I wasn't particularly excited by Anthem, which I had to read last year in English, but meh, it only took an hour or less, so no problem.

Hmm, well if Anthem is short I may start with that!

Yes I've heard of Kant, haven't got anything by him yet. Since deciding to read some Philosophy last year I have read some work by Nietzsche, Sartre, Plato, Kafka, Marx & Engels and Russell. I have more books by them waiting to be read and also by Spinoza, Descartes and Voltaire. However, they take me far longer to read than Fantasy books so I'm not getting through them very fast. I also have no guide on what to read apart from threads like these. People mention names to me and the next time I'm in the book shop I go and buy one

Yeah, I didn't like it much either, but its a very very short read.

I've always thought Rand was the worst offender in this category. That trial scene in The Fountainhead was excruciating.

"The defense would now like to ask the defendant if he will espouse the key points of Objectivism for eight hours."

Fourth rate philosopher, fourth rate novelist. The existentialists own Ayn Rand's colophon.

Odd, I didn't notice that. But then when I was a kid I wanted to be an architect when I grew up, and gave up those dreams when I read that architects don't actually get to be architechs.


edit: Also, for all the disdain Ayn Rand gets, she sure has some influential followers. (i.e. Alan Greenspan, our very own Roark )

If you're looking for a philosopher that writes decent and accessible fiction, I'd strongly suggest Miguel de Unamuno, especially Abel Sanchez or San Manuel Bueno, Martyr. (He also wrote a book of actual philosophy, The Tragic Sense of Life, that is easy reading, but I'd start with the fiction, because they're shorter and give you a taste of what he's about.) I find his philosophy fascinating because of its holistic approach. Whereas most philosophers chase logic to the exclusion of emotion, Unamuno believes emotion is not just reaction to concrete events, but part of their true perception--a sort of anti-Stoicism. It lends itself to a very engaging style without having to pay close attention to word choice, which is a huge bonus in any translated work.

Disclaimers: Unamuno draws heavily on his Catholic upbringing, so if you aren't familiar with the basics of Catholicism or Anglicanism (EDIT: or Eastern Orthodoxy), pieces of it might be lost. Unamuno is also a definite Vatican-acknowledged heretic, so you don't have to agree with either denomination's stance. His philosophy deals mostly with morality and theology, not so much metaphysics or epistemology. He touches at least briefly on everything, but if your main interest is in the nature of reality and how we come to understand it, this is not your man.

@Xavius: Hmm, that reminds me of a book my friends were reading in college, written originally in spanish, the name of the book was a single word, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. It was a "trippy book" as my friends described it, touching on everything, yet nothing.

Gah, I hate not being able to remember important details!