\"Atlas Shrugged\" is thought by many to be the greatest novel ever written. I would agree with those who think it is. If you have not read it, you should at least consider reading it.
Howard Roark, Laughed!
\"\"Atlas Shrugged\" is thought by many to be the greatest novel ever written\"
Only until their junior year in college, by which point they realize it\'s a little bit silly, in addition to being about 400 pages too long.
I thought Roark was the guy in the Fountainhead.
The books are fun reads, but I tend to agree with Mr. Kreider\'s assessment.
Also, I think the books can be more thoroughly understood if you know Rand\'s bio. By (potentially faulty) memory, she was a refugee from Stalin\'s USSR who came to America and was in the vehemently anti-Roosevelt crew that existed at the time. Also, she must have been pretty hot to have had such a strong influence on Alan Greenspan -- because it could not have been her writing. Again, by potentially faulty memory, I believe they dated.
You are correct about Roark. I wouldn\'t say \"Atlas Shrugged\" was fun reading, but then again, it is not for everybody.
I do not agree it is 400 pages too long. It was not long enough for me. When Dagny Taggert trades her diamond studded bracelet for Hank\'s wife\'s hunk of Reardon Steel bracelet, I decided if Dagny wouldn\'t marry me, I would have to find someone just like her.
That objectivism crap that Greenspan bought into is part of what caused the problems we have now.
Leamas
OK, correct.
\"Who is John Galt?\"
I am not being facetious, but this is a fascinating thread and I have not read
either novel. How come you guys never post about Racing?
As a voracious rereader (meaning I tend to read books I enjoy multiple times),
I look forward to further musings.
Glenn Beck
Same here, Richiebee. The only book I like that has so many pages is the baseball encyclopedia. But AS is a book that influenced a lot of 20th century people (according to one survey, second only to the bible in terms of books that have inspired Americans), some of whom went on to have quite a bit of influence in the world, even outside of racing. But, I\'ll take Elmore Leonard any day.
And as to SoCal\'s bit about Rand and Greenspan \"dating\", well, you are a gentleman, sir! There\'s a new bio of Rand out on the shelves (I don\'t really read books but I read book reviews) and it\'s as if she was named by Charles Dickens. She was, shall we say, randy.
magicnight Wrote:
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> Same here, Richiebee. The only book I like that
> has so many pages is the baseball encyclopedia.
> But AS is a book that influenced a lot of 20th
> century people (according to one survey, second
> only to the bible in terms of books that have
> inspired Americans), some of whom went on to have
> quite a bit of influence in the world, even
> outside of racing. But, I\'ll take Elmore Leonard
> any day.
>
> And as to SoCal\'s bit about Rand and Greenspan
> \"dating\", well, you are a gentleman, sir! There\'s
> a new bio of Rand out on the shelves (I don\'t
> really read books but I read book reviews) and
> it\'s as if she was named by Charles Dickens. She
> was, shall we say, randy.
Nice choice of words! Which come to think of it, was actually her choice of words. She was a Russian (maybe Russian-Jewish) dyevushka -- and the name \"Rand\" is another creation of hers.
Randiness is not an uncommon trait among Ruskii dyevushkii -- part of the charm of living over there. For 12 years, I lived walking distance to the main hippodrome (racetrack) in the center of Moscow and went to the races there maybe twice -- combination of the most terrible racing product on the globe and a lot better alternative forms of entertainment in the city (plus real racing was available in the internet).
Glad to hear it, Richiebee. You can contact me anytime. You should know that there are folks on this board who privately call you a \"f..g idiot\" if you do not agree with what they post regarding horseracing.
That is one reason some stop posting. \"Atlas Shrugged\" is not the easiest piece of literature to read but is a sensational story with memorable characters aside from Rand\'s political dogma. If you like that one, \"The Fountainhead\" is certainly a worthy second choice.
SoCalMan2 wrote:
\"She was a Russian (maybe Russian-Jewish) dyevushka -- and the name \'Rand\' is another creation of hers.
Randiness is not an uncommon trait among Ruskii dyevushkii -- part of the charm of living over there.\"
For the sake of balance, I think we should start a list of male writers from that period who had sex.
Norman Mailer: Pretty sure he had sex, possibly even on the night he stabbed one of his six wives with a pen knife.
