I had a week off

Not much happened this week, what with my sparse display of human interaction in my week secluded from the majority of the world (or even the tiny minority of the world that is my town).
No, really. I spent most of my time either doing my AP History homework or playing either Sid Meier's Pirates! or Ninja Gaiden Black, both of which I highly recommend to gamers (nongamers: Gaiden will make you cry. Seriously, stay away from it unless you want to break your friend's XBox and get them all pissed off at you).
Some stuff did happen though. One of my partners in crime Scot foolishly left his history book at school, so I had to go to his house and copy an entire chapter so he could pull his weight in this project which I have noticed I have done all myself anyway, due to my inability to trust anyone else with work that concerns me (damn'd Superiority Complex, let me delegate!)
For History I am reading The Gilded Age by Mark Twain. Anyone with past experience with it, if you would, inform me as to the excellency of it (or lack thereof, if that's the way it is).
For English I have foolishly elected to read Atlas Shrugged, an immensely long though extremely interesting book. It is fascinating because there is no beating around the bush in terms of the book's message; Rand tells you exactly what you should think about any event in the book. Subtlety is not her strong point, an aspect I can intensely appreciate after reading the goddamn Scarlet Letter, the most boring book I think I've ever read.
See? All you get is me talking about how I feel about things and begging for advice. Not the witty rhetoric of yesteryear, nor the play-by-play details I've sometimes supplied in leiu of actually writing anything. Also, why do I act as though I have countless readers when I have, at max, maybe 15 (more likely 10)? It baffles me.
Hand o' Death