Brethren by Robyn Young

This book was from Borders also. I wasn't sure what to expect but I rather liked it. The book was slow but I found it fascinating reading a story that took place in a different time period. I felt like it's writing was believable in making the time period come alive. I'm trying to think of something more to say about it but nothing comes to mind. (I am writing this a month later even though I post dated the post. I will blame that on not having the freshest memory.) I would read another book by the author.

On the eve of the last crusade, two men's destinies will come together as two great civilizations go to war. Amidst conspiracy and intrigue in Europe, Will Campbell, a young knight, risks his life to recover the stolen Book of the Grail. Hidden within its pages are the heretical plans of a secret society within the Knights Templar. Meanwhile, the former slave Baybars Bundukdari and his army have taken over Egypt and Syria, and are planning a new Holy War to bring the Crusaders to their knees.

The Fiction Class by Susan Breen

This is another book picked up cheap at Borders. I was trying to find something that departs from my usual interest in book reading. So while this book had no adventure and historical qualities that I am drawn to repeatedly, it had something else. A very good story. I felt emotions that make you know you have read a book that involved you. Like frustration, happiness, crying, surprise, and satisfaction.

I loved this book. It kept me drawn to it as I learned more about all the characters, commiseration of dealing with a difficult person, and of course the ever present love interest. Sorry, but you just have to have some sort of love story! While the love interest does not over power the main story thread I was happy to see one in the book. Mostly I think because I wasn't really expecting one from the back cover.

On paper, Arabella Hicks is more than qualified to teach a weekly fiction class on New York's Upper West Side: She's an author herself; she's passionate about books; she's even named after the heroine in a Georgette Heyer novel.

So why do her students seem so difficult? And why can't she find an ending to the novel she has been working on for seven years? Arabella's beginning to suspect that it's all because her mother, Vera Hicks, is driving her insane. After each class, she goes to see Vera in a nursing home outside the city. Every visit turns into an argument. Arabella can't figure out how to make peace, until one day she discovers something surprising: Her mother wants to be a writer.

Slowly, cautiously, Arabella begins to teach her, and as the lessons progress along with her class, Arabella discovers that it is she who has a lot to learn about writing, and about love.

Flashman And The Mountain Of Light by George MacDonald Fraser

First off I should mention that I did not buy this book off eBay. But I am going to include it on my list of books that I have read for the year. That and I got it on a fantastic sale at Borders. So it's almost like buying it used.

Flashy is a bit of a coward mixed in with a cocky James Bond womanizer. The whole book kept an humorous tone which was rather funny. Thankfully when he was 'rogering' some female it was kept rather silly and non to detailed. I liked the history put in the book. There were three appendixes and fifty-six side notes. And even though there was all that added information it did not at all feel like a history book. Not that Flashy was ever a real person. After reading this book I would love to read The Pyrates written by the same author. Or even some more of the Flashman series would be okay.

History's most unheroic hero, Harry Flashman, is back. In this latest adventure, Flashy deals with a ravishing maharani and her equally sex-hungry maid, joins forces with an American adventurer with royal ambitions, and attempts to win the brightest jewel in England's imperial crown at the cost of something he will never miss-namely, his honor.