Gore Vidal: Definitely had sex. Even had sex with Jack Kerouac (how cool is that?).
Jack Kerouac: Logic dictates that he had sex.
William F Buckley: Presumably had sex with his wife.
JD Salinger: Hard to track him down, but there are reliable reports that he had sex.
And now some older ones. Let\'s get some Russian men in here:
Tolstoy: Definitely had sex. And a whole bunch of times!
Dostoevsky: Lot of sex. Lot of guilt. Lot more sex.
Rich Curtis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SoCalMan2 wrote:
>
> \"She was a Russian (maybe Russian-Jewish)
> dyevushka -- and the name \'Rand\' is another
> creation of hers.
> Randiness is not an uncommon trait among Ruskii
> dyevushkii -- part of the charm of living over
> there.\"
>
> For the sake of balance, I think we should start a
> list of male writers from that period who had
> sex.
>
> Norman Mailer: Pretty sure he had sex, possibly
> even on the night he stabbed one of his six wives
> with a pen knife.
>
> Gore Vidal: Definitely had sex. Even had sex with
> Jack Kerouac (how cool is that?).
>
> Jack Kerouac: Logic dictates that he had sex.
>
> William F Buckley: Presumably had sex with his
> wife.
>
> JD Salinger: Hard to track him down, but there are
> reliable reports that he had sex.
>
> And now some older ones. Let\'s get some Russian
> men in here:
>
> Tolstoy: Definitely had sex. And a whole bunch of
> times!
>
> Dostoevsky: Lot of sex. Lot of guilt. Lot more
> sex.
Very fair point! Apologize for my skew.
Christopher Buckley. QED.
And where SoCal and Dostoevsky differ (among other areas, I\'d assume) is that the latter made it out to the Hippodrome once in a while.
Magicnight wrote:
\"Christopher Buckley. QED.\"
Short of quoting Hume on the nature of \"proof,\" the best I can give you is that Christopher Buckley endorsed Obama for president.
Dam side influence?
\"Dam side influence?\"
Ignore all that crap. Just look at the sheet numbers and then announce that you made a 10-billion-dollar show bet.
Kerouac\'s earliest writing assignments were to cover, as a 12 year old, an imaginary
New England racing circuit he created, complete with fictional tracks,horses,
jockeys and owners. He composed, by hand and in pencil, a short publication for his
own entertainment which resembled the Morning Telegraph, complete with articles and
charts. Kerouac describes some of these fantasy sports activities (he also was
heavily into fantasy baseball) in Dr.Sax.
The leading owner on Kerouac\'s fantasy circuit was Jack Lewis, a retired jockey.
Lewis\' top horse was Repulsion, who defeated all challengers yet somehow always
offered good value in the show pool.
About 2 years ago the main branch of the NY Public Library featured an exhibit of
all things Kerouac, including the elaborate notebooks in which Kerouac recorded
the activities of his fantasy racing circuit.
Also exhibited was the long scroll on which Kerouac composed On the Road. The
scroll was loaned to the exhibit by Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, who
had purchased it for 2.4 million. (Irsay is a huge rock and roll fan and amateur
musician; each year at Christmas he distributes a CD on which he sings and plays
guitar for his close friends. Apparently he one year paid Steven Stills $1M to play
\"back-up\" on the CD.)
But how great was Kerouac, who suggested that we all drop out, experiment with
drugs, and pursue freedom on the road, yet spent most of his own adulthood living
with his mother.
Richiebee... thanks for the color on Kerouac, particularly the horse racing connection. If you haven\'t already done so, you might enjoy visiting the Beat Museum if you\'re ever out in the Bay Area.
Rich Curtis.... thanks for balancing the scales on literary mating habits. The Fairness Doctrine probably doesn\'t mandate that you give equal time to transgender authors (progenitors of a genre known as TG fiction, not to be confused with our own version, or as we like to call it, \"past posting\").
For those interested in horse racing fiction, one of my favorites was William Murray, who wrote a series of mystery novels featuring a main character who was both a racing aficionado and a magician, hardly mutually exclusive pursuits. Most of the stories were set on the California racing circuit, and while not to be confused with great literature, they were entertaining reads, and Murray clearly knew his way around the race track and backstretch. He passed away a few years ago, and, sadly, I suspect most of his books are out of print.