Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Wow. Where do I even begin with this one?

This book is an 1168 page masterpiece. The story is intriguing, the writing is beautiful, and every page is stuffed with enlightened thinking. This book is not your average work of fiction, however. If you go into it with the expectation that it is, chances are that you will be severely disappointed. The actual story that Rand tells could easily be told in 350 pages. Easily...with pages to spare for fluffy writing. That means that about 800 pages of this book are chock-full of philosophy. I think that this must be expected in order to enjoy this book for what it is. I did not know this going into it and for about the first hundred pages or so I completely hated it. I could not understand why Rand kept rambling about the morality of industrialists when she could have been getting on with the plot! As soon as I figured out that this was not just a story however, I came to love what I was reading.

This was a book that really, truly changed me and I believe that it will stick with me for a very long time. Rand uses this book as an opportunity to disprove the philosophers of the past and present her own opinion of what is moral and right. I recognized the philosophies of John Stuart Mills, Kant and Aristotle in various parts of the book but I'm sure that someone who knew more about philosophy would recognize many more. It was fascinating to see her opinion of what was right and moral develop throughout the book.

In addition to her brilliant thinking, the story itself is pretty wonderful. The characters are complex and compelling. The plot is interesting and there were definitely moments when I simply couldn't put it down because I wanted to know what would happen next. Also, Rand is a magnificent writer. Listen to this:

"The houses stood like men in unpressed suits, who had lost the desire to stand straight: the cornices were like sagging shoulders, the crooked porch steps like torn hem lines, the broken windows like patches, mended with clapboard...A shell of concrete, which had been a schoolhouse, stood on the outskirts; it looked like a skull with the empty sockets of glassless windows, with a few strands of hair still clinging to it, in the shape of broken wires."

Isn't that just amazing!? I mean, come on! That is some pretty fantastic imagery. The book is just full of passages like this. It's really incredible. If you do decide to read it, pay special attention to the way that Rand gives mechanical things human qualities and vice versa. It's really interesting.

As I tried to define the ultimate message of this book, I struggled a bit. I'm not sure that there is just one...So here are a few of the big ones:
- It is good and moral to be productive.
- Need does not entitle anyone to anything.
- Thinking is what makes us human.
- Man is made to seek his own happiness.

Here is the definition of morality that I will try to live by because of this book: I will work hard to produce and create. I will only give to others by my own free will and choice. I will only give to those whom I believe will appreciate what I give them and will use my resources/labor for good.

There. What do you think? Is that good?

Favorite Quotes:

"Who is John Galt?"

(Part 1, Chapter 1, Page 1)

She was twelve years old when she told Eddie Willers that she would run the railroad when they grew up. She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To hell with that, she thought---and never worried about it again.
- Dagny Taggart
(Part 1, Chapter 3, Page 51)
I love this quote!!! From now on, whenever I start to worry about what others might think about me I'm just going to say "to hell with that!"and do what I want!

"I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression."
(Part 1, Chapter 3, Page 61)
I hate cigarettes, but love this imagery!

"There might be some sort of justification for the savage societies in which a man had to expect that enemies could murder him at any moment and had to defend himself as best he could. But there can be no justification for a society in which a man is expected to manufacture the weapons for his own murderers.”
— Hank Rearden
(Part 2, Chapter 1, Page 365)

"Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent."
- Francisco d'Aconia
(Part 2, Chapter 2, Page 411)

“...the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.”
— Francisco d'Anconia
(Part 2, Chapter 2, Page 412)

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
— Inscription
(Part 3, Chapter 1, Page 731)

“Through all the centuries of the worship of the mindless, whatever stagnation humanity chose to endure, whatever brutality to practice–it was only by the grace of the men who perceived that wheat must have water in order to grow, that stones laid in a curve will form an arch, that two and two make four, that love is not served by torture and life is not fed by destruction–only by the grace of those men did the rest of them learn to experience moments when they caught the spark of being human.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 1, Page 738)

“...the United States. This country was the only country in history born, not of chance and blind tribal warfare, but as a rational product of man's mind.”
— Francisco d'Anconia
(Part 3, Chapter 2, Page 770)

“Whether it's a symphony or a coal mine, all work is an act of creating and comes from the same source: from an inviolate capacity to see through one's own eyes–which means: the capacity to perform a rational identification–which means: the capacity to see, to connect and to make what had not been seen, connected and made before.”
— Richard Halley
(Part 3, Chapter 2, Page 782)

“No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 2, Page 798)

