r/books discussion

Personally, I find it mostly distracting. The only times I can listen to music while reading is while travelling by bus or train. Mostly when at places where other things would end up being more distraction then music.

So, how about music while read? Yay? Nay? Sometimes? Spill the beans here.

I can't concentrate at all if there is music in the background as I tend to phase out and then read a few pages without actually taking any of the story in. I've heard that classical music is a good accompaniment to reading but I have not been tempted to try it yet.

I do listen to music if there's background noise. I find that I can focus just fine if I read in a language and listen to music in another (I'm bilingual). It also depends on the book, it's more difficult to concentrate on a novel's plot if I'm listening to music I find.

If I am in a place where I can listen to music while I read, I do. After a while I don't hear it anyway and it doesn't distract me from my reading.

I tend to listen to some music when I read...some music is better than others for it. Some nice jazz or classical in the background really sets the mood but like mentioned before, you don't hear it after a while... sound tends to move into the background.

When I read fantasy books, I use a Fantasy Music playlist from Spotify as background. It really helps me get into the mood of the book.

I like to read in a quiet environment, but when it's somewhat (or a lot) noisy then I'd listen to the RainyMood audio that I downloaded from the Rainymood.com website to drown out other noise. It's nice background noise and it helps me isolate myself from the world and get really into the book I'm reading

It's ridiculous how easily distracted I get by random sounds as I read. I've tried music while reading and it just wasn't working. I do love to listen to certain music as I write, but I guess that's a different story. I prefer to read in silence (if there really is a "silence" anymore), or read with my iPhone's SleepMachine app set to the sound of light rain to drown out any other, more distracting, sound around me.

Okay, this may sound weird to some people, but sometimes I listen to an audiobook, and read the same book on kindle in parallel. Has anyone tried this before?

I'd find that the audio book would be much slower than my reading speed and would find that hugely distracting. I tend to listen to the LOTR sound track whilst reading.

The only kind of music I get is usually background noise. The tv going, people talking. It is rare that I read in complete silence, unless I am in bed.

Does anyone have trouble concentrating when reading and need complete silence? Or need to listen to music or something in the background to read?

I don't usually listen to music when I read. It is normally not in complete silence, because there is the dogs barking, tv's going in the house, etc so not in complete silence either. I used to read during commercials, but now with the DVR, and everything recorded, no commercials, YEAH!! Only downside to that is I don't get as much reading done as I would like. Maybe now with this group nudging me though I will get back to it though.