The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli, 1532), Under the Eagle (Simon Scarrow, 2000), Sounds of the Beast (Ian Christe, 2003)

I've been lame about updating my reading progress. So far three books are now in the "done" column for February.

I had already just about finished it in January, but Machiavelli's The Prince was done as of the first of the month. It was on my to-read list for a long time, I think because of its frequent references in Thomas Cahill's Mysteries of the Middle Ages, which I read way back in the day. It's pretty much what you would expect from a guy with the reputation of...well...Machiavelli. I also realized my understanding of 16th century Italian history could use some improvement to help with the context of appreciating the work. However the classic references were no problem!

Speaking of classical, I went back into a little bit of historical fiction with Simon Scarrow's Under the Eagle, the first of 13 books in a series that follows the adventures of two Roman army officers. Unlike some other authors I've read, Scarrow seems to have a good handle on his historical facts. The action sequences were very exciting, if a little chaotic in writing style. The British lingo was a little distracting, but if I wanted to be really authentic, I would have probably insisted they speak Latin. Finally, a little pet peeve: why do so many of these series take place in Britain? The place was a complete backwater in Roman times. I tend to prefer series that hover close the the political intrigue of Rome itself.

To bring us up to date on what I've been reading, I just completed Ian Christe's Sounds of the Beast. The "complete headbanging history of heavy metal" seems overly concerned with Metallica's musical progression, but I'm willing to chalk that up to the honored tradition of tacking to one subject to illustrate a trend. Plus it would be naive to think that one 400 page book could say everything there is to say about metal. Personally, I would have spent more time with the roots than with grindcore/rap metal. However, I have to hand it to him, he hit upon pretty much all the subgenres. Except swing metal.

Book number 8 is already in progress and I've got 9 and 10 in my sights. It's going to be a good year in the reading department!