book club

So from time to time I actually do read an occasional book. Although I would have to say over half of what I read is non-fiction, I do enjoy a good novel from time to time. Unfortunately, it has been over a year (since Christmas 2008) that I have read a book cover to cover. So I have decided that I am going to read a book.

As I said, I enjoy non-fiction books. The subject matter that these books come in are in two basic categories: economics/philosophy and golf. However, I really want to read a fictional novel that seems to be a least somewhat related to these two categories. As you may have guessed, this combination does not tend to lead to many dramatic tales of heroism, especially since the political philosophies I enjoy reading about are more libertarian in nature. Nobody seems to want to make their protagonist a golf pro or a champion of laissez faire economics. However, after reading an article in Fortune about Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan (btw great article link here), one of his favorite authors caught my eye: Ayn Rand.

Now I have heard of Rand numerous times before, and I knew that her books had been very influential on people like Ronald Reagan, Alan Greenspan, Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich; however, I have never personally read any of her work.  Obviously, anything that is read by conservative leaders like those mentioned above has never been anywhere near a public high school reading list (where most of the novels I have read have come from).  So I am going to check it out.  And I encourage you to do the same.  Listed below is a link to Rand's masterpiece Atlas Shrugged on Amazon.  From what I have heard, Rand is an excellent writer who champions the idea of free markets and individualism, while still keeping the reader actually engaged in a riveting story.  We shall see.  I am buying the book today, and I will review it on this site when I am finished, although I have no idea when that will be.  Until then, here's to a reading experiemnt.  Hopefully I won't get lazy and try to find a movie version...