Zoe read and liked RatsRGods's review of The Fountainhead:

"If I wasn't so lazy and had a more substantial attention span, I could easily be talked into joining a cult. And that is what stopped me from sending in that card to request more info about the philosophy ,"Objectivism", that is in all of ...more If I wasn't so lazy and had a more substantial attention span, I could easily be talked into joining a cult. And that is what stopped me from sending in that card to request more info about the philosophy ,"Objectivism", that is in all of Ayn Rand's books.
I think I read this book a little late in life, because most people discover it as a teenager and it like totally changes their life.
But since I have not developed emotionally since the age 15, I figured I would be able to dig it still.

I'm not gonna lie, this book blew my mind and took me a whole freakin' month to finish.
I wish I was the kind of intellectual that could be all like "This book is rubbish, it is not philosophically sound, Ayn Rand is a cunt."
But I'm not that kind of girl.
I think this book is incredibly well written and interesting.

Howard Roarke (one of the main characters) has the kind of self-esteem and confidence that I can only dream of (that is, after I'm done crying myself to sleep). He is the prototypical "ideal man" - at least by Ojectivism standards.
Peter Keating, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Roarke. He does everything in life to please other people and to look good. You do not want to be a Peter Roarke.
I loved the descriptions of the architecture, and I love a book that transports you into another world with all of the details. That is such a good feeling and rarely found, in my opinion.

As cliche as it sounds, this book inspires you to believe in yourself.
I think that is why so many teenagers are drawn to this book.
By the time you become an adult, life has probably beaten any sense of self worth or dreams you've ever had out of you.
And The Fountainhead is like a "pick me up" for those who have lost themselves.
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Zoe read and liked Mary's review of The Hell-Fire Clubs: Sex, Satanism and Secret Societies:

"Most boring book about sex and Satanism ever. I guess I wanted to read it for the salacious details and unfortunately, the author announces her academic goal of separating the truth from juicy gossip. Juicy gossip was the whole reason I was intereste...more Most boring book about sex and Satanism ever. I guess I wanted to read it for the salacious details and unfortunately, the author announces her academic goal of separating the truth from juicy gossip. Juicy gossip was the whole reason I was interested in this book, so I'm probably not the target audience. (less) "

Zoe added a quote:
"Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death." — William S. Burroughs

Zoe added a quote:
"The part of his mind that considered odds and consequences had shut down entirely, snuffed by the sheer adrenal rush of holding her, falling together into the Impala's sunken upholstery. He took her face in his hands as he kissed her, wanting to just get it right, to stamp the moment, to blunt the thunder of fear pounding in his skull as the rest of him succumbed to a sensation beyond pleasure, a kind of twisted relief that he'd macheted all his moorings, that whatever happened now would happen because he'd said 'Fuck It' to everything that had rendered him, for more years than he could count, a soul-dead, heart-numbed misfit staggering from pill to pill just to get through the dull risk of his own existence." — Jerry Stahl