Listen to ANTHEM

Ayn Rand wrote four great novels. Anthem is the one too small to use as a doorstop. Unlike most people, my first taste of Rand was her non-fiction — specifically, The Virtue of Selfishness. But the first novel of hers I read, because it seemed less intimidating than the others, was Anthem. That was maybe 25 years ago. I liked the book then. I like it now. First published in England in 1938, then reworked and published in the U.S. in 1946, this little dystopic novella predates Orwell’s 1984 by a full decade.

Now, LibriVox.com offers a fine reading of Anthem, unabridged, for free download. (I’ll forgive the narrator for mispronouncing Ayn.) At just over two hours long, it’ll get me from here to my sister’s house in Camarillo. Nice. I’m about due for a visit.