Ayn Rand discussion

What is your favorite Ayn Rand book and what makes it your favorite?

I like Atlas Shrugged. Still reading The Fountainhead.

The Fountainhead by far!

Even though I love her fiction, I frequently use her non-fiction works to help explain her philosophy. The Virtue of Selfishness is one of my favorites.

I have the movie The Fountainhead on dvd and love the idea of the individual creating something even as he's being told no you can't and no it won't sell. Steve Jobs is the Roarke of our day.

If you read all of her books you see the same pillars of her philosophy repeated constantly. After knowing about Objectivism and reading Atlas Shrugged it is just amazing anytime a character speaks because each word has a meaning.

Have any of you ever read We the Living? That is my favorite, but I also love The Fountainhead. My favorite of her non-fiction is The Virtue of Selfishness.

I have We The Living on DVD. Got an email ad for it. It's Italian with English subtitles. It was made back in late 30s early 40s.

There are so many good ones to choose from this question is making my head explode. ^_^

I just finished We the Living last week. I loved it. I've only read Atlas Shrugged and getting ready to start The Fountainhead. A friend of mine has read a lot of her books and he is the one that got me hooked on her. I've bought him about 8 of her books that i've found online.

The Fountainhead. It is the most well-written.

My favourite quote comes from Atlas Shrugged, but I prefer The Fountainhead's storyline.

Wow! I just finished Atlas Shrugged for about the 10th time, but I can see from this group that I'd better get started on The Fountainhead!

So far I'd have to say Atlas Shrugged is my favorite, though I've barely cracked The Fountainhead yet...

The Fountainhead...coz I am an architecture student. I could relate to the characters and was so surprised to know she(Ayn Rand) was not an architect herself.

According to me The Fountainhead is the best book ever.. It greatly describes about a man's fight and success against the whole world.. Simply awesome!

I love all the responses! Any fans of the nonfiction? A favorite essay?

My favorite novel is The Fountainhead, because I believe it contains her best developed characters. If you took any one line of dialog out of context, you could almost always guess which character said it, because each one had such a unique personality. And I think Toohey was her best villain.
We the Living is a close second because I think the plot is really well constructed. Don't get me wrong, Atlas changed my life, and it's one of my favorite all time novels, but I still think it's her worst in terms of character development. Galt never seemed like a real person to me. The ideas are beautifully stated, though. I also think Atlas has some of her most vivid descriptions of scenery and nature.

My favorite short story is Good Copy (reprinted in The Early Ayn Rand, which is a collection I highly recommend). This is a great story that showcases Rand's charming and witty sense of humor (which is subtlety present in most of her works, but unmistakable in this one).

My favorite essays are "Man's Rights" and "The Nature of Government" in The Virtue of Selfishness. Best concise analysis of rights ever written.

Another nonfiction gem is The Art of Fiction. This is an interesting work even for those who have no interest in writing fiction, because it contains profound philosophical insights into Rand's conception of the nature of the subconscious mind (a subject she introduces in Virtue of Selfishness, but really fleshes out and expands upon in practical applications in this).

It is difficult to give a favorite simply because her books are a WHOLE. That is the most striking thing that I felt was there in Ayn Rand. Even a paragraph was so well constructed that you got the whole thing and since it was so beautifully connected to life, it was very convincing. So I like all her books as ONE!! Yet, for the discussion, I think Fountainhead being both realistic and Romantic, practically haunts me all the time....each scene is etched in my mind, and is such a practical guide---a kind of "What you need at each moment of happiness and emergency in life" book!! Especially Roark, and the way he lived his life with such total integrity, passion, serenity, work, and deep joy.

If I had to pick, I'd say Anthem. It takes the idea of a world run by collectivists to it's logical extreme, then gives us Equality 7-2521 realizing for himself that there's a better way to live and rediscovering individualism.

Plus it inspired the excellent track 2112 off Rush's album of the same name, which is easily one of my favourite tunes :)