I’m reading The Vampire Diaries Book 1 at the moment (review coming soon) and I’ve found that although on the whole so far it’s been an ok book I find myself being constantly distracted by other things that are going on around me. Whether this be the TV whilst trying to read in the front room or loud music from another source and it got me thinking about where I can read without being distracted and without appearing to be ignoring everyone.

So here are my top 5 reading places.

1. Bedroom – This has to be my favourite place to read, it’s generally quiet although a bit of background music is nice too and means I can read the book without too many distractions. It does however feel like I’m ignoring everyone!
2. Living Room – This is where I read most, always at Breakfast – I tend to be up when very few people are around so it’s normally quiet with the exception of the budgie which can chirp away in the corner. However unless a book is really good I find that I can’t read in here in the evening when the TV is on – most shows regardless of how uninteresting they are still manage to distract me.
3. The Beach – If I’m honest I’m not really a beach person with only one beach in the UK which I really look forward to going back to – Croyd in North Devon if you’re wondering. But on a warm sunny day with the sea breeze and a book, yes it’s a very nice place to read
4. Kitchen – I don’t very often read in the kitchen and only ever when me and my sister make the tea (every other Saturday). It’s not for me the best place to read – getting interupted when things need to be done. Not really recommended.
5. Public Transport – I personally haven’t read a book on the train or bus and so it has to be last but I can certainly see the attraction of escaping into a fictional world on a long (often boring) journey home – maybe this has more to do with me generally only taking short journeys on public transport and not in rush hour.

In addition I can see the attraction of reading in libraries which I used to do a lot whilst I was in school. Where are you able to read best or are you able to read anywhere?

#authorfail is a hashtag which has been banded around Twitter for when an author responds badly to a negative review but this is not a hashtag which can be attatched to Alex Scarrow, author of TimeRiders when he was responding to comments on Catherine Hughes blog (go read).

I have to say as a result (and that TimeRiders sounds like a fab book) TimeRiders has now been added to my list of books to buy and below is the trailer for the TimeRiders series.

You can find out more about TimeRiders on the dedicated TimeRiders website which contains blogs, missions and several downloads.

Enjoy!

When danger, passion and chance collide you get Wasted.

The Blurb
“Jack worships luck and decides his actions by the flip of a coin. No risk is too great if the coin demands it. Luck brings him Jess, a beautiful singer who will change his life. But Jack’s luck is running out, and soon the stakes are high. As chance and choice unravel, the risks of Jack’s game become terrifyingly clear. An evening of heady recklessness, and suddenly a life hangs in the balance, decided by the toss of a coin. In the end, it is the reader who must choose whether to spin that coin and determine: life or death.”
Source: Amazon

For further information on the book check out the dedicated Wasted page on Nicola Morgan’s website.

In addition look out for a possible blog tour around publication in May and according to the UK’s teen fiction site, Chicklish, look out for a blog dedicated to the launch of Wasted containing extracts, teasers, background facts and a competition. Follow Nicola on Twitter or check out her blog to be kept in the loop as to when the new blog might launch.

Wasted by Nicola Morgan is released in the UK on the 3rd May 2010 published by Walker.

If you’re anything like me (stubborn) the thought of putting a book down which your struggling with wouldn’t even enter your mind – it very rarely enters mine and at least at the moment haven’t put a book down due to not being able to read it for some time.

The last book I put down is what is known as a classic (I’m not really sure why I picked it up in the first place as I didn’t really enjoy the film which was based on it either) I’m referring to Pride & Prejudice if you’re wondering – I hope I’m not the only one who couldn’t finish it. Anyhow it’s not teenage fiction so I’ll skip over this point…

Anyway (trying to get back to the point here) I came across this post on giving up on reading book on the reading, writing learning blog (today which reminded me I wanted to write a post about putting a book down) where Catherine who is ‘usually pretty persistent’ will ‘drop a book and fail to finish it, if it’s not gripping me in any way.’

