OT: Pre-Vet Bookworms

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Trilt said:
Wait, is my quick search through this thread right and nobody has recommended Wool??
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Trilt said:
First of the Silo Trilogy, was one of the first big successes of Amazon's self-publishing. High Howey. Original was free for kindles for a long time but they're all well worth the time/money to buy.
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Ah. Self publishing is so much more often a miss than a hit for me, probably why I haven't heard of it. But I'll have to look into it! Gotta work on getting my to read list up to 1000...
 
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@WildZoo, I need a Stephen King recommendation.

My brother (20, almost 21) has only just in the last six months or so gotten into reading. He loves Lovecraft and Poe, and the Locke Lamora books. He's read some of King's short stories but he's never read any of his novels. What would you recommend to start him off?
 
PrincessButterCup said:
@WildZoo, I need a Stephen King recommendation.

My brother (20, almost 21) has only just in the last six months or so gotten into reading. He loves Lovecraft and Poe, and the Locke Lamora books. He's read some of King's short stories but he's never read any of his novels. What would you recommend to start him off?
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I started with King's short stories too!
I would say The Shining is a good place to start. Could also go with The Stand (my fave, really the favorite of most SK fans it seems) or IT (which was my first King book).
 
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WildZoo said:
I started with King's short stories too!
I would say The Shining is a good place to start. Could also go with The Stand (my fave, really the favorite of most SK fans it seems) or IT (which was my first King book).
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Start with Misery and just really toss him in the deep end. :p

But yeah, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Cujo, Carrie, It would all be good ones to start with because there's kind of pop culture associated. I don't love It or Carrie tbh though.

Gerald's Game and Rose Madder are less popular ones that are also quite good.

ETA: also really like Firestarter.
 
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Trilt said:
Start with Misery and just really toss him in the deep end. :p

But yeah, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Cujo, Carrie, It would all be good ones to start with because there's kind of pop culture associated. I don't love It or Carrie tbh though.

Gerald's Game and Rose Madder are less popular ones that are also quite good.
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Ehehe. Misery is so so good.

I enjoyed IT but I usually don't recommend it as a first read because it's so damn weird.

OH! @PrincessButterCup if at some point he wants to read The Dark Tower series I would lean towards starting with The Stand, Salem's Lot, and IT. There are a lot of King's books that are related to TDT but those are more heavily than others and having read them before reading the series makes it that much more enjoyable.
 
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I'm reading The Night Circus currently (slowly... whenever I actually have time) and it is beautifully written! Good book for anyone who is a Harry Potter fan :)
 
PrincessButterCup said:
Or any other Stephen King fans. :)
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Misery is my favorite I think. Or you could get him The Shining and Dr. Sleep. Dr. Sleep was really good but it's much better reading the Shining first
 
Emmy Senpai said:
I'm reading The Night Circus currently (slowly... whenever I actually have time) and it is beautifully written! Good book for anyone who is a Harry Potter fan :)
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I LOVE that book!
 
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Different strokes......I didn't like The Night Circus (I resented the time I wasted on it), and while I loved King's early books, I thought Misery was self-indulgent tripe.

My King recommendations would be The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, Dolores Claiborne, and 11-22-63. I also like some of the books written as Richard Bachman, such as The Long Walk and Thinner.
 
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CalliopeDVM said:
Different strokes......I didn't like The Night Circus (I resented the time I wasted on it), and while I loved King's early books, I thought Misery was self-indulgent tripe.

My King recommendations would be The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, Dolores Claiborne, and 11-22-63. I also like some of the books written as Richard Bachman, such as The Long Walk and Thinner.
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If you thought Annie was actually a stand-in for a rabid King fan, I could see that, but she's not :p

I agree on 11-22-63! Did you see the Hulu show based on it?

Of the Bachman books I've only read Blaze and The Long Walk, would only recommend the latter of those two.
 
WildZoo said:
I started with King's short stories too!
I would say The Shining is a good place to start. Could also go with The Stand (my fave, really the favorite of most SK fans it seems) or IT (which was my first King book).
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The Shining and IT are great, I hated The Stand but it's because I think King really needs an editor sometimes.

