Wow. Rand is a friggin' genius. I don't know if her theories are new to me, or if she's simply rewording something I've believed most of my adult life. I love the character of Dagny Taggart. The strongest female main character I have ever seen. Ever. I just want to be like her. It's amazing. Really powerful novel.
That being said, it was like 1000 pages with really little print. Anyone who thinks this is a weekend read better tackle Rand's Anthem first.
***
Sharpe's Eagle was another great read, though of a much different style. If you like historical war fiction, I really recommend this book. There is something really appealing about this character, and I think I appriciated Richard Sharpe even more since I was reading Atlas Shrugged at the same time. Sharpe and Dagny have little in common, but in Sharpe's Eagle you have this someone with no money, no family, and uses only his wits, ambition, and courage to survive. On top of that, he's annoyed by the Spanish, doesn't like the French, and is not found of lawyers. Holy friggin' cow. He's like a male 19th century version of me. Although I'm probably shorter too.
Next in the series is Sharpe's Gold. I'll probably pick that up tomorrow. My roomies have also shown an interest in seeing the Masterpeice Theater version of Sharpe's Eagle, so I may rent it for the weekend. Too bad there's no way to make a movie out of Atlas Shrugged. The person who has the rights to the book wont let anyone edit the speeches for a movie version...so there's no way it's going to be made. Bummer.
"You're either lying or stupid." "I'm stupid! I'm stupid!" Megatron and Starscream
