Atlas Shrugged: A Personal Goal Met

I mean it, the damn thing is thousands of pages long. But everyone says Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is phenomenal, and many people who know me are shocked that I haven't read it. So when I got a Nook, I decided to finally read the book I was scared was going to throw out my back from carrying it. I'll give you this book snob friends, it was as good as promised. Can I just say one thing to anyone who has read it? Am I supposed to finish it and go "But what about Eddie?" Of all the slew of characters, only Eddie's fate concerned me, but then I've always been a sucker for the hardworking best friend character. I mean, the characters in this book are so completely black and white, the heroes, the thinkers, the villains those who would take the thinkers work. But Eddie was just a hardworking guy who kept the railroad together while Dagny went around trying to save the world.

OKAY! I know this book has far reaching influence, and the issues raised in it are relevant today. I even understand the philosophy behind the novel, and Ayn Rands Objectivism. But books are about characters for me mostly, and I loved her main characters. The titans of industry go on strike to show the 'looters' that they can't keep stealing peoples work and giving it to others. Dagny Taggart is one of the few women in the book, and she is really Rand's main character, a dedicated smart hard working woman who is the last of the titans to go on strike. She is surrounded by men who want something for nothing, and who take what they can't make themselves.

You know what? I read a 1200 paged book in less than two weeks, and despite some mighty big words and complicated ideas, I understood and enjoyed it. And now I can read crap for a while.