Salem's Lot is great, I also suggest a lot of his earlier work. Don't let him read Tommyknockers, it's awful lol.

If he's not as in to horror stuff, The Green Mile is great. Don't remember if that was a standalone book or part of a short story collection though (I want to say standalone?)
 
vetmedhead said:
The Shining and IT are great, I hated The Stand but it's because I think King really needs an editor sometimes.

Salem's Lot is great, I also suggest a lot of his earlier work. Don't let him read Tommyknockers, it's awful lol.

If he's not as in to horror stuff, The Green Mile is great. Don't remember if that was a standalone book or part of a short story collection though (I want to say standalone?)
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The Green Mile is a standalone :) it was originally published in serial form I think and later collected into novel form.
 
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Trilt said:
Wait, is my quick search through this thread right and nobody has recommended Wool??
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LOVED that book. Very evocative and creative. I heard the other stories he's published aren't as great though?

I must say, I find Stephen King just a tad too long-winded. And I say that even as an avid Tolkien fan. I read about 3/4 of Under the Dome many years ago and finally realized I didn't really care anymore about the story. A couple months ago I started reading IT, I just know it's going to take me another year at least to get through all 1300+ pages.
 
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Doktor Timo said:
LOVED that book. Very evocative and creative. I heard the other stories he's published aren't as great though?

I must say, I find Stephen King just a tad too long-winded. And I say that even as an avid Tolkien fan. I read about 3/4 of Under the Dome many years ago and finally realized I didn't really care anymore about the story. A couple months ago I started reading IT, I just know it's going to take me another year at least to get through all 1300+ pages.
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This is exactly why I usually recommend Stephen King's early work or his short stories to people. I think nowadays his editors are really afraid to edit his stuff down to something readable and a lot of his stuff has upwards of 100 pages that I think could easily be cut out without affecting the stories much.
 
Meh. I like the extra stuff, gets me more into the world of the story :)

Editors don't really do much top level revision for anyone anymore, even the no names. If you haven't done your own editing, your stuff just won't get picked up. But for King they don't have to worry about that, because they know his stuff will sell.
 
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Doktor Timo said:
LOVED that book. Very evocative and creative. I heard the other stories he's published aren't as great though?

I must say, I find Stephen King just a tad too long-winded. And I say that even as an avid Tolkien fan. I read about 3/4 of Under the Dome many years ago and finally realized I didn't really care anymore about the story. A couple months ago I started reading IT, I just know it's going to take me another year at least to get through all 1300+ pages.
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I love ridiculously long complicated crap. Don't know if anyone has read any Harry Turtledove, but he has these absurdly long, convoluted alternative history stories that are often told from 3-8ish perspectives. If you've ever wondered, "What would have happened if aliens had invaded halfway through WWII?" - or are now intrigued - you should pick up some of his stuff.
 
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I started reading Horns by Joe Hill and I keep getting deja vu, like I've read it before. I saw the movie but I swear I've read some of these scenes before. I have no record of ever reading it though. So confused.
 
kaydubs said:
Rereading all of HP for some preholiday relaxation :love:
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I did this over thanksgiving. I've read them no less than 50 times and they are better every single time I read them..
 
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I'm just stopping to say I keep reading this as hookworms. And that about sums up my affinity for recreational reading, too. Carry on, dorks. <3
 
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kaydubs said:
Rereading all of HP for some preholiday relaxation :love:
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mmmdreamerz said:
I did this over thanksgiving. I've read them no less than 50 times and they are better every single time I read them..
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I've been wanting to do this, the last time I did a re-read was before the last movie came out. Maybe over the summer, I'm a much slower reader than I used to be so there's no way I could finish them all by the end of winter break.
 
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Best book by far this year was Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
 
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PrincessButterCup said:
@WildZoo, I need a Stephen King recommendation.

