I much preferred T C Boyle's The Women to The Fountainhead.

Have you read A Gentleman in Moscow, btw? I'm reading it for the second time now.

If you want a really challenging read, try McCarthy's Border Trilogy. We desperately need to understand our relationship with Mexico, he shines a light on that.

The verso of GWTW is Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig. Although if you really want to understand the pre-Civil War south, you'll delve into Olmsted's Cotton Kingdom.