“From the first catch-phrases flung at a child to the last, it is like a series of shocks to freeze his motor, to undercut the power of his consciousness. 'Don't ask so many questions, children should be seen and not heard!'–'Who are you to think? It's so, because I say so!'–'Don't argue, obey!'–'Don't try to understand, believe!'–'Don't rebel, adjust!–'Don't stand out, belong!'–'Don't struggle, compromise!'–'Your heart is more important than your mind!'–'Who are you to know? Your parents know best!'–'Who are you to know? Society knows best!'–'Who are you to know? The bureaucrats know best!'–'Who are you to object? All values are relative!'–'Who are you to want to escape a thug's bullet? That's only a personal prejudice!'”
— Hank Rearden
(Part 3, Chapter 6, Page 994)

“An animal is equipped for sustaining its life; its senses provide it with an automatic code of action, an automatic knowledge of what is good for it or evil... Man has no automatic code of survival. His particular distinction from all other living species is the necessity to act in the face of alternatives by means of volitional choice.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 7, Page 1,013)

“By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man–every man–is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 7, Page 1,014)

“The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 7, Page 1,054)

“...the source of man's rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A–and Man is Man.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 7, Page 1,061)
A is A. I love that.

“The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence... The only proper functions of a government are: the police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law.”
— John Galt
(Part 3, Chapter 7, Page 1,062)
I have been saying this about national government for years.

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders—what would you tell him to do?” " To Shrug."

“Robin Hood. He was the man who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Well, I’m the man who robs from the poor and gives to the rich – or, to be exact, the man who robs the thieving poor and gives back to the productive rich.”
“This is the horror which Robin Hood immortalized as an ideal of righteousness. It is said that he fought against the looting rulers and returned the loot to those who had been robbed, but that is not the meaning of the legend which has survived. He is remembered, not as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor. He is held to be the first man who assumed a halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became the symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don’t have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does….Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive.”
– Ragnar Danneskjold

(Part 2, Chapter 7, Page 577)

This is my VERY FAVORITE quote. I love, love, love it.

Favorite Reading Spot

Where do you do most of your reading?
Your favorite spot?

(And yes, I understand that these might not be the same thing–your favorite spot could be the beach, but you do most of your reading at home . . . in which case, tell me about both!)


It's kind of ridiculous, but I do almost all of my reading while I'm blow drying my hair in the morning. My hair is completely uncooperative. I've got a full-on mane of fine, frizzy hair. Consequently, I have to blow dry it, round brush it, straighten it, and plead with it every morning to get it to look half decent. The only way that I've found to make this bearable is to read while I do it. It takes a little bit longer, but it's worth it. Every morning I take my blow dryer into the spare bedroom and that is where I read! (I would do it in our bathroom, but it wake's up Spenc.)

Where would I like to do most of my reading? On the beach. In one of those comfy looking beach chairs. While drinking one of those fruity drinks with the tiny umbrellas in them. That, however, only happens about once every five years or so...so I'll have to stick to my spare bedroom.

P.S. I am still reading, so don't think I've turned into a lazy book-blogger. I'm reading Atlas Shrugged which is over 1100 pages long, so I think I deserve a break. I'm over 700 pages into it and I expect to post my review sometime next week.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been deathly ill and unable to lift my fingers to type...Okay, not really but I have had a cold and I'm a complete wimp when it comes to being sick. Anyways, on to the review....

Drowning Ruth was….interesting. I definitely didn’t love it, but it was still worth reading. Let’s look at my “good book” qualifications:
1. Interesting Plot? Definitely. The plot was probably the best thing about this book. The author starts the book with a piece of an event but doesn’t reveal what truly happened until the last page. The desire to know what really happened kept me turning the pages until the very, very end.

2. Did it touch me? Am I a different person because I read it? Ehhh…not so much. This book didn’t really strike a chord with me. I mean, it dealt with serious issues, but not in a way that touched my heart.

3. Was the writing beautiful? Again, not so much. It wasn’t bad writing, by any means. However there were very few places where I stopped to “Hmm, what a lovely phrase”…or…"That is an amazing metaphor!” Yeah, there wasn’t much of that.

4. Were the characters easy to relate to? Were they believable? The author did a great job with the characters. Besides the plot, they were what made me keep reading. Each character was so complex and real. Also, the relationships between the characters were very interesting. Because of the characters alone, I would say that this book is worth reading.

Ultimately, I think that this book would be a great one to rent from the library and take on a vacation. It’s not one that I would want to buy or recommend to my literature-nerd friends, but it was an attention-grabbing book that would be perfect for a long plane ride or day on the beach.

