Great Tunes to Read by...

First up is Ozric Tentatcles’ Paper Monkeys.  This instrumental music was absolutely perfect to listen to while reading the Winston Science Fiction Series.  Their futuristic sounds magically enhanced my spacey reading experience.

Bernard Haitink with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s  Tchaikovsky: The Symphonies was vital in my reading of Android Karenina, even with it’s crazy “quirky” sub plots, was really the only way to go, I don’t think I can ever read Tolstoy without Pyotr Ilyich’s music in the background.  It was weird, in a fanatic way, you can’t help loving the Quirk.
                                                
Read some Scandianvian crime fiction this year?  Adrian Lux and The Swedish House Mafia were listened to a great deal while I read Steig Larsson’s Millenium trilogy.

The Icelandic post rock group Sigur Ros was very apt for Quentin Bates’ Icelandic mysteries,

 Finland’s Husky Rescue for Lucifer’s Tears by James Thompson.  It was a cultural learning experience for me to sample all at once, the differences in each Scandinavian country and their music as well as their literature.

Swedish folk rock group Junip kept me company for many other books read this year, as well as the Scottish electronica group Boards of Canada.

  I value electronica in many ways, but having it enhance my reading experience drives me to seek out more from this wonderful genre. 
The cool, mellow music of Kurt Vile was also used to great advantage.  This music is so relaxed that I think you could read practically anything and it would be an easy going peaceful experience.

 Steven Wilson’s album this year covered all of the rest.  While it is hard to pick just one particular favourite amongst all the music I listen to, I do like to choose him very often as great music to read by. Not just this particualr album, every album of his is a sublime experience, to read by, eat by, drive by,  whatever you want to do!