I think this would be a good way to put it – I think I’m quite stubborn when putting books down because I’ve paid for them (or someone else has) and I don’t want me (or them) to have wasted their money. In one case this stubborness paid off as my sister has started buying me books from The Wheel of Time series. The initial book didn’t really impress me but the second one held my attention and I’m now almost looking forward to the third.

I do have an exception though and that is when I borrow books from the library (which I only really do when I’m feeling energetic enough to walk up a very steep hill) – then I have only wasted my time and nothing else by putting a book down, that and I normally pick far too many books to be able to manage to read them all in the alloted 3 weeks.

There is another issue at play being stubborn – if you do decide to put a book down after you’ve read a portion of it how much time have you lost reading that book which you are not going to finish? Why not waste a little more finding out how it ends?

But looking at the other side of the coin time spent reading a book that is not holding your attention or that is not in any way interesting you could be silly when there are so many other great books out there to read – why waste time on one your not interested in?

I guess what I’m really saying is that there is no harm in putting a book down if it’s not interesting you, reading a novel is supposed to be a form of entertainment and that’s really the key point – if it’s not entertaining you, why not put it down and pick up another one and maybe just maybe pick it up again at a later point.

Author: Nicola Morgan

Publisher: Walker Books (Published 2007) / First Published 2005

Pages: 201

ISBN: 978-1-4063-1116-7

The teenage brain is special and Blame My Brain by Nicola Morgan will show you just how special it really it is. It explains why we take risks, sleep late, gender differences, depression, uncontrollable emotions and even the effects of drugs and alcohol.

I don’t normally read very much non-fiction books nowadays but the cover and subject of Blame My Brain captured my attention. The book describes the biology and psychology of the teenage brain in a way anyone can pick up and easily understand – teenagers and parents alike.

Each chapter begins with a short (sometimes quite humorous) scenario which reveals a teenage trait and ends with a fun quick quiz which enables you to find out a bit about your own brain. Quizzes includes How can you recognise facial expressions? Does your brain have more male or female skills? And lets not forget the final test which tests your brain power.

Nicola doesn’t make any claim to be a scientist or expert in the fields that the book covers but her enthusiasm for the subject really shows through. So much so that I’ve added Know Your Brain (also by Nicola) onto my book wish list alongside several of the books Nicola recommends.

Towards the end of last week I did my first review – eek!  It was a review of book 1 in a series of books called Beautiful Dead.  The series tells the story of four deaths from one school with each book ‘investigating’ the death so that the relevant beautiful dead can move on.

Anyway I saw the trailer below on Amazon and thought it gives you a taste of the series in a much better way than I could – On searching YouTube I found it again and so can now share it with you

Enjoy!

Welcome to Books 4 Teen, a blog for teenagers and other readers who enjoy books aimed at teenagers.

This blog will be updated with reviews,  features, lists of books on certain themes eg Vampires, videos all of which are related to teenage fiction.

I hope you enjoy!

Author: Eden Maguire

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (2^nd April 2009)

Pages: 279

ISBN: 978-0-340-98861-9

Darina’s boyfriend Phoenix is the latest of four deaths in the space of a year at Ellerton High.  Jonas, Arizona, Summer and now Phoenix, each death with a mystery of it’s own to solve.

Grieving for the death of Phoenix, Darina stumbles upon the world of the Beautiful Dead, a world of beings who are neither alive nor dead but somewhere in between.  Each one eager to find out the circumstances surrounding their death before they can move on.

In this first book in a four book series Darina must become a detective and unravel the circumstances behind Jonas’s tragic motorcycle accident.  Digging through the memories of those she calls friends and those she’d rather not go near all the while keeping the world of the Beautiful Dead unknown to those around her.

