OT: Pre-Vet Bookworms

[SkiOtter]

I'll definitely be neglecting several responsibilities to marathon it when it is released

I think I saw somewhere it's supposed to be Friday?

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[WildZoo]

I think I saw somewhere it's supposed to be Friday?

Yeah I think you're right. Friday is my night off from studying so that works at least

 

[Jebb]

Trying to bring this thread alive again... So I decided to quit my summer job (due to personal reasons) therefore I will have more free time than I expected. Anyways, please give me some book recommendations. I am open to a lot of ideas. I am just finishing Crime and Punishment but I just read Dune before that so obviously I'm not super specific... any suggestions?

 

[Equisportmed]

Gene, When Breath Becomes Air, Spillover

 

[Jebb]

Trying to bring this thread alive again... So I decided to quit my summer job (due to personal reasons) therefore I will have more free time than I expected. Anyways, please give me some book recommendations. I am open to a lot of idea. I am just finishing Crime and Punishment but I just read Dune before that so obviously I'm not super specific... any suggestions?

Gene, When Breath Becomes Air, Spillover

Thanks for the suggestions! Those last two sound interesting

 

[Doctor-S]

Trying to bring this thread alive again... So I decided to quit my summer job (due to personal reasons) therefore I will have more free time than I expected. Anyways, please give me some book recommendations. I am open to a lot of ideas. I am just finishing Crime and Punishment but I just read Dune before that so obviously I'm not super specific... any suggestions?

@bjeh I don't know what types of books you enjoy reading. So, I'll suggest:

1. "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series of books by Alexander McCall Smith (for fun and lighthearted reading).
2. "Born Free," "Living Free," and "Forever Free" by Joy Adamson (based on a true story about a lioness in Africa).

 

[Jebb]

@bjeh I don't know what types of books you enjoy reading. So, I'll suggest:

1. "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series of books by Alexander McCall Smith (for fun and lighthearted reading).
2. "Born Free," "Living Free," and "Forever Free" by Joy Adamson (based on a true story about a lioness in Africa).

Thank you for the suggestions! I love to get a big list of books and go from there. (Honestly I love the Russian authors so those are my favs but I still love other authors too ).

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Thank you for the suggestions! I love to get a big list of books and go from there. (Honestly I love the Russian authors so those are my favs but I still love other authors too ).

In addition to the ones I've already mentioned:

The Water Knife (Paolo Bacigalupi)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Austen, Grahame-Smith) -- this is fun if you didn't love the original Pride and Prejudice, but if you think that was a true classic, you'll probably not like it.
The Dark Adapted Eye (Barbara Vine)
The Pale Blue Eye (Louis Bayard)

 

[Jebb]

In addition to the ones I've already mentioned:

The Water Knife (Paolo Bacigalupi)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Austen, Grahame-Smith) -- this is fun if you didn't love the original Pride and Prejudice, but if you think that was a true classic, you'll probably not like it.
The Dark Adapted Eye (Barbara Vine)
The Pale Blue Eye (Louis Bayard)

thank you! I will look more into those ( except the zombie one).

 

[WildZoo]

Trying to bring this thread alive again... So I decided to quit my summer job (due to personal reasons) therefore I will have more free time than I expected. Anyways, please give me some book recommendations. I am open to a lot of ideas. I am just finishing Crime and Punishment but I just read Dune before that so obviously I'm not super specific... any suggestions?

This is a list I helped put together a little while ago, in no particular order...and the first 25 are my own personal recommendations

***Unofficial List***

1. The Stand - Stephen King
2. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
3. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
6. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
7. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
8. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
9. Maus - Art Spiegelman
10. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
11. The Night in Question - Tobias Wolff
12. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel
13. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
14. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
15. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
16. Battle Royale - Koushun Takami
17. White Noise - Don DeLillo
18. Dracula - Bram Stoker
19. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
20. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
21. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
22. 1984 - George Orwell
23. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
24. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
25. The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
26. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
27. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
28. The Bible
29. Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
30. Hamlet- Shakespeare
31. Paradise Lost- John Milton
32. A Confederacy of Dunces- John Kennedy Toole
33. Animal Farm- George Orwell
34. Flowers for Algernon- Daniel Keyes
35. The Brothers Karamazov- Fyodor Dostoevsky
36. Main Street- Sinclair Lewis
37. Ulysses- James Joyce
38. Catch 22- James Heller
39. In Search of Lost Time- Marcel Proust
40. Middlemarch- George Eliot
41. The Divine Comedy- Dante
42. Heart of Darkness- Joseph Conrad
    
