Atlas Shrugged

[Nate The Great]

If you're wondering what type of literary stuff I actually do read, it tends to be more on the human emotion/connection/blah-blah-blah side. In particular Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorites. Not very original, I know.

I actually couldn't tell you half the authors I've read in the last 10 years. Phillip K. Dick has had some good stuff, but I can't remember which ones I really liked.

Thomas Wolfe is OK, but not very literary in my opinion.

I tend to be drawn to authors that REALLY get into the characters. I'm not particularly interested in philosophy in my fiction.

 

[dorian gray]

I read the first few pages of Atlas Shrugged and tried to stab my face off.

hahaha is that why you grew a beard?

 

[NAD]

hahaha is that why you grew a beard?

haha oh yeah, this is all about protection.

@Nate, yes The Satanic Verses would be an excellent read for you methinks. The character development is awesome.

 

[Jim LotFP]

Some people say its a bit dry

I'm quite sympathetic to objectivism but Ayn Rand sucks shit as a writer. We had to read Anthem in high school and it was the second worst thing we had to read. (Silas Marner was the first worst.)

This is a spoiler but what the hell:

Borrow the book from a library, read John Galt's speech, and you've pretty much got the whole point of the book in one chapter without a dreadfully long and boring story leading up to it.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

Dick: I can't seem to finish Vineland, you need to convince me to get Gravity's Rainbow anyhow.

Ummm... what is it about BEST BOOK EVAR!@#$ that makes it so tough?

Seriously, if you have testicles, give it a try. You may give up, but... eh, Chromatose will tell you how addicting it is once you figure out how to read it.

Supposedly Vineland is Pynchon's "big disappointment" book, everyone was wanting GR part 2.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Enter Reign In Acai.

 

[Crimson Velvet]

In particular Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorites. Not very original, I know.

Me too!

 

[Crimson Velvet]

CV: are you referring to the guy that came up with laissez-faire shitz?

I looked it up, and it was Jean-Baptiste Say.

 

[Chromatose]

Chromatose will tell you how addicting it is once you figure out how to read it.

yeah, figuring it out is one step, plus when part 2 kicks in it becomes less abstract (well at least for the bit I've gotten into part 2), more straightforward, OCTOPUS ATTACKKKKKKKKK


edit: yeah best book ever, it makes me laugh, it makes me cry, I worry for dear ol' slothrop

 

[Reign in Acai]

Best damn book ever written.

BWD...Suck me! I seriously have slept 1 fucking hour in the past 2 days so I will spare the details. But this book has had a profound impact on my being. And if in case you haven't noticed. I'm a paragon of virtue. Start with fountainhead first as it is alot easier to take in. Hell start with Anthem just as an appetizer as it is only 100 pages long and gives you a taste of the underlying themes that Rand is trying to convey. Swarmy liberals from cities built on the backs of tobacco picking slaves just can't appreciate a work of art of this magnitude. How you can not appreciate the story of an idealist who lives life by his own standards is beyond me.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

I still don't know who you're talking about, All Withi... I mean, Atlas Sh... I mean... you get it

 

[Reign in Acai]

Yes, I have read AS (and The Fountainhead and Anthem) and back when I was 16 I found her ideas charming. Now that I've learned to think, I realize that her books are just laughably bad. I actually re-read AS this year for a philosophy class and sat through 6 lectures where my teacher did nothing but trash the book. I can send some of those lecture notes if you want, they pretty much dismantle her in every way. We also had some woman professor from Texas talk about how awesome Rand is. She got pwned as well.

Send me these frivilous notes. I'm sure your professor is a humanitarian hippy who champions every cause there is but his own. The only true way to live life is selflessness. I'll live for no other man. You may feel strongly opposed to this, as you're a liberal who wants to see every dreg of society be on the same level of hardworking individuals that sculpt society. "Shit on the prime citizens, it's the second handers we must feed!" Fuck off and die!

Edit- Just kidding about the dying part. That may of been too harsh.

 

[Reign in Acai]

And one further thing. Any subject in life can be argued either "for or against". Just because your professor rambled on in an attempt to debunk Rand's philosophy does not mean that such a mode of thinking is an improper one. Obviously if he took the time to give 6 lectures purely on trashing a novel which you say is "so bad", this does nothing but help prove that her ideas are profound and "original" enough to be acknowledge. (As does you reading a 1000 page novel twice) I'm sure you consider Conservatism an absolute shitty political vision. But is it not one to look into further and make the judgement on his own? Even though you have probably saved him the time, as this forum is pretty homogenous in it's line of thinking and philosophical views. By you merely saying "it's trash, don't read her novels," you have taken the judgement out of the person's asking for the recommendation's hands. Hell I knew Farenheit 911 was going to be pure piss, but I still gave that fat shit an opportunity to prove me wrong. I wouldn't even dissuade a person from reading the Holy Quran. Who know's what he could personally get out of it? What falls on someones deaf ears, may be read loud and clear by another. But yes it is true, these novels aren't for nihilists, or capitalist hating humanitarians.

 

[Papa Josh]

One of the best books I have ever read to this day.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

I don't think, RiA, you realize that AS is the intellectual equivalent of watching Rugrats. She brings nothing new to the table, other than bad writing. That is why you see ALL these objectivists around, right? RIGHT?

No, my teacher was not a humanitarian hippy, he is a dude who has spent his life reading philosophy... many Greek texts, such as Aristophanes and some of the Socratic dialogues, have been translated by him and used in most universities in the USA.

No, I didn't hate the book because I'm a liberal. I hated it because it was poorly written and has an unrealistic, inanimate "philosophy."

Let me guess, you don't read much. But you read a 1,000 page book so you said: "Hey, since I read that whole thing, I guess I'll subscribe to it 100%."

I generally find that Rand-ites are worse than Christians when it comes to TOTAL FAITH in one book. A book full of STRAIGHT LINES and people who are NOT WEAK and NOT SICK and GOAL ORIENTED with ANGULAR JAWLINES and A GRAND DESTINY IN THE FIELD OF BUSINESS, men who have BLUE EYES and, when they desire sexual satisfaction, RAPE women.

I'm not going to type those notes now, nor will I consult them at the moment. I'm comfortable in my own INDIVIDUAL hatred of this shitty shitty book.

The only true way to live life is selflessness.

O RLY!

 

[Dick Sirloin]

You may feel strongly opposed to this, as you're a liberal who wants to see every dreg of society be on the same level of hardworking individuals that sculpt society.

Dredg rules

 

[J.]

Dark Tower series. yes my DT books are stuck together with my man spunk

 

[dorian gray]

mine too. i cant even get them open anymore. have to buy an entire new series.

 

[NAD]

Dredg rules

haha, this has to be the best doublepost ever.

 

[Nate The Great]

Dick gets worked up sometimes.