Monday Musings: Reading Music

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about reading music…

Do you listen to music while reading? Does this change if you’re reading in or out of your house? Do you have a preference of music for such occasions?

I sometimes listen to music and other times not. I have a thing about only listening to music when I’m by myself in my room (with rare exceptions), so that’s the only place I listen and read at the same time, though I do often like to read downstairs in the lounge (though strangely, reading is another thing I don’t like to do in private).

As for what I listen to, it varies. Probably most often is the radio, which means that I’m mostly listening to adverts, I suppose…haw haw haw. I sometimes put a CD on (Maximo Park pretty much live in my CD player, but I also have a lot of Einaudi which is great for reading with). I do use my MP3 player, but I find it harder to have music as background music if it’s being piped straight into my skull through earphones, so that tends to be for when I’m doing other things that don’t require as much concentration.

(Having written that, I’ve just thought that I often use my MP3 player when I’m doing my homework…oops?)

What about you? Do you listen to music as you read?

Musing Mondays – Publishing House

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about publishing houses …

Do you have a favourite publishing house — one that puts out books that you constantly find yourself wanting to read? If so, who? And, what books have they published that you’ve loved? (question courtesy of MizB)

Publishing houses have absolutely no effect on what I choose to read. Many of the books I read are from reviews online, and I don’t often see the book cover or know who the publisher is before I actually get a copy. I pick up a lot of books in charity shops too, but it’s the title that has the biggest effect on whether or not I choose to pick it up and the blurb that decides whether or not I actually read it.

What about you? Do you notice or care about the publisher of a book?

Musing Mondays: Covers

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book covers…

We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?

Book covers don’t really hold much sway with me. A good deal of the books I read I end up with without even having seen them: I’ll read a review online and then mooch it or reserve it at the library. When I’m buying books, I tend to go for the titles as I find them much more intriguing than the covers. I find pictures very difficult to interpret (reading Maus was incredibly hard for me; no wonder I’m so bad with graphic novels) so I tend to stick to the text. I’d be just as happy if all books had plain white covers with black writing, except for the fact that they’d be harder to find on the shelf (though it would look a lot neater, you have to admit).

I do occasionally look up books after having seen the covers, but very rarely, and even then if I don’t like the title, I won’t look it up, and if the synopsis doesn’t interest me, I won’t go for it. All that artwork is wasted on me!

What about you? Do you judge books by their covers?

Musing Mondays: TBR pile

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile? (question courtesy of Wendy)

Well, my physical TBR pile takes up two shelves: one jam-packed and with books on top (I arrange my TBR pile by genre, but I have a disproportionate number of murder books) and one with a little more space on. I also have a total of 82 books in my bookmooch wishlist/save-for-later list, plus another few lists floating around with probably about another 20 books on them each.

My lists are definitely increasing, but the amount on my TBR pile is actually fairly stable. I put this down to rarely reading anything that’s not come from it – I don’t reread much, and I have very limited access to public libraries so I don’t tend to get much from there.

Do I face anxiety? Oddly enough, no. I know that I’m working through the pile, and I know that I’ll never read most of the books on my lists, but those books aren’t staring at me so I can happily forget about them. If I did somehow manage to buy them all, though, then I might be reduced to a quivering heap on the floor.

What about you? Do you get anxious about how many books you have on your TBR pile?