What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[vanguard96]

Just finished Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises - his proposals on what classical liberalism should be - very good for 1927 I think - aside from having the League of Nations control the newly independent African colonies!!

Now just over halfway through Atlas Shrugged - Rearden has signed the gift certificate giving his Rearden Metal up to the common good and has met Ragnar Danneskjold in the forest. Not my first Rand but I understand why it is called her 'magnum opus' compared to the straightforward novella Anthem or the semi-autobiographical We the Living. It is a larger than life version of the absurdities from The Fountainhead which are in a mostly realistic late 20's and early 30's in America. Atlas Shrugged has a much better female lead in Dagny Taggart than Dominique Francon.

In that people talk now of deliberately breaking up Apple or Amazon and giving patents to the public like the old AT&T in the 1950's we can understand where Rand was coming from with her imagination of the world of Atlas Shrugged. While the characters are hit or miss as an ultra-capitalist individualist myself this is a book I am wondering why I never read it till now.

I definitely am interested in We the Living and the Capitalism collection.

One interesting thing is Rand is a devoted follower of Hugo and Dostoevsky though neither's politics are anything like Rand's. I have seen Les Miserables several times and read the Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, I am definitely interested in reading Dostoevsky - any recommendations - Brothers Karamazov first or Crime & Punishment? She cites his plotting as an inspiration.

[vanguard96]

Finishing up Atlas Shrugged for the first time through.

Next is a choice - Gulag Archipelago or Brothers Karamazov

[vanguard96]

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Both sound like great goals; neither have I read.

Yes, I've been partisan for a good time recently. Stepping back from time to time is good.

[vanguard96]

Since I am going to follow along in the weekly discussion of Atlas Shrugged on FB live with two guys from the Ayn Rand Institute - to better understand an interesting but overdone book - I am for background reading We the Living now - the first of the 4 fiction novels she wrote - and the last one for me to get to. This was a substitute for Gulag Archipelago which I will get to soon. I suspect I will finish We the Living after the weekly chapter by chapter discussions for Atlas Shrugged start next month given my upcoming travel schedule.

I re-watched Exorcist III recently - and was interested in the book behind it - Legion and how it differs from the well-done 1990 movie. So far I am just over half-way through the book - a lot of the elements from the movie are there- and George C Scott really gives the Detective Kinderman in Blatty's novel/screenplay life. Blatty is very well-cultured and has a lot of cool references to literature and philosophy/psychiatry/religion sprinkled throughout the book along with the mystery/detective story aspects.

I am still strongly interested in Brothers Karamazov as well - that is still on the list after I finish the Blatty, Rand and soon to get Solzhenitsyn books unless something else comes up in the interim.