Book Meme

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

2. What are you reading right now?
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
- A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff
- Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Two of the three books I have on hold have baked goods in their titles. What does that say about me?

4. Bad book habit?
I have many, unfortunately. My worst would probably be reading in the bathtub. I’m ashamed to admit that most of my books show some sort of water damage.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
- Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
- Fanciful Quilts to Paper Piece by Wendy Vosters
- Hazard by Jo Beverley
- Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage on CD
- Little Shop of Horrors sheet music
- The Tony Awards Songbook sheet music
- Teddy Bear Redwork by Jan Rapacz

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Absolutely not

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Almost always one at a time. When I read, I like to completely immerse myself in the world created by the author. You can’t really do that when you read more than one book at once.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I think my reading habits have definitely changed. I’ve started analyzing the books that I read much more deeply. I also seem to be more purposeful in watching for beautiful language, instead of just skimming over it.

9. Can you read on the bus?
Yes. But not in a car.

10. Favorite place to read?
As previously mentioned, the bathtub. Although I also love reading outside, especially in the spring.

11. What is your policy on book lending?
I only lend a book to a person if I know that I would be comfortable asking them to give it back.

12. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Yes. :( That’s another of my bad-book- habits.

13. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Absolutely. But only in pencil.

14. What is your favorite language to read in?
Um...English. Although I did read a few chapters of Harry Potter in French, once!

15. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
Beautiful writing, believable characters, and a worthwhile plot. Also, I will never recommend a book that I felt was dirty or racy in some way.

16. Favorite genre?
Trade fiction.

17. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Biographies. I wish I had more patience with history books. I would love to learn more about the historical figures that I admire, but I cannot stand the dry writing style often found in biographies.

18. Have you ever read a self-help book?
From start to finish, no. I’ve read bits and pieces of several, though.

19. Favorite cookbook?
Anything from America’s Test Kitchen. I have never made a recipe from one of their cookbooks that has turned out badly.

20. Favorite reading snack?
I wish I could say carrots or rice cakes, but I must be honest and admit that my favorite reading snack is a warm chocolate chip cookie with glass of cold milk. Mmm.

21. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Although I sometimes feel bad about doing it, it must be done. If a book is not good, I’m certainly not going to tell people that it is!

22. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

23. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

24. Favorite Poet?
Probably William Wordsworth, although I also LOVE William Blake.

25. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Usually like 10. I’m a book hog.

26. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I usually return unread books, unfortunately. My policy is that if the f-word is used more than once, I immediately stop reading. Consequently, I usually have one book in every batch from the library that I can’t get past the first chapter in. It’s unfortunate that authors use such vulgar language so often. I really don’t see how they think such crude language improves their work!!

27. Favorite fictional character?
GAH, worst question ever! There are so many. How about top 5 female characters? (In no particular order.)
1. Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre. An amazing woman with strong moral fiber.
2. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejdice. I think that every woman admires Elizabeth Bennet because of her strength and her wisdom. She’s not an airhead like her sisters, and women like to think that intelligence counts for more than beauty! Elizabeth Bennet proves that it does. Also, she stands up for herself despite that fact that she is a woman. There are not many female characters from that time period who showed as much spine as Austen gave to Elizabeth. That is why I love her.
3. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. She kicks butt. The end.
4. Polly Milton from An Old Fashioned Girl. I think that the reason I love Polly so much is because I like to think that I’m a little bit like her.
5. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. C’mon. She’s a nerd with a wand!!!!!

30. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Basically anything except for a classic. It’s just too difficult to focus on classics when you’re on vacation.

31. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
TV. I simply cannot read when Dwight Schrute or Shawn Spencer is blaring in the background.

32. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
BBC's Pride and Prejudice. SOOOOO GOOOOOODDDD.

33. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It’s my favorite book in the series, and they completely butchered it. Terrible. Just terrible.

34. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Never. Why would you do that??

35. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Theoretically, yes. In practice...Not so much.

36. Name a book that made you angry.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I won’t say why it made me angry in case anyone hasn’t read it yet, but for those who have read it...you know why. Grr.

This book meme is from the Booking Through Thursday blog

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise describes how the life of a beefeater living at the Tower of London is turned upside down when Her Royal Highness decides to restore the royal menagerie. The story is full of amusing mayhem as the old guards attempt to cope with the influx of royal animals, however it also deals with the deeper issues of grief and loss.

