<p>No, I’m not dying! But for the first time in a long time I can actually spend time reading this summer. What are some books you’ve read that are really inspiring and motivating, and really books everyone should read at some point, according to you? thank you</p>
<p>I’m not a parent but I really enjoyed “A Civil Action”</p>
<p>I just posted here because I won’t get stupid responses, thanks for the recomendation! :p</p>
<p>It’s not about the bike: my journey back to life
by lance armstrong</p>
<p>Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand It’s on the long side though, almost 1100 pages of small print.</p>
<p>I am a book collector so I will jot down a few essential voices that will alter you, famous titles, stories that are spell-binding, books that span a place and time and stretch your humanity </p>
<p>All the Kings Men Robert Penn Warren
All the Pretty Horses Trilogy Cormac McCarthy
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Where I’m Calling From Raymond Carver
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
Beloved Toni Morrison
Runaway Alice Munro
Les Miserables Victor Hugo
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
Great Expectations Charles Dickens</p>
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<p>This is the one I was going to suggest!</p>
<p>Sorry to steal your thunder =). But ya, imo Atlas Shrugged is an amazing novel and should be required reading for anyone.</p>
<p>I also recommend Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. These aren’t literary classics by any means, but they’re great reads.</p>
<p>Jeebs~</p>
<p>I am an Ayn Rand freak! I’ve read all of her novels…and I loved “The Fountainhead” as well. I even have a “Who is John Galt?” t-shirt! <em>lol</em></p>
<p>Soul Prints - Marc Gafni
Anam Cara - John O’Donohue</p>
<p>Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
The Rapture of Canaan - Sheri Reynolds
Summer Sisters - Judy Blume
Flyy Girl - Omar Tyree (for something different)
All is Vanity - Christina Schwarz
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
My Sister’s Keeper - Jodi Picoult</p>
<p>I’ll probably think of more later</p>
<p>Mahabharata
Ramayana</p>
<p>(The Buck translation is the only way to go.)</p>
<p>A couple of good ones:</p>
<p>Fiction:<br>
Ahab’s Wife: Or, The Stargazer: A Novel - Sena Jeter Naslund </p>
<p>Nonfiction:<br>
Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the Struma and World War II’s Holocaust at Sea - Douglas Frantz/Catherine Collins
True story that will absolutely outrage. Most people have no idea the political machination that went on as Jews tried to escape Eastern Europe for Palestine. Hard look at the anti-Semitism rampant in the government of Allies like Great Britain.</p>
<p>I’m currently reading the latest Sebastian Junger book. It’s no Perfect Storm, but it’s okay. I also bought a couple of classics [East of Eden (Steinbeck) & All the Kings Men (Warren)] for my daughter and she could not put them down. She’s now reading In Cold Blood (Capote). All excellent.</p>
<p>Berurah - where in the world did you get the tshirt? I absolutely LOVE her books, and I do re-read them about once every five years or so. I get something new out of them every time, depending on where I am in life. My only regret is that there aren’t, say, 20 books, only the three (Anthem was the first one I read).</p>
<p>I’m an avid reader and probably go through close to 50 books a year. I’ve kept a ‘favorites’ list for many years and these are a few which are on it:</p>
<p>The Good Earth - Pearl Buck</p>
<p>East of Eden - John Steinbeck</p>
<p>Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen</p>
<p>Borrowed Time - Paul Monette (gets 5 *****!)</p>
<p>One True Thing - Anna Quindlen</p>
<p>The Jade Peony - Wayson Choy</p>
<p>Griffin & Sabine - Neil Bantock (series is beautiful and unique)</p>
<p>Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon</p>
<p>In Cold Blood - Truman Capote</p>
<p>Just a few! ;)</p>
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<p>latetoschool~</p>
<p>I, too, reread the books periodically. I loved “Anthem” too. And like you, I wish that there were more. Now that I think about it, you really DO seem like an Ayn Rand type of person, and yes, that IS a compliment! 
As for the shirt, if I remember correctly, I got it out of a Signals catalog. I know they change their shirt selections (one of my other favorites from there is “Do you have change for a paradigm?”) But you might try it still…Signals DOES have a website! S wore my shirt to h.s. one day last year, and I don’t think ANY of his teachers knew what it was! <em>lol</em> ~berurah</p>
<p>Okay, full disclosure: I’ve only read snippets of Ayn Rand, but I’ve always had such a negative opinion of her since learning about “objectivism” in an Ethics class back in college. </p>
<p>Can you guys give me an idea of what you get out of her books? I feel like I must have missed something–are the books different from the philosophy? I’m intrigued by your interest in her. Thanks!</p>
<p>There’s 4 Ayn Rand novels: There’s Anthem, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and We the Living.</p>
<p>To answer what I get out of her, reading Atlas Shrugged made me realize that people who willingly give up their free will to follow the mentality of the majority because it is said to be right are doomed. </p>
<p>Also, people have no inherent right to things; they are earned. IE You don’t deserve a job, because of favortism, you earn the job and you keep it by working hard. </p>
<p>Perhaps the greatest part of the novel was the value of life. </p>
<p>More recommendations: The Stranger by Albert Camus (Absurdist/Existentialist classic) and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (a novella sort of, only 90 pages). Both of these books deal with “heavy subjects.”</p>
<p>A link to a John Galt t-shirt: <a href=“http://www.cafepress.com/buy/fantasy/art%20/%20photography/-/pv_design_prod/pg_1/p_storeid.13697569/pNo_13697569/id_5324886/opt_/fpt_/c_/hlv_t[/url]”>http://www.cafepress.com/buy/fantasy/art%20/%20photography/-/pv_design_prod/pg_1/p_storeid.13697569/pNo_13697569/id_5324886/opt_/fpt_/c_/hlv_t</a></p>
<p>I’ll edit this and add some more books and info later. I’m running a bit late for school >.<</p>
<p>“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe</p>
<p>I just finished “In Cold Blood” for the first time – I’ve always meant to read it, and it is an absolute masterpiece.</p>
<p>I’m finishing “Mao: The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang. Riveting.</p>
<p>I have found Ayn Rand tshirts on Ebay. My son has a Reardon Steel shirt.</p>
<p>I would recommend Prince of Tides- Pat Conroy And everything else by Pat Conroy.</p>