Any awesome books lately?

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TheBee

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Just wondering if anyone has read any awesome books lately. I just finished Atul Gawande's Better, which is a sequel to his first book Complications. I found both books to be completely fascinating looks into the life of a surgeon. Many of the attitudes, lessons, limitations, and insights apply to all areas of medicine, and perhaps podiatric surgery in particular.
 
Having nothing to do with anything medicine...I just finished reading "Baumgartner's Bombay" by Anita Desai.

Post-Colonial reading...but insanely enriching. 👍
 
just read "the kite runner" 👍
 
just finished "bitter sweets" by roopa farooqi...really like the ending
 
I wish it had been a bit more exciting...but it was still good. It's a story that revolves around 3 generations of a Bangladeshi family...and how deceptive they are in relationships...how children pretty much inherit the art of deceiving from their parents....What I enjoyed reading was how their culture changes over time/generations as they move out of Bangladesh/Pakistan to the UK
I was an easy read...read it all in 2 days!
 
meats said:
I wish it had been a bit more exciting...but it was still good. It's a story that revolves around 3 generations of a Bangladeshi family...and how deceptive they are in relationships...how children pretty much inherit the art of deceiving from their parents....What I enjoyed reading was how their culture changes over time/generations as they move out of Bangladesh/Pakistan to the UK
I was an easy read...read it all in 2 days!
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Sounds...like my favourite genre...Post-Colonial...I think I'll pick it up at the library!
 
TheBee said:
Just wondering if anyone has read any awesome books lately. I just finished Atul Gawande's Better, which is a sequel to his first book Complications. I found both books to be completely fascinating looks into the life of a surgeon. Many of the attitudes, lessons, limitations, and insights apply to all areas of medicine, and perhaps podiatric surgery in particular.
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"The curious incident of the Dog in the Night". I saw this weird looking book in a Taiwan book shop my 4th year of School, I started reading it and eventually bought it when I came back to Chicago. I just finally finished it. Great book.
 
TheBee said:
Just wondering if anyone has read any awesome books lately. I just finished Atul Gawande's Better, which is a sequel to his first book Complications. I found both books to be completely fascinating looks into the life of a surgeon. Many of the attitudes, lessons, limitations, and insights apply to all areas of medicine, and perhaps podiatric surgery in particular.
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I read the book and it is an awesome book. It really give you a different perspective on medicine.
 
Stafocker said:
"The curious incident of the Dog in the Night". I saw this weird looking book in a Taiwan book shop my 4th year of School, I started reading it and eventually bought it when I came back to Chicago. I just finally finished it. Great book.
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YES! Heard that was great as well!
 
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Also, I highly recommend "When the Air Hits Your Brain".
 
For those of you who apperciate the classics I would recommend James Joyce's collection of short stories "Dubliners" which unlike his other works is very readable and a great read.
 
iceman69 said:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.
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That's a really good one!!!!
A couple more that I would highly suggest...
Travels by Micheal Creighton and Stiff by Mary Roach...both are really good books! 👍
 
Netter Human Anatomy Atlas - Best children's picture book you'll ever read 👍 :laugh:
 
The last good book I just finished is "Nature Girl" by Carl Hiaasen. The book is a story about a nutso woman, but one of the characters has sold pre-fab orthotics. There's one section that gets into that and it's pretty funny. Just a light read with some silly stories.
 
Just wanted to add that I just finished "His Dark Materials" by Phillip Pullman. It's "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass" all rolled into one. FANTASTIC read. I could never say enough about this trilogy.
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
Just wanted to add that I just finished "His Dark Materials" by Phillip Pullman. It's "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass" all rolled into one. FANTASTIC read. I could never say enough about this trilogy.
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Yeah, I'm finishing up the "Amber Spyglass" right now and I'm having a hard time putting the book down before going to work.

I will be starting "Critical" next which is by Robin Cook. Always enjoy his medical thrillers.
 
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls... couldn't put it down.
And of course my fav's are Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

I'm looking for another page turner... 😀
 
SportPOD said:
Yeah, I'm finishing up the "Amber Spyglass" right now and I'm having a hard time putting the book down before going to work.

I will be starting "Critical" next which is by Robin Cook. Always enjoy his medical thrillers.
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SportPOD,

How do you like it? I'm going to marry that trilogy. I love it so.

I really liked the concept of Eve and temptation. I didn't know, as I was reading, how to add it into what I was reading, but I really liked the ending.

And I love Mrs. Coulter's role in the end...I think I'm going to reread it.
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
SportPOD,

How do you like it? I'm going to marry that trilogy. I love it so.

I really liked the concept of Eve and temptation. I didn't know, as I was reading, how to add it into what I was reading, but I really liked the ending.

