4 Books and Their Song Soulmates
I’m one of those people who has a strange attention span; easily interrupted unless there’s music. Just me? Okay. Well, I know it doesn’t make much sense, but even in school, I found it hard to concentrate unless there was music. I always chalked it up to needing only one other distracting thing (music) instead of letting the silence/millions of other tiny house and nature noises distract me. At least music drowns out the rest and takes charge as the only other sound.
This has translated to me needing music all. Day. Long. And for everything. Including reading. It’s also led me down the rabbit hole of searching for the perfect music to match the book I’m currently reading. Too classical, I might fall asleep. Too edgy, it could take away from a character’s development. As a result, I’ve compiled the below four books and their musical soulmates.
1) J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Johnny Flynn
That’s right, folks. Our dearly beloved, most-recent incarnation of Mr. Knightley graces us with beautiful, folksy, cozy music. His music is folksy enough to act as both background theme music, and want-to-live-as-a-Hobbit inspiration. If you didn’t check Johnny Flynn out when you fell in love with him in Emma. then you definitely will to check him out while you cuddle up with tea this fall.
2) Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Instrumentals
Ever the go-to for reading, you really can’t get any better than instrumentals for Jane Eyre. I like to go for less obvious classical, so a quick Spotify search for instrumentals often brings up playlists like royalcore which provide beautiful backdrops and quiet for dreamy reading.
3) Albert Camus’ The Stranger and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”
The Stranger is the literary version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Or the other way around? Either way, it’s uncanny how similar the two are and even thinking about the book makes me want to listen to the song and vice versa.
4) Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop and Laura Marling
I think it’s Laura Marling’s dreamy sound, unique voice, and overall ethereal aesthetic that captures the longing and adventure and love that is The Little Paris Bookshop. Laura’s music adds to the reading experience of an already amazing book.
Happy reading and listening!