Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

This is the fourth time I've read this book (!) and I enjoyed it this time as much as the other three.  However, this time around I read it mostly for literary tips and tricks that Ayn Rand used.  Here's what I picked up (there are spoilers below so if you haven't read it, leave now and start reading!):

• She spends a lot of time inside the character's heads and we go deep into their thoughts, especially for Dagney, Rearden and James Taggart.  Conversely, much of the action takes place as exposition and we learn about it as the characters are reacting to it.  This seems difficult to pull off, but Ayn does it.
• The plotting is complex with all the major mysteries and conflicts ending up with Galt.  Even though he doesn't appear until about two-thirds of the way through, he is omnipresent as the destroyer taking away the men of ability, the inventor of the motor that Dagney seeks, the track worker that Eddie Willers confides in, and the man who represents Dagny's ideal who may not even exist.
• The purpose of the speech isn't to introduce Objectivism to the world, but rather to tell the people in the story why Galt went on strike.  It is much more narrow than I realized and I think it is perfectly appropriate for the story.  When I first read it, I was interested in it as an introduction and therefore thought that Rand had included it as such, but it was really put in as a necessary part of the story.
• I think the most difficult job in plotting was to pit the heroes against each other and make it believable, both in the valley and afterwards.  
• She used the same settings repeatedly through the novel, so when we returned we felt at home in some of them, like Dagny's office or Rearden's house.
• The lengthy introductions for Dagny, Rearden and Francisco were time well spent because I learned to love the characters in those scenes and it made my keep reading to see what would happen to them.