And I love Mrs. Coulter's role in the end...I think I'm going to reread it.
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I am really enjoying it, just don't spoil the ending for me, since I'm about halfway through the last book. Yeah, I think the concept of Eve is interesting in how it's tied into all the worlds.👍
 
moodent said:
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls... couldn't put it down.
And of course my fav's are Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

I'm looking for another page turner... 😀
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If you're into thrillers, try any of Steve Berry's books, they are all page turners. Another good author of thrillers is Vince Flynn, I enjoyed all of his books so far.

A doctor turned author who is another good read, his name is F. Paul Wilson. He writes a series of novels with a central character called "Repairman Jack". Good read with interesting plots, start with the first and work your way to the latest.
 
I 😍Vince Flinn! I heard he is one of the writers for '24' too!
 
SkipeeB said:
I 😍Vince Flinn! I heard he is one of the writers for '24' too!
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Didn't know that he is a writer for "24", but makes sense why that series is doing so well.

If you like Flynn, then you will like Brad Thor (yes that's the name) another author who writes spy/action thrillers.
 
I too am a huge Vince Flynn fan!!
 
his dark materials is the best triology ever! It is so intricate and deep.

For you "curious incident of the dog in the night" people (great book btw) I just finished reading "Born on a Blue Day", written by Daniel Tammet bout his life as an autistic savant. What a window into anoter person's mind, esp. interesting because autistic persons often have trouble communicating and so we don't always get the chance to delve into their world.

And for you classics-lovers out there, Oliver Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest". Don't let its age fool you, this book is am easy read and is laugh-out-loud hilarious!
 
For the readers of "His Dark Materials," I have a question. I actually have loads, but I'll ask one.

What did you assume the relationship is between Balthamos and Baruch, the angels.

My governing thought is that the two are lovers. Yet, I can see how their relationship might be read as homosocial instead of homosexual. But, Pullman may just be using "him" to describe the two which really have no sex, however I'm thinking that sex is clearly defined because you have characters like Metatron a male and Xaphania a female angel.

I also sort of thought of them as being one and the same. Like one being the daemon of the other. Balthamos tells Will, "Of course I read his mind. Wherever he goes, my heart goes with him; we feel as one, though we are two." But as Will goes into the gulch where Lee Scoresby dies and he raids Mrs. Coulter's old campsite, Balthamos tells him that Baruch, "[...lived] four thousand years ago, more or less. I am much older." That would imply that they are very separate because the daemon cannot live without the human and visa versa.

Well, what do you guys think?
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
For the readers of "His Dark Materials," I have a question. I actually have loads, but I'll ask one.

What did you assume the relationship is between Balthamos and Baruch, the angels.

My governing thought is that the two are lovers. Yet, I can see how their relationship might be read as homosocial instead of homosexual. But, Pullman may just be using "him" to describe the two which really have no sex, however I'm thinking that sex is clearly defined because you have characters like Metatron a male and Xaphania a female angel.

I also sort of thought of them as being one and the same. Like one being the daemon of the other. Balthamos tells Will, "Of course I read his mind. Wherever he goes, my heart goes with him; we feel as one, though we are two." But as Will goes into the gulch where Lee Scoresby dies and he raids Mrs. Coulter's old campsite, Balthamos tells him that Baruch, "[...lived] four thousand years ago, more or less. I am much older." That would imply that they are very separate because the daemon cannot live without the human and visa versa.

Well, what do you guys think?
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Well, that does bring up another point. I think one of them was a female in human life and the other was a male (I have to check in the book). But when they became angels they were male. I definetely think that they are lovers in the truest sense, especially when Balthamos reacts the way he does over Baruch's death.
 
SportPOD,

Did you finish HDMs yet?

I'm curious about something in the end that I want to ask you...
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
SportPOD,

Did you finish HDMs yet?

I'm curious about something in the end that I want to ask you...
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No, no, I'm not getting the time to finish up the book. I'm at the part where Mrs Coulter was helped in escaping by Lord Asriel. Will and Lyra are with all the ghosts and are helping them escape from the land of the dead. Probably have another 150 pages to go.
 
Hey, my friend has released his first book. It's available for free at toddcedwards.com If you have the time check it out and give him feedback.
 
SportPOD said:
Ok, Ok <whew>, I'm finally finished with HDMs. What did you want to ask? What a great book by the way. 👍
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YAY! I love the book! I think I might have said this before, but it was a reason for me to wake up and be happy.

Anyway, I was very confused about how Father Gomez fits into the picture. Pullman seems to put a good deal of creative writing into him as a character, so I thought he would have a little more to do with the ending.

