It all started when I first picked up The Fountainhead when I was about 15. While most kids my age trudged through Atlas Shrugged as a school assignment, I was fascinated by Ayn right from the beginning (probably inspired by watching an episode of Gilmore Girls). And immediately after reading The Fountainhead, I discovered the 1949 film classic by the same name, starring Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper (and with a screenplay written by Ayn Rand herself). I was in love.
As shameful as it is, I had never read any of her other works. (With Atlas Shrugged weighing in at 1,368 pages, who wouldn't be a little intimidated?) So, when it was suggested by a particular someone that I read Anthem (a mere 100ish pages or so), I did. And despite its small size, it's brilliant.Anthem, a novella first published in 1937, is about a dystopian, highly collectivist future in which mankind has entered another dark age, as a result of socialist thinking. The word "I" has completed disappeared from their language. Instead of names, everyone is referred to by numbers. Equality 7-2521 is the hero of the story, and is "cursed" with curiosity and an unwillingness to submit himself completely to others. Equality 7-2521's struggle for individuality is pretty similar to most of Ayn Rand's works, but it doesn't make it any less brilliant.
For the record, Ayn Rand is a political nut job. But she's also a literary genius. So, go make my day and give her a try. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.
