Next up on the reading pile
I’m finally getting around to reading this classic. But why now, you might ask, would I begin a 1069-page book that has been around since 1957?
As I was sitting at the allergist’s office waiting for the reaction that never comes, I noticed a fellow patient who had made it almost to the end of this book. So I ventured to ask her if it was worth it and she gave me an honest positive review.
That was enough to send me to the public library on the way home, only to find that all 20 copies were either checked out or on hold. It immediately piqued my curiosity as to why a 50-year-old book would be so popular. Then I remembered those summer reading lists and realized those 20 copies were probably languishing on some rising seniors’ bedroom floors.
The first time I remember hearing about Atlas Shrugged was when my best friend FL and I were in 9th grade. Her older brother, who was probably the smartest kid to ever grow up in our town, had recommended it to her. I wonder if she finished it back then or later or not at all.
Back home Amazon gave me a choice between new with free shipping or used with $4 shipping that both ended up at around $8. So I now have a thick new paperback just ready and waiting.
Have you read it? Was it worth all those pages and all that tiny print? I’ll let you know what I think 1069 pages from now.
posted by Barbara at 2:47 PM
11 Comments:
I don't even read long blog posts.
I read about 500 pages of it, but I forget why I stopped.
LA -- I have perfected the art of skimming long blog posts.
Merle -- You probably quit because you figured if you weren't hooked in 500 pages, it just wasn't going to happen.
It's a hefty tome but I'm glad I read it, if only for the fact that I can say I read it. I can speak knowledgeably about an the book, author, time and movement. I enjoyed about 90 percent of the book. The other 10 percent? John Galt, preaching to the choir.
For me, it was The Fountainhead that made a bigger impression. What an overwhelming challenge to be authentic, to be heroic.
I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead some years ago and liked them at the time. However, Rand spouts the same coldhearted "I got mine, you get your own" philosophy practiced by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and which has plunged us into the worst depression since a previous practitioner, Herbert Hoover, did the same thing. It has since been pointed out to me that this selfish philosophy is precisely the attitude of children of about 4 years of age, when it comes to their toys and other items within their realm.
I will be interested to know what you think of the book. My sister thought it one of the better books she'd read but I found Rand to be rough going.
This book shook me to the bone. I've done two posts about it.
Be sure to get the large print. Many people will tell you it changed their life, or confirmed a lot of things for them. Rand has a relentless style of writing, very intense that I enjoyed. A lot of people hate the book. i love it and have read it several times through.
Heres a post about the book
http://srevestories.blogspot.com/search?q=ayn
And here is one that is the first page of one of her chapters. you even left a comment. I didn't credit it.
http://srevestories.blogspot.com/2008/10/twentieth-century-motor-company.html
I read it a few months back. I got it from my on-line book company Papersine.com. I laughed at the print I thought there was NO way that I could read such teeny teeny print. Well,I did and I'm glad I did. It makes one think allot about the way government works.
I recommended it to my husband (who is an economoist) He went out and bought the large print edition.
It looks like the bible sitting on our coffee table. :-)
Gewels -- I can imagine the large print version of this book does look rather imposing as a coffee table book!
I read it about... five years ago... good, gripping plot if you can make it through to the good parts ::Laugh::
It's size really makes an argument for a Kindle, not that your SO really needs an argument for... I know he's jonesing for one!
For summer reading, I often pick and author and read everything that person has written. The summer I did Jane Austen, it changed my language ::laugh:::. I started reading all the Jack Londons, but that took a year of constant reading. He's written some pretty esoteric stuff.
With all the reading that I do for my school now, I pretty much stick to teenage lit ::laugh::: I am reading Scott Westerfeld's series...
::laugh::: it's a relieve from books like:
Oppenheimer, T. (2004). The flickering mind: The false promise of technology in the classroom and how learning can be saved, New York: Random House, Inc..
Post a Comment
<< Home