Metal Reviews

I read Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe this week.

So far, its absolutely brilliant, as is everything I've read by Dostoevsky.
Yeah, I can see how it could be an influence on Taxi Driver.

Re-read The Stand by King. Still a very good book, but not as good as it was when I was thirteen to fourteen. This time, for example, I noticed how weak all the female characters in the book are- either they're caricatures or undeveloped or in one cased, just extremely annoying (that would be Frannie, the main female character, who cries in every scene. I'm serious. Every. Goddamn. One). King also has an anti-technology schpeil which is pretty noticeable and which is also apparent in the later Dark Tower books. Oh yes, and the climax always sucked and sucks even more now. One of the worst climaxes I've ever read.

But the sections on Captain Trips are still well written and freaky as all hell. And Randall Flagg is still awesome.

Right now, I'm reading an anthology of short stories titled Warriors- collection of stories by all different authors from all different genres. A few awesome stories so far, a few good ones, and only one bad one, so I'm happy with it so far.

One thing I wondered about The Stand is does anything happen after the Garbage dude (or whatever) brings the nuke and God blows anything up? I thought that was the lamest fucking shit ever so I just stopped reading the book right there.

I'm reading Shakespeare's King Lear right now. Dude knew what he was doing.

I never enjoyed Shakespeare.

About 60 pages into Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon.

King Lear is my favourite Shakespeare play. I love the Fool.

As for the Stand (SPOILERS)


You are right that it is the lamest fucking shit ever. After that, Tom Cullen (the retarded guy) finds Stu who had broken his leg on the journey to Vegas. He takes care of him and they eventually make their way back to Boulder. Stu's girl Frannie gives birth and surprise surprise the baby lives. They then decide for no reason that makes any possible sense to go travel to Maine and ditch the community even though the whole book has been about building community and they have a four month old baby to take care of who would probably die the moment he gets sick without any doctors or electricity, both of which are avaiable in Boulder. Yep, the end is pretty retarded

Never read that one... any good?
I've read Mann's Doktor Faustus and Goethe's Faust... enjoyed them both, but Mann's allegory was a bit dry at times.

Wish I had more time to read these days, I used to quite enjoy it.
As it is, I can manage up to ten pages a day, tops.

@cotb: I really liked it. The story is pretty simple but it does a good job of making you feel bad for Faustus even though he's a bit of a dolt. I will not have to look into other versions of the story because I've never read those.

@brahm: The fool is awesome.

@trapt: How can you not like Shakespeare? He's like awesome writing mixed with awesome characters mixed with complex and awesome plots. And puns. wtf.

Cool... one of these days, I hope to check it out... going through Notes From Underground, next up is Keruoac's On The Road (redux, I find I enjoy the really good ones more the second time around).

Edit: Shakespeare is lyrical, nuff said.

Shakespeare the man.

I can understand not liking to read Shakespeare.

I loathe On the Road. Just people being blatantly immature and worthless pissed me off.

As for Shakespeare, I'm either missing large parts of the plot or there are times when literally nothing happens for pages. Then again I've never read it for pleasure so maybe one of these days.

Like I said, it was never supposed to be read at all. Have you been to see any performed? Definitely the best way to find out if you like it or not.

I saw the Twelfth Night by an amateur local drama group. It was so-so. I'd rather just watch the Disney rip offs like the Lion King.

Well i agree with you Brahm that the climax sucks, but i think thats a problem with most of King's books, he always builds up awesome stories and then ends them poorly, like he couldnt figure out how to properly end them, but what i like about King's books are its charachters, even if they arent very deep or overtly complex, i dont know man i just get to care about them, i want to know what happens to them next, and The Stand was no exception.

Im currently on the second book of the Dark Tower, and i know that the seven book its probably gonna be a dissapointment, but right now im really enjoying it.

Yep, I'll agree with that. I still think a lot of the Stand is fantastic, and there are some wonderful characters in there (Larry Underwood, the Trashcan Man, Randall Flagg, Lloyd, Nick). Just not so many female ones. And you're right: King just sucks in general with endings, with few exceptions. It's because of how he writes: He never plans ahead, and therefore writes himself into a corner time and time again. As for the Dark Tower, books 2-4 are really the best part of the series, but I'll say this about the last book and the ending in general: Half of it is absolutely amazing, and half of it is absolute crap. It has the largest variance in quality out of any book I've read.

My friend loaned me a Warhammer 40k book because he thinks I should start reading Warhammer, but I probably won't get to it in a while because I just got A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold.

i'm thinking of picking up Pillars of the Earth for my trip to Mexico, what do you guys think?

i read like 50 pages and the story just seemed awfully slow.

It is pretty slow, but well worth it. I had trouble reading it for a long time, it took me around 300-400 pages to really get into it but once I did it was amazing.

The Ablest man in the World

by Edward Page Mitchell.