My brother (20, almost 21) has only just in the last six months or so gotten into reading. He loves Lovecraft and Poe, and the Locke Lamora books. He's read some of King's short stories but he's never read any of his novels. What would you recommend to start him off?
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My brother just got me under the dome for christmas and I just started reading it and it's really good!
 
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Another great book, is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
 
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WildZoo said:
I started reading Horns by Joe Hill and I keep getting deja vu, like I've read it before. I saw the movie but I swear I've read some of these scenes before. I have no record of ever reading it though. So confused.
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I did this with the Bachman/Steven King books, and Dean Koontz and whatever his pen name was, but the absolute worst was:

Dammit. I gotta go find my version. The book I was sure it was has no pseudonyms for the author listed on Google. I will dig through my books when I get home and figure it out.

I remember reading on this in college when it happened. I was introduced to a new series and as I read the first book, I started getting pissed! I knew this story and these characters and the name on the front of the books that were going around was not it!

I pulled out my copy and dug into that author and after an hour found reference that this was a pen name for ______. He originally wrote my book as a stand alone and later wrote the series that made him big.

I am not seeing any reference to that book having ever been written under a pen name... so before I get my feels all tied up on the wrong name... let me go look.
 
There's a fun fairy tale series that starts with "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making." I'm reading the third book right now. They'll probably give you sunshiney happiness feels if you grew up reading fairy tales at all. :)
 
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Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is turning out to be a much better read than I was anticipating. I'll have to check out more of Christopher Moore's stuff once I finish this one.
 
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vetmedhead said:
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is turning out to be a much better read than I was anticipating. I'll have to check out more of Christopher Moore's stuff once I finish this one.
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I loved that book!

ETA: I read it after having an atheist and a Christian recommend it at the same time. Lol
 
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I've been reading a ton of what I call "fluff" books, which are 150 page romance novels that are quick, easy reads. And also 50 cents at my local library which is a plus. Very destressing, even when the story lines are completely implausible and mostly about cowboys saving damsels in distress :p
 
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Anyone have any good fantasy books to read?
 
Ashgirl said:
Anyone have any good fantasy books to read?
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Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles are some of the best fantasy books I've ever read, although Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, Alloy of Law, and new series The Stormlight Archive all are great books as well. The Rothfuss series is also being planned as a television series/movie to be directed by Lin Manuel Miranda too, which is awesome! Also, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a great stand-alone book!
 
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Ashgirl said:
Anyone have any good fantasy books to read?
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We brought up "The Last Unicorn" in another thread... which than makes me think of "The Black Unicorn" which is one of the books in the series that starts with "Magic Kingdom for Sale!" (If you like funny at all) in which case, then I think anything Terry Pratchett especially the Discworld books, and then the Piers Anthony books about Xanth...
 
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The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Jane Austen 's books, Because of Winn-Dixie, Lemony Snicket's books. . . I could go on forever. . .

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Spillover, by David Quammen, is a great book which addresses the real threat of zoonoses. He discusses the work of many veterinarians.
 
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gonnabavet said:
Spillover, by David Quammen, is a great book which addresses the real threat of zoonoses. He discusses the work of many veterinarians.
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What are zoonoses?

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cellowars said:
What are zoonoses?

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Zoonotic diseases, like SARS, which cross from animals to humans. Ebola is almost certainly a zoonotic disease, as was HIV originally. In fact, about 70% of human diseases originated in animals.
 
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gonnabavet said:
Zoonotic diseases, like SARS, which cross from animals to humans. Ebola is almost certainly a zoonotic disease, as was HIV originally. In fact, about 70% of human diseases originated in animals.
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Ah, okay. Thanks! I've never heard that term.

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cellowars said:
What are zoonoses?

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Any disease that can be transmitted from animals to people. That includes things like leptospirosis, rabies, disease caused by roundworms (canine/feline/racoon), ringworm, brucellosis, "cat scratch fever", toxoplasmosis.

The term "reverse zoonosis" is used for a disease that is transmitted from people to animals. These are much rarer, but do occur (MRSA, influenza).
 
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