The Raw Shark Resources (no spoilers here)

[JeffKamin]

http://rawsharktexts.com/indexus.html
official book site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73f3LWZALE
tilda swinton reads a passage/video

http://www.myspace.com/stevenhallbooks
author's myspace site

[JeffKamin]

While reading so far, I have been listening to The Album Leaf, Bell Orchestre, Holy F*ck, Tsewer Beta, Talkdemonic, Sigur Ros, and other, usually electronic based, instrumental bands. I'm finding them a perfect compliment.
But really, I can only handle instrumental or foreign languages if I am reading a book.

Anyone else listen to music while reading? If so, what works for you?

Exploring the un-space,
The First El Jefe

[frogs8myhome]

I used to try and listen to NPR while reading (especially the BBC) late at night but that was WAY too distracting....mostly do The Current now although they do such a good job with music that it can be distracting as well. I think enjoying good music can be similar to enjoying a good book and is worthy of ones attention.....the good/bad thing about songs is they are short compared to a book

[dirtworship]

Some songs are longer than chapters.

I can listen to anything while reading (even be around TV), though once in a while one song or other just begs to be listened to. And talk radio can be difficult, more so than being in a noisy crowd.

Sure, music and books often deserve our full attention, but sometimes the mix is just right.

(And yes, I am a heavy sleeper...)
_________________
Fnord

[Coconuts]

Lately I have been doing a lot of my reading in silence but Tortoise TNT is always good for a little background music.

[frogs8myhome]

Speaking of music, anyone going to see She wants Revenge at the Fine Line next month? I've seen them before but thought I'd see if anyone else knew of/listened to them.....Oh yeah is this set of messages supposed to be about "The Raw Shark Texts" (no spoilers) I have to say this one is a good pick.....I enjoyed the pace of the story and was happy to think about the concepts and characters as I tried to make sense of everything....also nice to have the visual pieces in the story I think.

[abbygail]

Sometimes I'm in the mood to listen to music while I'm reading. It depends on the book. During The Raw Shark Texts I've been listening to Tristeza and Bonobo and then accidentally Wolf Eyes, which was interesting when the song "Stabbed in the Face" came on. haha

During Then We Came to the End, I had looked up the website, and I let that song play over and over and over and over and over and over. I kind of want to know who that band is and what that song was called.

[JeffKamin]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=107917668

Austin Donohue did the music on Then We Came to the End video. Not sure if it is available, but I bet a well placed e-mail to him would help.

And I love Bonobo, am going to check out Tristeza (love Album Leaf). Gracias.

[Carter]

As the poster child for ADD, music and books don't mix very well for me. Not that I never listen to music while reading, but I do it only when I really don't care about the book/mag/whatever and thus don't mind the diminished reading experience.

Instrumental music may be manageable. A friend brought the three Lord of the Rings soundtracks over recently for a boardgame session, and that was a nice addition. I might try doing some more of that while reading. My limited classical music collection (mainly Beethoven and Rachmaninov) won't work because I like it too much and would be pulled back out of the book.

[klh9280]

Lord of the Rings soundtracks...boardgames...nerd alert! Just kidding. I'm well on my way to being everyone's best friend I just know it. I too find it hard to listen to music when reading...and I don't have ADD. It's just too distracting.

Maybe someone could post a British-American translation guide? I don't think of myself as completely stupid when it comes to foreign slang, but some of those terms Steven Hall used tripped me up!

[Carter]

[Beth]

The most thorough site I spotted after a quick Google search was this one: http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

I'm not sure whether the terms that tripped you up are in here, and it seems to be missing some basics (e.g. torch = flashlight) so it might not be all that helpful.

Anything specific that's stumping you? I don't claim that my semester in London several years back turned me into a British slang expert, but maybe with our collective forum brain power we can figure it out.

[JeffKamin]

Steven Hall's playlist for writing or reading TRST

http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2007/04/book_notes_stev_2.html

[AEDewar]

Music w/ reading: As a child I needed complete silence to read. When I got into high school, I needed to have the radio on to read. Same these days. In a quiet room, my brain needs more stimulation and will wander while I'm reading. If I have something in the background, I can focus on the book more. I do better with the radio on rather than my own music stash, because the more familiar something is the more I'm going to be distracted by it.


I had a hard time getting into this book. I honestly got lost at a couple of spots, and had to reread almost a whole chapter because I got confused. I don't know if it was the way it was written, my mental state, a conceptual fish eating my short term memory, or what, but there were major ebbs and flows to this book; times where I was completely into it and couldn't stop reading followed by points where I had to force myself to keep reading because it was dull/boring. I don't remember the last time I'd felt that way about a book.

I was talking with Mia (who'd finished the book last month) about other cyberpunk novels. I'd mentioned that Neal Stephenson is probably my favorite in the genre, and said she should read Snow Crash since that's probably the best of the "classic" cyberpunk books. After finishing this one, I probably should've recommended Cryptonomicon since that has more to do with codes and bridging history through developing computer technologies, which is a better fit to this one.

[mchaso]

Now you tell me! I haven't started Snow Crash yet -- I was planning on reading it this weekend. I probably should re-read this book, since now reading through the discussion, I am having trouble remembering parts of it.

As for music while reading, I like to have the radio on, too. Or the TV. Baseball games work well for me in the background.