Thursday, February 10, 2011

Atlas Shrugged Readalong Sign-ups:

eek.

Oh sorry. I am happy to announce the sign-ups for the March and April 2011 readalong of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. And I will be completely upfront: I am absolutely petrified of reading this, so someone has to join me. I can't do this alone. Do it for me!

I think Rand is high on everyone's list of scary authors we say we are eventually going to read and never do. Additionally, I think we all never DO read her work. It has been described to me as lofty, insane, rambling, and completely "out-there." That makes me nervous. And excited.

Will this live up to the hype?

For your, and my, benefit, here is a description taken from Goodreads.com;

"Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller."


See? That doesn't sound all that bad!

I have developed a posting schedule that I will be following. Based on the posts from War and Peace and my own progress with that chunker, I was going to reduce the amount of posts. With the combination of these two-month readalongs with my monthly ones, I just need to break them apart more! Lucky for me, Rand decided to chunk her novel into three parts, so there will be three posts to correlate.

I am basing all of the pages based on my edition, which is 50th Anniversary Edition put out by Signet (it is mass market size...and boy is this print tiny...). Posts will go as follows:
  • Post 1 will be posted on March 19th: Post 1 will cover Part 1 (about 312 pages)
  • Post 2 will be posted on April 8th: Post 2 will cover Part 2 (about 328 pages)
  • Post 3 will be posted on April 30th: Post 3 will cover Part 3 (about 426 pages-there are a few extra days built in for this one-and the readalong on April 9th!)
I do so hope that at least one person will decide to undertake this madness with me. A good friend of mine, who is not crazy, considers this one of her favorite books. And I trust her opinion so I am hoping good things?

If you want in, please comment, state your insanity, and leave me a link to your blog so I can link you here (that way we can all cheer you on!). Keep in mind that all participants of my readalongs who complete the readalong are getting something special (more on that when you finish one!), so sign up if you're interested!

I only require my participants to make their post and link it here. You don't have to comment on other participants' posts, but of course, that is always encouraged.

Please spread the word around so that someone (hopefully YOU) might decide to join me. :)

Participants:
Zoe
Shelley
Kristi
Lindsey
Mindy
Michelle
Christina
Adam
Melissa
Stacy
Jenica704
The Book Nook
Christina

24 comments:

  1. I'm signing up! I actually have read over half of this already a year or two ago but then got distracted so starting over would be good. I also appreciate culling down the number of posts. Rand is not that scary once you get into her, The Fountainhead was one of my favourite books in highschool...then again I am a big nerd. Anyways, her novels definitely contain a lot of discussion-worthy topics so looking forward to this, thanks for hosting :)

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  2. Like Zoe, I've read half of this before, but it was several years ago. It wasn't that I didn't like it, I just had to take it back to the library and never got it again. So, yes, I'm on board for this readalong. I will spread the word soon!

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  3. I've already read this, or I would totally be on board - but let me just say that it ROCKS. I hope you love it and I'm looking forward to reading your posts.

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  4. I would join you if I hadn't read The Fountainhead a few years ago and hated it from the absolute pit of my heart. Just thinking of that book makes me want to vomit and it very well might happen since I have the flu.

    Anthem is good though. I think 100 pages is about as much of Ayn Rand as I can stand. Hope you enjoy this!

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  5. I'm in! I bought it recently in anticipation of this readalong. I'm a little nervous too. I'll put up a post about it later next week.

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  6. I read it when I was in college. That was more than 20 years ago. It has still stayed in my mind. Not a novel to be forgotten.

    And no nothing scary about it. I loved IT!

    And The Fountainhead continues to be my favourite Ayn Rand novel...

    Best of luck with your reading....

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  7. One of the reasons I decided to start my book blog back up was so I can join in your readalongs! I felt left out. :( So, I'm in for this one! This has been sitting on my shelf for 10 years so it will be nice to finally remove it from the TBR stacks!

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  8. I read this one in 2009 and really loved it. I wasn't expecting to, but the strong characters, esp. Dangy, made it fascinating. I'd join in if I hadn't already read it, but I certainly be cheering you all on.

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  9. I'm in too. I read Fountainhead last year and surprisingly-- I'll admit upfront that I don't respect Rand-- enjoyed it very much. I bought Atlas Shrugged over Christmas so that I could tackle it this year. This read-a-long seems kind of fortuitous.

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  10. We had a few Ayn Rand books lying about the house while I was growing up but I never felt compelled to pick one up, not even now. Don't think I ever will, lol. I'll just wish you lots of luck and hope you enjoy your journey!!

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  11. Oh, you are so much braver than I am! Perhaps the good reviews in the comments, along with your future posts, will convince me to give it a try eventually...

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  12. I've been wanting to read this for years, so yes, I'll be joining you!!

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  13. I'll be reading it Allie! I'm just bad about posting more than once for a book. :)

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  14. One of the most powerful books I've read, ever. Loved it. Read it, several times over. Have a wonderful read; it appears one either loves this book or abhors it. For me, I'm terrified its lessons are not being heard today.

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  15. Oh, you're killing me! I've had this book on my shelves for about 6 years... with no intention of reading it, ever. Okay, maybe the tiniest intention. I certainly had no plans to read it this year, though, with everything else I've already got on my plate. But I guess I'd rather read it with people (seeing as how I'm REALLY NOT looking forward to it) than read it by myself. So, I'm in.

    (BTW - I finished Oliver Twist today as well. w00t)

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  16. I bought a copy of Atlas Shrugged a few weeks ago and I'm not ecstatic to find a read-along! (Then there's the movie that's coming out in April so it seems like an even better time to start!

    Definitely count me in! (I'll write a post soon!)

    Melissa

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  17. I'm *NOW ecstatic...I should really proofread before I press POST!

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  18. oh you are too funny! I was actually thinking about hosting a read-along for Atlas Shrugged to correspond with the movie premiere April 15th! I've read this book, love this book, and have been known to peruse Ayn Rand's website about objectivism! So yes, I am in!

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  19. I'm in! This sounds like so much fun. I've read Atlas Shrugged before and it's one of my all time favorite books. Plus, it's on my 'to read' list in anticipation of the movie (well, Part I anyway) coming out in April.

    Here's the link to my blog:
    www.feedingmybookaddiction.blogspot.com

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  20. I'd like to join in on the fun.

    booknookreviews.blogspot.com

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  21. I'm a little late to the party, but I'm in.

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  22. Here's the link to my post on Part One:
    http://booknookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/atlas-shrugged-readalong-part-one.html

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  23. Ahh Allie! You know I love this book. It's been my favorite book for years. I don't have a blog to join the read-a-long, but I can't wait to hear what you think of the book.

    ...Oh, and did I mention that Nathan wants to name our first-born daughter Dagny?

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  24. Oh, my. That is disturbing.

    I just got the Beelzebub chills. -shiver-

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