Atlas Shrugged

So a LONG LONG time ago I once dated a guy who told me the most influential book he has ever read was Atlas Shrugged. This guy was really smart and told me all about this book and how it is a book that is used a lot in many political discussions etc. Being the competitive person that I am, I like to always seem just as smart as the person I date and I really had no idea what he was talking about especially concerning capitalism. Later on down the road I met Brett. On the night Brett and I first really started to fall for each other before we began dating we were talking about reading. I was telling him how much I have always loved to read. In fact I would go home early from activities just so I could read when I was younger and my mom and dad would come downstairs and get upset with me for staying up so late reading. The other thing is I let the books affect me way too much. It gets to the point that I relate with the character soo much I start crying if they are ever sad and become depressed just because I feel so bad for this character even when I am NOT reading it... pathetic I know.

Anyway back to the point of this post. While Brett and I were talking about books he asked me what my favorite book was. Well lets just say I told a little white lie in order to impress him and so I told him it was Atlas Shrugged. Well he acted really impressed and listened while I regurgitated everything that one guy told me about the book to him to make him think I actually read it. Next thing I know Brett is downloading the book to listen to on his ipod in order to impress me. He starts asking all these questions about the book and since I had never read it I had no idea what he was talking about so I would frequently get on sparknotes and read about Atlas Shrugged and tell him what I learned from there. ( I know this is embarrassing to admit ) Eventually when I felt I had Brett pretty set on me I told him I never really did read Atlas Shrugged and he laughed pretty hard. He said he never listened to more than the first chapter either and so from then on its been an on going joke between the two of us.

This past week Brett came down to look for a place for us to live once we are married and to get our engagements done. He surprised me with a little present and said "This will be the first of our collection." When he handed it to me I realized it was the 1170 page, small font, paper back version of Atlas Shrugged. He then said he had been listening to it again and was really interesting pretty far and I should actually try reading it this time. Needless to say I thought it was really a cute gift from him. I think Atlas Shrugged will always be a book the two of us remember no matter what...