I believe the story takes a little while to get going taking time to allow us to get to know the new world in which these strange believed accidents have happened and to get to know a bit about the Beautiful Dead.  Once it does get going though on the focus of this story – Jonas’s motorcycle accident (about chapter 4) it becomes very hard to put down, I found myself making time in the day to read the book and coming towards the end I read the last few chapters in just under an hour.

It has a romance angle between Darina and Phoenix a bit like the relationship between Edward and Bella in Twilight (I will review this soon) and a mysterious detective angle with the investigation into the death of Jonas.

Told from the first person point of view you really get to feel Darina’s feelings and really see the Beautiful Dead as she would see them without the thoughts of an external narrator getting in the way.

The Beautiful Dead series continues with three more books covering the believed accidents of Arizona, Summer and finally Phoenix.

Released At the time of this post:

• Jonas (book 1)
• Arizona (book 2)

Released 2010

• Summer (book 3)
• Phoenix (book 4)

I received this book on a buy one get one free offer in WH Smiths and will definitely by looking for the remaining three books in the series.  It will be interesting to see how differently Eden Maguire handles the other books mysteries, how they are solved and what will happen to the relationship between Darina and Phoenix in the last book: Phoenix.

I first discovered Twitter just over a year ago but like many people my initial reaction to it was “what’s the point?”  However having now used it for quite a while (I had an account before the one I’ve got now which fell into disuse) I can now really see a beneficial reason to use it whatever you’re into – books, music, theatre, writing or anything else for that matter.

I think my initial “huh” reaction stemmed from people always commenting on it being used to tell people what they had for breakfast (not a bad way to use it just not the way I do).  Looking back I now see it completely differently.

Twitter is called ‘micro-blogging’, you basically have to say what you want to say in less than 140 characters.  You can talk about absolutely anything you like, common subjects I see popping up are the weather, TV, musical theatre, books and writing.  Of course the kind of topics that are tweeted and you’ll read about are determined by who you follow.

Following people on Twitter is how you connect with them.  Once you’ve followed someone their tweets will appear in your home stream and you will appear on their list of people who are following them – they might even follow you back.

I tend to (and recommend you do to) follow people who are interested in the same things as you – the first point of call would be people you already know, Twitter even provides a tool after you sign up for scanning through your existing contacts with selected services including Facebook so you can easily follow them.

Then we get to the exciting bit – trying to find new people to connect with, this I think is one of the best things about Twitter, it enables you to find new people who have the same interests as you.

From a book perspective Twitter can be excellent to find recommendations for new books, can help you easily locate new blogs to read reviews on, follow bookstores to find out the latest promotions and you can even follow your favourite author to find out what project they are working on next.

As there are far better blog posts out there explaining Twitter much better than I could I’ll leave the final words with them:

• Twittering Is Not Just For Birds
• The Twitter Guidebook
• Twitip

On a final note if you want to follow me (not really sure if you’d want to) you can catch me at @jesserowen.

I was in WH Smiths the other day (the only shop even close to a bookshop near me) and after navigating my way to the teenage fiction section one thing jumped out at me there is a large number of Vampire novels on the shelves (They even had a big stand next to the main teenage fiction bookshelf which was dedicated to vampire novels).

This got me thinking about all the other Vampire related stories in other mediums too. Aside from the books, there are the several new TV programmes – The Vampire Diaries (starting this week which I’m eagerly awaiting & based on the books of the same name) and True Blood (also based on a book if I remember correctly) – I wasn’t too keen on this one. Then there is Being Human which I am loving at the moment – liking this one has absolutely nothing to do with me living in Bristol where the show is based and filmed – honest!

Now I have to admit that I’m a sucker (pun intended) for vampire stories where ever they come from, I was (and still am) a huge fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer but it does get me thinking can we have too much of a good thing?

I’m probably not the best person to answer this question as I personally love vampire stories and I will soon be reading (and reviewing) The Vampire Diaries by L J Smith and how can I avoid Twilight by Stephenie Meyer?