Books: Fiction

Amazon.com An Excerpt from Bill Watterson's Introduction: ... (See the whole review)

The newest Harry Potter book went on sale this morning at midnight.  My daughter was one of those silly people lining up to buy a copy at midnight and she stayed up all night reading the entire book.  She told me that the books are getting darker and Hogwarts isn't the fun escape it used to be.  Someone very important dies in this book.  (She told ... (See the whole review)

This is the freshman work of a talented young Objectivist cartoonist named Bosch Fawstin. He's been nominated for an Eisner award (the comic equivalent of an Oscar) in the category of "talent deserving of wider recognition." ... (See the whole review)

Objectivists with children eventually want to discuss with them the right of an individual to his own mind, body and property -- regardless of "majority vote."  Such parents can use this book to their advantage.  The author's acid wit burns to the end when he serves to the antagonists large helpings of their "just deserts." The book centers ... (See the whole review)

Frank Miller made his start as a writer on Daredevil, so it was fitting that he returned to the character that made him famous to do the definitive origin. ... (See the whole review)

I've just finished reading this wonderful collection of writing exercises, previously unpublished stories and plays and unpublished excerpts from We the Living and The Fountainhead. It is delightful to witness Rand's progress, both as writer and philosopher, in these works written between 1926 and 1938. One of the things I find amazing about... (See the whole review)

This story is a great little satire of the subjectivist corruption of avant-garde human society, which is wholly incapable of seeing a brilliant and robust new male writer for what he really is:  a simple-minded forest bear. I smiled and laughed while reading this book... The characters who surround the bear are supreme idiots completely los... (See the whole review)

 Saki is a breath of fresh air. His short-stories offer a balm to anyone who treasures outstanding wit, colourful imagination and whip-smart plots – that is to say, by anyone truly alive. Imagine if PJ O’Rourke had turned his lens on Edwardian England ; or if Oscar Wilde had written hundreds of biting, acerbic stories disdaining cant, hypocr... (See the whole review)

First published in 1870, Venus in Furs gained for its author both notoriety and a degree of immortality when the word "masochism"--derived from his name--entered the psychiatric lexicon. The novel describes the sexual obsessions of Severin von Kusiemski, a European nobleman with the desire "to be the slave of a woman." Severin finds his ideal of vo... (See the whole review)

I'm not a big fan of fantasy as a rule but I make an exception for this excellent comic book series by Wendy and Richard Pini, this volume of which collects the earliest Elfquest issues. ... (See the whole review)

The original Objectivist comic book creator, Steve Ditko is best known for his creation, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel comic book characters Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. ... (See the whole review)

Imagine Ayn Rand collaborating with Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars) and Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) to create a sword and science comic book. Better yet, stop imagining and sample the amazing world of Tandra by objectivist creator/writer/artist Christopher Lindbergh Hanther, Jr. ... (See the whole review)

From the author's web site: ... (See the whole review)

From author Max Allan Collins' website http://www.maxallancollins.com/: "Nate Heller is a cop trying to stay straight in one of the most corrupt places imaginable: Prohibition-era Chicago. When he won't sell out, he's forced to quit the force and become a private investigator. His first client is Al Capone. His best friend is Elio... (See the whole review)

This is my favorite Ayn Rand novel. Not as overtly philosophical nor as monumental in scope as her later works, strictly as a novel qua novel, it excels those later works. And compared to the work of other authors, it is monumental. Rand tells us a love story set against the background of communist Russia in the 1920's. In part two, chapter 8, s... (See the whole review)

Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin, the Moon and Sixpence is an unforgettable study of a man possessed by the need to create — regardless of the cost to himself, and to others. Excerpts: "And man, subservient to interests he has persuaded himself are greater than his own, makes himself a slave to his taskmaster. He sits him on a sea... (See the whole review)

"A novel that brilliantly illuminates some of the darker interconnections between politics and sex . . . Just as the world of Orwell's 1984 gripped our imaginations, so will the world of Atwood's handmaid!" --Washington Post Book World "Atwood takes many trends which exist today and stretches them to their logical and chilling co... (See the whole review)

This story is about a group of rabbits who leave their home in search of a new place to live because of dangers that threaten them. Along the way they meet other rabbits and come across many warrens, some of which they are invited to live at, others which they must escape from. The story is not only a page turner at times, but I thought the author ... (See the whole review)

1984 is a dystopian story set in the future of a statist world. The main character, Winston Smith, struggles to live in a world where there is no privacy, and the government controls every aspect of your life. The symbol of the government is Big Brother, a fictitious leader who is said to benevolently watch over his people. In practice, the citizen... (See the whole review)

A short novella about a man trapped in a future society that has taken collectivism to its full and natural course. He struggles against that society and eventually breaks free and discovers the most glorious word in the english language, "I".

This is Ayn Rand's first popular novel which brought her fame and a large following. "It is the story of a gifted young architect, his violent battle against conventional standards, and his explosive love affair with a beautiful woman who struggled to defeat him." (back cover) It shows man as a heroic being: Howard Roark, the perfect Egoist.

The story of people finding the moral conviction to live their own lives, and of a man who stops the motor of the world to pave the way.  This is Ayn Rand's magnum opus. It is her comprehensive philosophical novel, dealing with each of the major categories of philosophy. This book lays down the basis of her entire philosophy in a compelling story. ...