43. Slaughterhouse five - Kurt Vonnegut
44. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
    
45. Candide - Voltaire
    
46. The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
47. Color Purple - Alice Walker
48. Crucible - Arthur Miller
49. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
    
50. Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
51. Helmet for my Pillow - Robert Leckie
52. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
53. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
54. Lolita - Nabokov
55. Don Quixote - Miguel Cervantes
    
56. Cosmos - Carl Sagan
    
57. The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
    
58. Technological Slavery - Ted Kaczynski
    
59. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
    
60. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
    
61. Lord of the Flies - William Goulding
    
62. War of Worlds - H.G. Wells
    
63. The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
64. The Trial - Kafka
65. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
66. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
67. The Stranger - Albert Camus
68. Metamorphoses - Ovid
69. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
70. Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
71. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
72. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
73. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
74. Art of War - Sun Tzu
75. Jane Erye - Charlotte Bronte
    
76. Freakonomics - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubiner
77. One Flew Over the ****oo's Nest - Ken Kesey
78. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
    
79. Metamorphosis - Kafka
80. The Prince - Machiavelli
    
81. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
    
82. War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy
    
83. Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
    
84. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
85. The Giver - Lois Lowry
86. House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski
    
87. The Complete Tales & Poems - Edgar Allan Poe
88. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
    
89. The Odyssey - Homer
90. The Iliad - Homer
91. Native Son - Richard Wright
92. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks
93. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
94. Gone With the Wind -Margaret Mitchell
    
95. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
    
96. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
97. Walden - H. D. Thoreau
98. Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
99. Dune - Frank Herbert
100. Light in August - William Faulker

 

[Jebb]

This is a list I helped put together a little while ago, in no particular order...and the first 25 are my own personal recommendations

Thank you! I've read a fair amount of that list, but honestly I'm always a little bummed out when someone recommends Clockwork Orange (I hated that f***ing nonsense). Anyways I loved a lot those (Faulkner is awesome).

 

[WildZoo]

honestly I'm always a little bummed out when someone recommends Clockwork Orange (I hated that f***ing nonsense)

I love me some Anthony Burgess man...

 

[Jebb]

I love me some Anthony Burgess man...

haha I know and I've talk to a lot of people who love him. To each their own. That's why I love literature, you can't be "wrong".

 

[WildZoo]

haha I know and I've talk to a lot of people who love him. To each their own. That's why I love literature, you can't be "wrong".

De gustibus non est disputandum

 

[Jebb]

De gustibus non est disputandum

indeed

 

[Gwenevre]

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is a book I keep coming back to every few years. I feel a re-read of that coming soon.

 

[Glammyre]

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is amazing. Religious/fantasy humor.

 

[killerleaf]

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is amazing. Religious/fantasy humor.

no, it is beyond awesome. it is humorous, and punny, and sacrilegious, and deep all at the same time!!! I re-read it on a regular basis.

 

[killerleaf]

also, my copy of "memoirs of a geisha" is about falling apart!

 

[killerleaf]

Also, not sure if anyone has read Wen Spencer...her Elfhome series, or the Ukiah Oregon series. Both are excellent. Also, "A Brother's Price". a kind of twist, stand alone. but kinda makes me wish she would write a couple more!

 

[cdo96]

Wow I actually have free time now! So it's time to read a lot. Anybody read anything interesting lately?

 

[WildZoo]

Wow I actually have free time now! So it's time to read a lot. Anybody read anything interesting lately?

Always. Any genre preferences?

 

[cdo96]

Always. Any genre preferences?

Hmmm I'm looking to spruce it up. Fiction though.

To be honest I don't remember the last book I read. Probably Ths Great Gatsby. My poor copy of Gatsby has been opened and read too many times, the binding is basically gone. I have two books that are my go to, and I need to move away from them haha

 

[WildZoo]

Hmmm I'm looking to spruce it up. Fiction though.

