What kind of music do you guys listen to when reading your favorite books?
Right now I'm reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Its a fantasy book and I've been listening to Joe Hisaishi's movie sountracks for Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke.
It's light-hearted and easy to listen to without being distracting. There usually is a good flow to the soundtracks too; it will start off gentle and build up a bit, then he sprinkles a few action tracks before coming back down to a smooth conclusion. His music pretty much paints pictures all on their own, but when fused with a good fantasy story, these tracks become a natural background that really adds nice layer to your reading. It also works really well with late night cram sessions; with the assistance of caffeine this music puts you in the zone you need to be in the night before a final project or 20 page paper is due. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this music to someone reading a different genre but I have never tried so I can't say for sure.
Also in my playlist I have an Icelandic artist named Olafur Arnalds whose music has a similar affect to Joe's music, in that it can easily blend into the background with minimal distraction. The difference is that its very piano heavy. Also the music takes it's time to build up, giving it a more serious tone and feel. It kind of reminds me of winter (you will know what I mean when you listen to it) Going back to my point about its seriousness, if you really get into the music it can get borderline depressing at times. But with that comes some very satisfying high points that feels nostalgically similar to various victories in life (making that final point needed for the win, a first kiss with a new girlfriend, or leveling your entire party to double-star in Chrono Trigger). Its basically neo-classical.
So those are my picks and why, what about you guys?
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