The characters of the book are downright quirky. There were moments when I laughed out loud at their absurdity. I often found myself chuckling throughout the day as I recalled their adventures. However, the beauty of this book was that it was immensely amusing without being complete fluff. In my opinion, a book can only be “good’ if it changes you in some way. A “good” book touches you and helps you to grow into a better person. Despite the silly, nonsensical setting and occurrences, this book met this requirement through its very real relationships.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s light, witty, quaint, and heartfelt. I can see myself reading it again and again.

Here is the “Cast of Characters” listed at the beginning of the book:

- Balthazar Jones: Beefeater, overseer of the Tower's royal menagerie, father to Milo, and collector of rain.

- Hebe Jones: Balthazar's wife who works at London Underground's Lost Property Office

- Mrs. Cook: Balthazar and Hebe's 180 + year-old tortoise - the oldest tortoise in the world

- Arthur Catnip: London Underground ticket inspector of limited height

- Rev. Septimus Drew: Tower chaplain who writes forbidden prose and pines for one of the residents

- Ruby Dore: Barmaid at the Tower's Rack & Ruin pub who has a secret

- Valerie Jennings: Hebe's eccentric colleague who falls for someone of limited height

- The Ravenmaster: Philandering Beefeater who looks after the Tower's ravens

- Sir Walter Raleigh: Former Tower prisoner and its most troublesome ghost

- Chief Yeoman Warder: Suspicious head Beefeater

- Oswin Fielding: Equerry to The Queen

- Samuel Crapper: Lost Property Office's most frequent customer

- Yeoman Gaoler: Deputy to the Chief Yeoman Warder who is terrorized by ghostly poetry at night

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book explores the relationship between African American maids and their white employers in the 1960s. Although this is not a topic that I would normally be drawn to, I had heard so many good things about the book that I simply had to check it out. Everyone I talked to said that the appeal of The Help was the voice that Stockett gave to each of her characters. They were completely right. Stockett masterfully uses language to paint a picture of each character in such a vivid way that it feels like they are telling you their story in person. She brings the flavor of the South through the language without making it difficult to read or understand, as sometimes happens when authors try to use a specific vernacular.

My colleague (and reading buddy), Cindy, summed it up when I told that I had finished the book. She said, "Don't you miss them?" The characters become your very real friends and the ending (though satisfying) leaves you yearning for more of Minnie, of Aibileen, and even of mean Miss Hilly.

Favorite Quotes:
- You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

- All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.

- Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?

- I used to believe in em (lines). I don't anymore. They in our heads. Lines between black and white ain't there neither. Some folks just made those up, long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies too

- That's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going.

- Frying chicken always makes me feel a little better about life.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

What an amazing, amazing, amazing book. Instant top-ten book, for sure. It's a futuristic book describing a society in which books are illegal. The story follows the journey of a "fireman" whose career consists of burning illegal books.

There are two things that make this book so fantastic. First, the writing. Bradbury has a unique writing style that is brief and yet incredibly descriptive at the same time. I felt like I was getting the detail of Dickens in every profound, precise sentence. Bradbury truly understands how to manipulate the English language. Second, there is so much truth in this book. I found myself nodding in assent throughout the book as statements rang true in my mind.

Rather than attempting to review the entire masterpiece, I thought I would simply share some of my favorite quotes:

1. "Many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet ... was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: 'now at least you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbors.' Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more."
- Ummm...Internet Sparknotes?

2. "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against."

3. "People want to be happy, isn't that right? Haven't you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren't they? Don't we keep them moving, don't we give them fun? That's all we live for, isn't it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these."

4. "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war."

5. "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

- This quote definitely hit home for me. I watched Jeopardy every single day until I was twelve and I still try to catch it when I can. (They changed the stupid time...pff). For many years my dream job was to be the next Alex Trebek. I know an enormous amount of absolutely trivial information...that I will never ever, ever use, and yet I am remarkably proud of my knowledge. *Sigh...* I am one of those useless stuffed people.

6. "Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge."
- What profound imagery! It reminds me of Yeats' poem "The Second Coming." Look it up.

7. "Everyone must leave something in the room or left behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."
- Every time I read this quote I get warm and fuzzies.

8. "Some day the load we're carrying with us may help someone. But even when we had the books on hand, a long time ago, we didn't use what we got out of them. We went right on insulting the dead. We went right on spitting in the graves of all the poor ones who died before us. We're going to meet a lot of lonely people in the next week and the next month and the next year. And when they ask us what we're doing, you can say, We're remembering. That's where we'll win out in the long run. And some day we'll remember so much that we'll build the biggest goddamn steam-shovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time and shove war in and cover it up. Come on now, we're going to go build a mirror-factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them."
- And this is why we learn.