Monday, August 26, 2013

8:29 AM I forgot to take my Fosamax pill this morning. I'm supposed to take it and postpone eating for half an hour. I have already eaten, so I'll take it tomorrow. It will probably be okay to be off schedule a little bit.

I was watching the news and saw Miley Cyrus doing a highly sexual music performance. I was introduced to her in the movie The Last Song, in which she did very well, and I was impressed. Now I'm disappointed. I thought she would be growing up into a thoughtful adult, but apparently not. I looked up her performance on the Internet and I had to research a word from the article “twerk.” According to the article she “twerked” throughout, and many of her audience were in shock. According to the article, Will Smith and his family were in the audience and were very uncomfortable. It was not family fare. “Twerking” is a dance move in which the dancer sexually moves the hips to an extreme degree. It was introduced through the hip hop music tradition in the early 1990's. I'm glad I'm too old to be following any of that kind of music. I'm sorry Miley Cyrus has joined the ranks of the bad girls. I wish she would show her talent for singing instead. We have enough of Lindsay Lohan and her type already. I am not entertained by them.

Back to the novel. The story has come to an end in one way. Hugh finds his wife in prison at Boree and she dies holding his hand. He kills a guard who came upon him and finds the black cross on his neck (tattooed, I gather), and remembers it from the Crusade. It is the Tafurs, the murderous group of soldiers under King Tafur. They are the ones who have been ravaging the villages and homes in the countryside, looking for a relic that they think was brought back from the Crusade. Emillie's Lady Anne is in charge of the Tafurs, who were sent to France by Stephen her husband. So Hugh is now opposing Anne. In one scene earlier Anne is seen talking to one of the Tafurs who I gather is their leader, and she objects to their tactics. He refuses to acknowledge her complaint. The plot thickens. I will continue reading.

Hugh runs from Boree and makes his way back to the village where he lived with Sophie. He finds it in ruins from a raid by Baldwin's men who were looking for him. He convinces the villagers to build up some defenses in the town and prepare to fight the next group of soldiers who ride through the town. Meanwhile, Emillie has come to him bringing Sophie's ashes to be buried. They are becoming lovers, or are about to, when a messenger from Boree runs in and warns the town that Tafurs are on their way. They followed Emillie and told the duke Stephen about it. They are coming for Hugh and the treasure they believe he brought back from the Crusade. He does have a gold cross from the war. He doesn't think it's too valuable, but intends to keep it, having buried it next to his son's body. Meanwhile, it looks like we are about to have a commoners revolt within the next few pages of this book. Reading on again.

6:09 Supper time. I have finally finished the book. It was great. James Patterson has usually published murder mysteries. This was a wonderful surprise. Full of nobles versus commoners and a holy Christian relic.