Metal Reviews

Plutarch - Roman Lives.

If you read just one classic work this year, make it Roman Lives.

I'd go for Tacitus' Annals instead.

Thucydides- History of the Peloponnesian War

i'd still prefer Caesar's works, Cicero and Plinius. Tacitus is good as well but way too subjective.

That is very true, and it does get pretty annoying when he constantly bitches about Tiberius for the stupidest things. I still think he's one of the greater historians of the Roman period, simply for the detail he goes into and his excellent prose. Caesar's Gaul was also great (though I have yet to read The Civil Wars) and Cicero is quite excellent a writer. I have yet to read anything of Plinius (both the Elder and the Younger, not sure which one you're referring to there) but I will as soon as I find some money. In any case, basically, all these writers are great. Suetonius too just because the anecdotes he writes, while often not true, are simply very amusing. Josephus is another I'm a fan of.

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King

What is with this asshole? He announces his retirement, but continues to publish books? I hate that shit.

Didn't he just decide to finish the Dark Tower series after that announcement, and that would be the end of his career? He isn't releasing any more books, as far as I know. Could be wrong, though.

Well, he released a Red Sox book and just released a new one called Cell.

Recommended (The book, not the songs)?

I saw an interview with Oskar Dronjak talking about it, so my attention was immediately perked.

Steven Pressfield - Gates Of Fire

Tells about the battle of Thermopylae and the life of a Spartan soldier from his youth to this great battle. Fun to read and some memorable quotes, though I think the finnish version makes a bit more sense at times when it comes to how the events are described.
For example: "Arrows would whiz past us in the dark. We stopped to grab them and soon had quite a cache."
Yep, that's some quick hands and a killer sight you've got there , nah but that's just antfuckery. Anyway, entertaining.

So what? The Dark Tower series is outstanding, except for book 4 (fucking crock of fucking crock shit) and the ending is abysmal, still fantastic though.

He's never written a good ending in his life, what made anyone think this would be different?

I must read that new one of his so that I may mock it.

You may mock, if I may mock your dick book. teeeheee A good ending to one of his books is the Dead Zone.

Eh, that wasn't good. It was good for him, but that doesn't make it good.

Dude, you should read all the Dick books you can get your grubby hands on. The guy published over 30 novels in like 30 years, and none of them are crappy.

Do Androids... was the inspiration for Blade Runner, by the way. But you can't go wrong with any of them. Just try him out, trust me.

Oh go on then, I'll give them a try once I'm done reading my David Eddings shit. Have you read his short story The Mist? The shit ending makes no differance to it's awesome randomness.

Don't you mean The Fog? Or maybe I'm thinking of something else.

Na, never read it.

The Fog is by James Herbert, a horror writer of extreme cheesiness. It's in Skeleton Crew (book of short stories, and a very good one at that) with a soon-to-come movie adaption. Check it out.

Willdo.

You then check out The Man in the High Castle, The Zap Gun, or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Dick.

Ditto. By the way, Skeleton Crew contains The Mist, by Stephen King, not The Fog by James Herbert-just incase I was unclear.

YES. READ. Best fantasy series ever (and my favourite books of all time in general).

And concerning Steven King, he does have a few good endings in there. The ending to It, for example, and the Stand too if you got rid of that dumbass hand of God thing. Insomnia too had a relatively good ending.