Summer Reading

Earlier this summer, I was going to try and help my Dad's wife with a story she wrote a few years back. It is a love story set in Wyoming, around a family of ranchers. She wanted help embellishing the characters. I thought I would turn to a wonderful western epic for inspiration, so I pulled out "Lonesome Dove" and re-read it.

Man, I had forgotten what a monster this novel is. Beautiful, beautiful stuff! I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the cattle drive with Augustus and Call. If you have never read this book, I encourage you to pick it up.

Presently, I am knee-deep in a piece of literature that continues to be controversial and timely. I don't know why I never read any Ayn Rand (pronounced "Ine"- like "mine") before. Maybe because her writing style is so...dense? Intimidating?

Well, what with all that is going on in this country, both economically and politically, and since Ron and I saw the summer release of the independently produced movie of the first part of this novel, we picked up "Atlas Shrugged".

Dude, this is a chilling and mesmerizing cautionary tale that I think deserves to be read and pondered. At over 1200 pages, I'll be working on this until Christmas (I'm a slow reader because I have to move my lips as I read to sound out the big words). But, at 300+ pages into it, my head is spinning. It's just awesome that a novel written in the 1950's can feel so current and fresh.

I've mentioned this book to many of my liberal friends. They are AGHAST that I would waste my time on such crap. I'm stunned that they don't see the value in this work. I think it is remarkable (hence, I'm remarking on it. See how that works?).