To be honest I don't remember the last book I read. Probably Ths Great Gatsby. My poor copy of Gatsby has been opened and read too many times, the binding is basically gone. I have two books that are my go to, and I need to move away from them haha

Alright, a few of my favorites from a couple different genres then:
The Kingkiller Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss (caution: the third book does not yet have a publication date. We've been waiting for...a while.)
The Stand and The Dark Tower series - Stephen King
Daemon - Daniel Suarez
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Night in Question - Tobias Wolff (favorite short story collection)
And if you're looking for something really outside the box...House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

 

[vetmedhead]

Alright, a few of my favorites from a couple different genres then:
The Kingkiller Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss (caution: the third book does not yet have a publication date. We've been waiting for...a while.)
The Stand and The Dark Tower series - Stephen King
Daemon - Daniel Suarez
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Night in Question - Tobias Wolff (favorite short story collection)
And if you're looking for something really outside the box...House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

House of Leaves might be a bit too scary for cdo's taste though

 

[WildZoo]

House of Leaves might be a bit too scary for cdo's taste though

Shhh you weren't supposed to tell her!

 

[Coopah]

Hmmm I'm looking to spruce it up. Fiction though.

To be honest I don't remember the last book I read. Probably Ths Great Gatsby. My poor copy of Gatsby has been opened and read too many times, the binding is basically gone. I have two books that are my go to, and I need to move away from them haha

A totally awesome series I completely love is the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Crazy funny and awesome all action and adventure in a post apocalyptic Atlanta GA, when magic returns to the world.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Hmmm I'm looking to spruce it up. Fiction though.

To be honest I don't remember the last book I read. Probably Ths Great Gatsby. My poor copy of Gatsby has been opened and read too many times, the binding is basically gone. I have two books that are my go to, and I need to move away from them haha

OK then, fiction of various types:

Tana French's Dublin police novels, especially In The Woods, Broken Harbour, and The Likeness
Adrian McKinty's Northern Irish noir novels, especially the Sean Duffy series
Post apocalyptic: Alas, Babylon (Pat Frank), and The Girl With All The Gifts (M.R. Carey)
Dystopic Future but not post apocalyptic: The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi
Sci-Fi with a bit of steampunk and Lovecraft: 14 by Peter Kines
General Fiction: Where All The Light Tends To Go (David Joy), Defending Jacob (William Landay), and A Dark-Adapted Eye (Barbara Vine)

 

[vet-in-progress]

OK then, fiction of various types:

Tana French's Dublin police novels, especially In The Woods, Broken Harbour, and The Likeness
Adrian McKinty's Northern Irish noir novels, especially the Sean Duffy series
Post apocalyptic: Alas, Babylon (Pat Frank), and The Girl With All The Gifts (M.R. Carey)
Dystopic Future but not post apocalyptic: The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi
Sci-Fi with a bit of steampunk and Lovecraft: 14 by Peter Kines
General Fiction: Where All The Light Tends To Go (David Joy), Defending Jacob (William Landay), and A Dark-Adapted Eye (Barbara Vine)

Loved The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi! -- though I was disappointed in The Wind Up Girl, it seemed to follow the exact same formula as The Water Knife

I highly recommend:
Too like the lightning, by Ada Palmer
The Last One, by Alexandra Oliva
Ready Player One + Armada by Ernest Cline -- similar themes but I still loved them
The Unwind Dystology, by Neal Schusterman -- it's a young adult series but it is by far the best one I have ever read and is incredibly well written
Red Rising Trilogy, by Peirce Brown
Station Eleven, by Emillie St. John Mendell
Nova, by Margret Fortune

I'm currently reading Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel and loving it!

 

[PrincessButterCup]

Megan Whalen Turner's 5th book came out yesterday, so it's a great time to recommend her series. The Thief is the first book. It has a historical setting but some fantasy elements, and it's one of my favorite books/series ever.

I also love Shannon Hale's Bayern series (which starts with The Goose Girl) if you like fairy tale stories.

The Thursday Next books are really fun - they're by Jasper Fforde. The Eyre Affair is the first novel.

