Novels Now

The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason

I’m up to date in this series, but now I can’t wait for the next one. This third book in the series continues after the big battle in the last book. Victoria, Max and Sebastian are all around and fighting vampires, but more importantly, their attractions to each other. I don’t want to say too much, because I could be giving things away from the second book, but they are still in Rome, and the story is continuing fighting vampire leaders Lilith and Beauregard. This is a fun book, lots of vampire lore, and heaving bosoms. The plot races along, actually only covering a few days, but fast and furious. Victoria has the same stubborn streak she accuses Max and Sebastian of having, but she seems to be recognizing her attractions to each of them and realizing her power and intelligence.

A very cool part of this book was the acknowledgements including booklogged, bookfool and carl. How cool was that? I thought the books were a trilogy, but they most certainly are continuing, because this book ended at a point that I really want to know what is going to happen next. These books are a nice diversion, nothing too heavy but lots of escapism, romance and adventure.

And finally, my question is: are you a Max or Sebastian fan?

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

What if you were in an accident and woke up 3 years later? Only, not really 3 years later, but 3 years earlier in your life? Lexi Smart, a twenty-eight year old Londoner wakes up and discovers she isn’t the person she thought she was. Lexi, like Becky the Shopaholic, is a little too obsessed with money and looks, but now she has them and she isn’t quite sure how she got them. This book is her discovery of who she has become in the past three years, and getting to know the people in her life and her new high powered job.

Kinsella hasn’t lost her touch, and I quite enjoyed this book. I find the Shopaholic series a little too silly sometimes, but Lexi is more realistic. The Undomestic Goddess was very good and funny, but the setup was a little contrived. I think she’s got it altogether here. Kinsella does a great job with the plot, giving a few details here and there, interesting characters and then wrapping it all up. The process poor Lexi goes through in trying to remember her life, and wondering who to believe, as she must rely on others to tell her about her life. And many people take this opportunity to tell her the way they probably wish things were, which doesn’t help her recover her real life.

This has the makings of a great romantic comedy- I can see Hugh Grant or Colin Firth as one of the men, maybe Jennifer Garner as Lexie, and the plot would unfold humorously. You read it here first!

The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Space by Jim Lebans
42 Questions (and Answers) About Life, The Universe, and Everything

If you are lucky enough to get CBC radio, you probably already know about Quirks and Quarks, the science show on Saturdays. Host Bob MacDonald explains all the newest scientific discoveries, in everyday language and with humor. I was very excited to see this book released, and it is going to have a prominent place on my desk at school. During physics classes, the most amazing questions can be asked, and I don’t know the answer to many of them, astronomy not being my strong suit. I may even start reading a chapter out loud every day or so, because this is the stuff that people want to know.

To give you an idea of the tone of the book, which is very readable, the opening quote is from Douglas Adams, “Space is big. Really big…..” Lebans, a producer with the Quirks and Quarks show, tackles 42 questions and then answers them. Where does space begin? (100km above Earth) Can I run fast and jump into orbit? (theoretically, but not really) What moons are worth visiting? ( Jupiter’s Europa, and Saturn’s Titan might be very interesting) and How fast are we moving through space? (it’s all relative to what else is moving, but pretty fast)

Lebans does a great job of explaining why Pluto isn’t a planet anymore, and what might happen if you fell into a black hole, which involves ’spaghettifying.’ I first heard that phrase when watching ‘A Brief History of Time,’ the documentary based on Stephen Hawking’s book of the same name. I am not up to date enough to know if everything is accurate, but since science changes so rapidly, I’ll assume it is good for now. I plan to reread some of the Big Bang Theory questions later, and I hope I’ll be lending this out to those inquisitive students who love physics.