Hello!
For today’s blog post, we will be talking about Music and Books!
Me personally, I love listening to music. I listen to music when I wake up, when I eat, take a bath, study, have a moment, think about stuff, do my assignments, and when I sleep. Literally every single moment of my life.
Books and music are two things I can’t live without, and because of that, I have this habit of listening to music whenever I’m reading.
I know a lot of people who don’t like noises and preferred quietness whenever they are reading. Most of my friends also don’t like music every time they are studying or doing assignments and such. Music for them is somewhat distracting, making it hard for them to concentrate and fully grasp the words and ideas in a book.
In my case, music for me makes my reading experience into another level. It serves as a piece of background music that gives more emphasis to the setting and atmosphere of the book I’m reading. Imagine watching a movie without any background music or sound effects, it’s somewhat like that. Of course, I’m NOT saying that readers should read with music, I do also read without music and it’s basically how we all started reading, but nowadays I prefer listening while reading.
Here are some of the reading experiences you should try whilst listen to music:
- Divergent Series (Dystopian reads) + Paramore
I literally finished reading the whole trilogy while Paramore’s album ‘All We Know is Falling’ is on repeat. Most of the songs really fit well on the Divergent universe. Lyrically, songs like Conspiracy, Brighter, My Heart, Emergency, and Never Let This Go fits well on the Divergent narrative which is being different and making a stand with that difference to make a revolution.
Well, one shouldn’t focus on the lyrics while reading since it will SURELY distract you, just saying that it’s a +point that the songs and the book are in the same wavelength. Paramore’s post-grunge/alternative sound really fits with this adventurous dystopian read. You should try it!
- They Both Die at the End (LGBTQ++ books) + Troye Sivan
We all know that Adam Silvera and Troye Sivan both writes with the narrative of two male people, with a more intimate relationship than a normal friend. That’s pretty much the context with it. Aside from that, Troye’s synth-pop and chilly smooth voice gives the perfect balance of ambiance and atmosphere on a YA Contemporary featuring two male leads.
Recommended songs from Troye Sivan’s discography would be BITE, BLOOM, HEAVEN, YOUTH, for him, and STRAWBERRIES & CIGARETTES. There’s more of it, you should search it up!
P.S. These songs also apply to any LGBTQ++ books!
- All Your Perfects (any romance reads) + Katy Perry
Katy Perry writes one of the great ballads and pop love songs. Her songs, especially her non-singles are the truly hidden gems you all should be hearing. Songs like ‘This Moment’, ‘It Takes Two’, ‘Not Like the Movies’, ‘Miss You More’, and ‘Unconditionally are great ballads that will surely give your reading experience a more dramatic and nostalgic experience!
She also has more upbeat songs like ‘Self-Inflicted’, ‘Love Me’, ‘Hummingbird Heartbeat’ and ‘Teenage Dream’ if your contemporary read has a very light and humorous atmosphere in it.
- Harry Potter + Melanie Martinez
This may look weird and uncommon but trust me, it really works. There are only two songs from Melanie Martinez which I constantly listen to while reading Harry Potter, none of it was from the Crybaby album. I’m talking about ‘Dead to Me’, and ‘Bittersweet Tragedy’ from her Doll House EP.
These two songs literally embody the word vintage, creepiness, rawness, and somewhat whimsical which perfectly fits on the Harry Potter series. Her vocals especially on Bittersweet Tragedy is really sympathetic and very dramatic, meanwhile Dead to Me is very SLYTHERIN.
‘Bittersweet Tragedy’ also reminds me of Hagrid as a whole, I don’t know why. But you all should just listen to it for you to understand what I’m saying. It really does work! Listen to it here!
BONUS: Florence + the Machine is also a great pick when you read Harry Potter! Mainly the High as Hope album!
These are just some of the book and song recommendations that I could share for you all today, y’all should experiment with a wide variety of songs out there! Try using it as background music for your reading experience.
