Music to read by ...

[Nick]

Just bought the Amadeus Director's Cut Blu-ray which also comes with a CD of music from the movie. I don't normally listen to music much while reading since I find it keeps me from concentrating sometimes on my book. If I do have music going I have it turned very low. I'm finding Mozart to be good as background music for reading. Anyone else listen to music while reading? If so, then share please.

EDIT: An additional note about Salieri for those who have seen the movie. The story is made up and Salieri wasn't really a hack. For those who haven't seen it. Rent it. Its excellent.
------------
Actually, the notion of Salieri as a hack is a lie too; he was highly respected, writing more than 40 operas, some of which are still performed today. He also taught such future composers as Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven, even Czerny. True, he wasn't as good as Mozart, but if you don't see a difference between "not as good as Mozart" and "a talentless bum," your standards might be a bit high.

Read more: 6 Historical Villains Who Were Actually OK Guys | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_17205_...

[Stan]

When I listen to background music while reading it tends to be John Williams stuff
http://www.amazon.com/John-Williams-G...

As for Salieri, the movie wasn't so much about him being a hack (quite the opposite, after all he was one of the top composers/conductors for the king). It was about how he saw himself as a hack compared to Mozart.

Even though the movie did exaggerate things, strangely enough, there was a kernel of truth. Skeptoid has an interesting article about this whole subject if you are interested
http://skeptoid.com/mobile/4213

[Warren]

Same here. For music I usually stick with Mozart or something by Yo Yo Ma
For pure background noise its rain or surf:
http://www.whitenoiseplayer.com/

Streaming music options;
1.SomaFM: Mission Control
http://somafm.com/

2. Space music
http://spacemusic.nl/
------------------------------
Downloadable podcasts-
http://www.ultimathule.info/listen.html

or record the weekly Hearts of Space Podcast
http://jrabold.net/radio/2hea.shtml

[Kate]

I'm a fan of Beethoven or Saint-Saëns for reading.

[Anne]

I used to be able to listen to most kinds of music when reading, but somehow this has passed. Now I can hardly listen to any music at all and prefer to read without any background noise.

I guess I could tolerate classical music, but these days most of the time I just don't listen to anything while reading.

[Brian]

I listen to music around half the time I'm reading. I find classical too dense to listen to while reading. I listen mainly to low key pop/indie/electronic that I'm familiar with so it doesn't snag my brain.

Examples: Sun Kil Moon, Sting, Coldplay, Washed Out, Air, Atlas Sound, Little Dragon, Moby, The National, Sigur Ros...stuff like that.

I read The Drawing of the Three while listening to Fiona Apple's 'Tidal' on repeat. I still associate that book with every song off that album...

[Anne]

Brian wrote: "I read The Drawing of the Three while listening to Fiona Apple's 'Tidal' on repeat. I still associate that book with every song off that album... "

I had that while playing "The Settlers II". I listened to Edie Brickell on a permanent loop and now whenever I listen to those songs I automatically associate sitting in my father's office building settlements on the computer.

[Pickle]

I cant listen to anything with vocals when i read so with that i tend to read to nice ambient bands like:

Pete Namlook
Biosphere
The Orb
Aphex Twin - when he is in his ambient mood
Sun Electric
The KLF

or i tend to listen to really fast electro/acid mostly from:

squarepusher
aphex twin
µ-Ziq
benn jordan aka the flasbulb, human action network, flex-e, acidwolf

[Brian]

Oh lord. Don't get me stared on all the music I've listened to while grinding through various sport video games' dynasty modes.

[Napoez3]

For me it's hard to listen to music with lyrics while I read, I can't ignore the music and I get lost...

So normally don't listen to music when I'm reading, but when I do I listen to a play list with most of the sound tracks of the Indi Bundle games. One of my favorite soundtrack is CaveStory+, I strongly recommend playing the game and listening to the music.

[Michael]

I read Reamde while listening to the complete soundtrack to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Not sure what inspired it, but it worked ok.

[Keith]

Ambient works best for me. Background music from the video game Mirror's Edge, or the soundtrack to Ergo Proxy. If not that, I retreat to my collection of hits from the 20s and 30s.

[Walter]

I'm reading Sandstorm right now, which takes place in Arabia (and Uncharted 3 is eerily similar). But I'm listening the Uncharted 3 score while reading. It's a great fit. Likewise, while reading science fiction I like some ambient, spacey sounds. The absolute best I've found (and a damn good score in it's own right) is Cliff Martinez's score for Solaris.

[Nick]

Bjorn Lynne has some great music that is good ambient background music for reading.

This track called Savannah is one of my favorites
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WBCRw...

For those of you who play Warcraft, Tank Spot uses his music a lot for their boss videos.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...

http://www.lynnemusic.com/index.html

[Warren]

Excellent. Thanks.
Streaming option-
http://www.live365.com/index.live
Select: New age : meditation music

[Ryan]

lorenna Mckinnet, Enya, Pete Townsend, Genesis, Sting...

[Walter]

Adrienne wrote: "I typically listen to the rain, but that's because I live in Seattle."

http://www.rainymood.com/

[Michael]

Oh, Godspeed You! Black Emperor makes for good ambient listening.

[Vance]

The only music with lyrics I can listen to while reading is Bon Iver's new album. But on the "rain" idea, when things around the house are too noisy, I put on the "White Noise" app on my phone and play the rain track.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I really like immersive reading, and in this Around the World reading project I'm doing, I very intentionally find music from that country that fits the time period. (When I read Zoo City and Moxyland by Lauren Beukes, I even found music that seemed to suit the cyberpunk dystopian near-future South Africa.

I like when publishers make playlists - Anathem had one, and so did 1Q84.

Otherwise, I just listen to whatever I'm in the mood for.