 

[Momokeen]

Hmmm I'm looking to spruce it up. Fiction though.

To be honest I don't remember the last book I read. Probably Ths Great Gatsby. My poor copy of Gatsby has been opened and read too many times, the binding is basically gone. I have two books that are my go to, and I need to move away from them haha

Some of theses are just excellent books by excellent writers and others are just really enjoyable easy read series' to take your mind off of life (mostly why I read now haha)

The Earthsea Cycle - Ursula K Le Guin
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Covenant Series - Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Claire
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series - Laini Taylor (really good)
The Watchers Trilogy - S.J. West (she has lots of other trilogies/series' in this universe so it's fun to get into)

And if you like Star Wars at all - Star Wars: Lost Stars is a really excellent book. Don't be fooled by the "Romeo and Juliet in space" description in the summary

 

[WildZoo]

Loved The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi! -- though I was disappointed in The Wind Up Girl, it seemed to follow the exact same formula as The Water Knife

I highly recommend:
Too like the lightning, by Ada Palmer
The Last One, by Alexandra Oliva
Ready Player One + Armada by Ernest Cline -- similar themes but I still loved them
The Unwind Dystology, by Neal Schusterman -- it's a young adult series but it is by far the best one I have ever read and is incredibly well written
Red Rising Trilogy, by Peirce Brown
Station Eleven, by Emillie St. John Mendell
Nova, by Margret Fortune

I'm currently reading Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel and loving it!

Oh yeah, second Ready Player One. The audiobook is great, by the way. Also second Unwind though I just realized I never finished the trilogy!

 

[WildZoo]

Some of theses are just excellent books by excellent writers and others are just really enjoyable easy read series' to take your mind off of life (mostly why I read now haha)

The Earthsea Cycle - Ursula K Le Guin
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Covenant Series - Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Claire
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series - Laini Taylor (really good)
The Watchers Trilogy - S.J. West (she has lots of other trilogies/series' in this universe so it's fun to get into)

All of these are either on my to read list or are things I enjoyed

 

[vet-in-progress]

Oh yeah, second Ready Player One. The audiobook is great, by the way. Also second Unwind though I just realized I never finished the trilogy!

There's actually 5 books in the series now! Well 4 main books and a 5th book made up of small shorts stories that take place in the universe, so if you liked it you are in luck!

 

[CalliopeDVM]

I feel like I'm the only person who didn't like Ready Player One......Ah well - you can't please all the people all the time. But I do agree with your opinion of The Windup Girl; it was OK, but not up to the expectations set by The Water Knife.

 

[WildZoo]

I read The Windup Girl and liked it, but haven't gotten around to reading The Water Knife yet Surprised I don't own it actually, I remember it had a cool cover, and that tends to get an impulse buy from me...

 

[Gwenevre]

Some of theses are just excellent books by excellent writers and others are just really enjoyable easy read series' to take your mind off of life (mostly why I read now haha)

The Earthsea Cycle - Ursula K Le Guin
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Covenant Series - Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Claire
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series - Laini Taylor (really good)
The Watchers Trilogy - S.J. West (she has lots of other trilogies/series' in this universe so it's fun to get into)

And if you like Star Wars at all - Star Wars: Lost Stars is a really excellent book. Don't be fooled by the "Romeo and Juliet in space" description in the summary

Okay so I need to get on a Star Wars soapbox, because Lost Stars wasn't that great. HOWEVER, Claudia Grey also wrote Bloodlines, which is my favorite Star Wars new canon book. The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig is also really good (the first one is dry because it was rushed but the second and third
ones are awesoooooome)

 

[Momokeen]

Okay so I need to get on a Star Wars soapbox, because Lost Stars wasn't that great. HOWEVER, Claudia Grey also wrote Bloodlines, which is my favorite Star Wars new canon book. The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig is also really good (the first one is dry because it was rushed but the second and third
ones are awesoooooome)

I just started reading Bloodlines and it's really good. It's funny I heard a lot of Star Wars fans liked Lost Stars much more than Aftermath, but I'll definitely add those to my read list . I personally liked how Lost Stars gave you a different perspective of the original trilogy. And you really get a different feel for the Empire which I enjoyed. But it was honestly the first canon book I've read so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about

 

[Gwenevre]

I just started reading Bloodlines and it's really good. It's funny I heard a lot of Star Wars fans liked Lost Stars much more than Aftermath, but I'll definitely add those to my read list . I personally liked how Lost Stars gave you a different perspective of the original trilogy. And you really get a different feel for the Empire which I enjoyed. But it was honestly the first canon book I've read so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about

Don't get me wrong, I liked Lost Stars, it's a good book. But there are better ones IMO.

