's a short read and very fun.
 
Drogba said:
He has some shorter books and many short stories if you need something to warm up to him. Try Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Only about 100 pages.
100 Years of Solitude is like the bible of Latin American literature. Very dense and I don't think I would ahve enjoyed it as much if I hadn't read it in a class with a great teacher and intelligent students. Love I read on my own and enjoyed very much. If you need inspiration to read it just check out the beautiful quote in my sig.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did notice your sig. 👍

Again there is a lot of good short stories by the big russians. Try Death of Ivan Illyich by Tolstoy or Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky (the latter is longer and denser).
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Notes from the Underground is one of my faves. I didn't get bogged down by it at all. I've been trying to read the Brothers Karamazov though for about 2 years now (I stop intermittently and pick it up again) and I just don't seem to be making progress. I don't know why. I do find it interesting, and I do like Dostoyevsky, but the length is unbearable. I like to be able to finish novels in a few short sittings, but it's impossible with this book. Once I pause for a break (these breaks can last anywhere from an hour to several months), I have to reread what I previously read because there's just an overwhelming amount of detail about the characters and the plot and it's hard to keep track of that. Gee, this is supposed to be recreational reading and it already sounds stressful, doesn't it? :laugh:
 
forgive me if someone has already mentioned these books...

A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines
House of God
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

If you want to get away from medicine, the other two books are fantastic and easy reads. i think they may even be part of oprahs book club, whatever that is worth, haha
 
Drogba said:
He has some shorter books and many short stories if you need something to warm up to him. Try Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Only about 100 pages.
100 Years of Solitude is like the bible of Latin American literature. Very dense and I don't think I would ahve enjoyed it as much if I hadn't read it in a class with a great teacher and intelligent students. Love I read on my own and enjoyed very much. If you need inspiration to read it just check out the beautiful quote in my sig.



Again there is a lot of good short stories by the big russians. Try Death of Ivan Illyich by Tolstoy or Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky (the latter is longer and denser).
Click to expand...
That is one of my favorite books. Along with Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
 
TexanGirl said:
Yeah, I did notice your sig. 👍



Notes from the Underground is one of my faves. I didn't get bogged down by it at all. I've been trying to read the Brothers Karamazov though for about 2 years now (I stop intermittently and pick it up again) and I just don't seem to be making progress. I don't know why. I do find it interesting, and I do like Dostoyevsky, but the length is unbearable. I like to be able to finish novels in a few short sittings, but it's impossible with this book. Once I pause for a break (these breaks can last anywhere from an hour to several months), I have to reread what I previously read because there's just an overwhelming amount of detail about the characters and the plot and it's hard to keep track of that. Gee, this is supposed to be recreational reading and it already sounds stressful, doesn't it? :laugh:
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"Dostoevsky is the only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn"
-Friedrich Nietzsche

I didn't know people read FD for recreation :laugh:
 
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