Most of the time when you listen to a song while reading, you’re just paying attention to the instrumentals and not the actual lyrics. That’s why it’s not that distracting, perfecting that habit needs a lot of practice though, good luck!
Do you prefer reading on a quiet place or do you also play music while reading?
Let’s continue the discussion on the comments!
See you on the next blog post~
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I’m gonna give these try! I would love to listen to music while I read again. But it seems like my attention span keeps getting smaller and smaller lol.
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Haha. You can start with only instrumentals and then shift to the actual songs 😊
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yes i love troye!
livinginthelittlereddot.wordpress.com
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What’s your favorite song of him? 😁
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can’t pick my absolute favourite, but the ones i’m currently listening to on repeat are lucky strike and what a heavenly way to die!
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YES! From Bloom! ✨ Postcard, Seventeen and WAHWTD are my faves on there 👐
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Oh oh oh I want to share a bookish experience related to this. I just read The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender and all the while I was reading it, I had the song “Make you Feel my Love” by Sleeping At Last, AND I TELL YOU, THE SONG WAS REALLY AS IF IT WAS WRITTEN FOR THE BOOK ITSELF.. LIKE HECK SRSLY.. it relates to all the love and misfortunes from the story of the Roux family to Ava Lavender, and no, it doesn’t serve as some kind of a distraction to your reading experience but more like a back ground music to a film, adding to flavor to each scene. I really recommend you to try it huhuhuu srsly pls try it lmao
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** had the song “Make You Feel My Love” by Sleeping at Last playing in repeat
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OMG CAN YOU EVEN READ MINDS?
My hardcover copy of ‘TSABSOAL’ just came yesterday and I’m planning to read it this week. Thanks for sharing your experience! Will definitely do this! 👐
P.S. The timing is on point 💯✔ I can’t 😂
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I’m loving Make You Feel My Love! I think it does suit well with the book!!
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This is such a great idea!!! I love your choices. I usually have something instrumental like film scores or orchestral versions of modern songs playing so I don’t get distracted by the lyrics!
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Yessss! Instrumentals are great choices if words distracts you a bit. Thank you 😊✨
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This is such an interesting post! I don’t listen to music while reading as I find it distracting. Actually any sound while reading distracts me from my book.
I do agree with your pairing of Troye Sivan and They Both Die. His music even fits the dystopia setting of the book!
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Thank you! I do understand a lot of bookworms wanted silence when reading! I also do it especially when I need to concentrate on the book ✨😄
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This is such a cool idea! I tend to not want to listen to music when I am reading because my mind likes to wander, but I do enjoy listening to Vitamin String Quartet covers sometimes (especially when i am working). That being said, I never thought about how the right playlist would be like a movie soundtrack though! I might have to listen to some epic folk metal next time I am reading an epic fantasy.
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Yes, that’s cool!! I haven’t tried classicals as playlists, I might try it next time! Thanks, Kaleena 😊
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VSQ works well for me because it’s familiar songs but without the lyrics haha.
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These are great playlist/book combos!
I use Pandora stations that follow book moods when I read but listen to audiobooks mostly so no music then.
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Thanks, Heather! I guess I’ll have to try Pandora stations next 😄
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I love music and I couldn’t go a day without listening to it but I can’t have music on while I’m reading. I start singing along and losing track of what I’m reading
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It’s really hard at first, but you’ll get used to it! 🙂
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Dang I need to try these!! Dystopia + Paramore sounds like such a good match (though I only know like…one…of their songs 👀😂)
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What was that one song you knew from Paramore??? You should listen more to them!!
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I think it was Let the Flames Begin? Maybe? It was a long time ago 😂😂 But hell yeah I definitely will!!!
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That was a good song! From their second album ‘Riot!’ YOU REALLY MUST 😭
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Yessssss 😁😁
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I prefer silence when I read or low background noise but if I listen to music I sing along as I love to sing. I love how you have different soundtracks for differen posts though.
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Thanks! Completely understandable ✨
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I loved your post though.
I think I just get too lost in the music
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