Maybe he was just a character placed in the story to allow Balthamos redemption. Now that I'm writing this, I think I would have left the story disgruntled if Balthamos had not done his sworn part to help Will and destroy the Authority. I don't know...what do you think?
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
YAY! I love the book! I think I might have said this before, but it was a reason for me to wake up and be happy.

Anyway, I was very confused about how Father Gomez fits into the picture. Pullman seems to put a good deal of creative writing into him as a character, so I thought he would have a little more to do with the ending.

Maybe he was just a character placed in the story to allow Balthamos redemption. Now that I'm writing this, I think I would have left the story disgruntled if Balthamos had not done his sworn part to help Will and destroy the Authority. I don't know...what do you think?
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Yeah, I think that was there to allow Balthamos fulfillment for his earlier shortcomings. I also think he (father gomez) was there to kind of keep the pace of the book going because he was after Lyra, so when I was reading I was waiting to see how they would confront each other.

It was interesting to see how the Lyra's parents sacrificed themselves for their estranged daughter. Pullman did a good job of tying up the loose ends.
 
SportPOD said:
Yeah, I think that was there to allow Balthamos fulfillment for his earlier shortcomings. I also think he (father gomez) was there to kind of keep the pace of the book going because he was after Lyra, so when I was reading I was waiting to see how they would confront each other.

It was interesting to see how the Lyra's parents sacrificed themselves for their estranged daughter. Pullman did a good job of tying up the loose ends.
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I found it more strange that Lord Asriel would sacrifice himself than Mrs. Coulter. Did you get the version with the Lantern Slides after every book? I thought it was interesting that Pullman wrote that Will went to medical school as an adult. Before I read that, I saw him in the vein of his father, an explorer. Especially after his mother telling him he had to take up his father's mantle...
 
TUSP0diatricM said:
I found it more strange that Lord Asriel would sacrifice himself than Mrs. Coulter. Did you get the version with the Lantern Slides after every book? I thought it was interesting that Pullman wrote that Will went to medical school as an adult. Before I read that, I saw him in the vein of his father, an explorer. Especially after his mother telling him he had to take up his father's mantle...
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Well, both of them (Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter) realized at the end that they could've been better parents if they could've been better spouses.

I didn't have those Lantern Slides in my book. I read each individual book. Hmm, guess I'll have to take a trip to the library. But his father was a shaman towards the end of his life, so going to medical school isn't too far from that. But I wonder how he performed with having those fingers missing.
 
"Managment of Naval Aviation Training Munitions Can be Improved."
Written by the GAO. It is self explanatory.
 
"How Doctors Think" by J. Groopman. He visited our school this past year too


I think I'm going to read it again.
 
The whole Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a great read. Although at times, they get to be a bit long. The Rise of American Medicine is an interesting read about how medicine in American has become what it is. It is a long and interesting read.
 
iceman69 said:
The whole Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a great read. Although at times, they get to be a bit long. The Rise of American Medicine is an interesting read about how medicine in American has become what it is. It is a long and interesting read.
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I'm on "The Drawing of the Three" right now. We've just shut the door on the naked crackhead Eddie and found some schizo girl. I'm really enjoying them so far.
 
The Drawing of the Three and Wastelands are the best of the books in the series I've read. I've only read up to book 5 of 7.
 
iceman69 said:
The Drawing of the Three and Wastelands are the best of the books in the series I've read. I've only read up to book 5 of 7.
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The guy in Borders told me that he likes #3 the most as well. I'll be there by Sunday. I'll tell you if I like it.
 
tea_tu said:
"How Doctors Think" by J. Groopman. He visited our school this past year too

I heard this was an excellent read too. It's next on my list. Right now I'm reading "On Call In Hell" by Richard Jadick about a Navy doc working in Iraq.
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I have just started reading "Take the Risk" by Dr. Ben Carson. I am really enjoying it so far, but I am only a few chapters in so I cannot attest to its entirety. I have read one of his books in the past and it turned out very well. He has done some amazing things in his career, and as a leading pediatric neurosurgeon he definitely has the credentials to write a book about risk!
 
GoldenGustie said:
I have just started reading "Take the Risk" by Dr. Ben Carson. I am really enjoying it so far, but I am only a few chapters in so I cannot attest to its entirety. I have read one of his books in the past and it turned out very well. He has done some amazing things in his career, and as a leading pediatric neurosurgeon he definitely has the credentials to write a book about risk!
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My mom just heard him speak recently.

He talked about risk taking and spoke about a different neurosurgeon who was asking what do you say to your 14th patient when the first 13 died?

No one has complained so far.:laugh:
 
krabmas said:
My mom just heard him speak recently.

He talked about risk taking and spoke about a different neurosurgeon who was asking what do you say to your 14th patient when the first 13 died?

No one has complained so far.:laugh:
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I would love to hear him talk. His first book was amazing (Gifted hands).
 
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