My top three new canon books are:
Bloodlines by Claudia Grey
Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig
Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne

 

[Trilt]

Surprised I don't own it actually, I remember it had a cool cover, and that tends to get an impulse buy from me.

I once bought two fiction books on impulse just browsing a cheap book store. Think one was fantasy, one sci fi. Read them and was like, huh, what are the chances both would have female protagonists with really fluid sexuality? (not something that was a big point of the books or mentioned in descriptions at all).

Investigated both the authors a little. Two different women who were married to each other, and used the same designer for the covers. Ridiculous example of judging a book on its cover.

 

[Jebb]

So I have finally been reading through the Dark Tower series from King (almost done with with the third book). Anyways, have been having annoying nightmares, and I've noticed he is one of the very few authors who has given me bad dreams (I have read a lot of his books and this happens a lot). So question is: what book have really creeped you guys out/given you bad dreams?? I love creepy books, but I think King is the only author that has really given me bad dreams. Maybe just the way the writes his characters? I'm not sure what it is but it sticks with me.

 

[WildZoo]

So I have finally been reading through the Dark Tower series from King (almost done with with the third book). Anyways, have been having annoying nightmares, and I've noticed he is one of the very few authors who has given me bad dreams (I have read a lot of his books and this happens a lot). So question is: what book have really creeped you guys out/given you bad dreams?? I love creepy books, but I think King is the only author that has really given me bad dreams. Maybe just the way the writes his characters? I'm not sure what it is but it sticks with me.

Only book that ever, as far as I know, gave me bad dreams (well, one bad dream) was his book, Cell. Not sure why that one in particular, I've also read a ton of his stuff.

 

[Jebb]

Only book that ever, as far as I know, gave me bad dreams (well, one bad dream) was his book, Cell. Not sure why that one in particular, I've also read a ton of his stuff.

I haven't read Cell yet. I think It was the first book to bother me (one character/representation in particular but I don't want to ruin it for future readers). King annoys me in a lot of ways but there's something about his writing style. I've read other spooky novels and short stories but they affect me differently

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

There was a night when I fell asleep reading It and listening to Lateralus. I woke up to the screaming at the end of the album and had to set both aside for a few days.

I did the same with House of Leaves right after, except with HoL, I couldn't let it out of my sight until I read through twice.

 

[killerleaf]

Most of Mr. King's books give me nightmares. and day mares. and I am not going out on the porch at night mares. They taper off about a month after I finish a book. But then they just pop up every so often, random scenes that scare the c*** out of me.

 

[vetmedhead]

This is a really interesting discussion. I don't think I've ever had a nightmare as a result of a book.

 

[killerleaf]

I am probably kinda weird. When I am reading, it is like I am "seeing" what is happening in my head. So, while my brain does a lot of editing out of blood and guts, it still does not do well for sheer terror. If that makes sense....

 

[WildZoo]

I haven't read Cell yet. I think It was the first book to bother me (one character/representation in particular but I don't want to ruin it for future readers). King annoys me in a lot of ways but there's something about his writing style. I've read other spooky novels and short stories but they affect me differently

He's my favorite, despite his tendency to be bad at writing endings. It's his characters that get me, every time.

 

[Doktor Timo]

I read the first two Dark Tower books, then realized there was no way I would finish before the movie came out so I went back to reading It. And then lost steam with that book as well. So I probably won't be seeing either of his new movies when they come out in a couple months.

 

[Jebb]

I read the first two Dark Tower books, then realized there was no way I would finish before the movie came out so I went back to reading It. And then lost steam with that book as well. So I probably won't be seeing either of his new movies when they come out in a couple months.

Yeah I didn't enjoy the first two books but it gets way better after those. I'm on the last book right now and I'm glad I kept reading them.