Book Blogger Hop | Feb 17-23

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer's permission, I relaunched the meme on February 15, 2013.

I'm going to play with a new meme this week and Book Blogger Hop looks like a fun way to connect with other bloggers. So here goes. ^_^

Can you read and watch TV or listen to the radio at the same time?

(submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

I CANNOT watch TV and read at the same time. I always get distracted by the bright pretty moving pictures, even if it's something I have zero interest in. (Actually, I hate when they have TVs playing in restaurants for the same reason. Unless I'm going to a sports bar to watch a basketball game, I don't want the distraction.)

Music, however, is 50/50 for me. Sometimes I can listen to music while I read, but commercials have a tendency to pull me out of The Zone, so I prefer my own music. I tell myself I can put music in the background and still read, usually when I'm obsessing over a new album or artist. I tend to get pulled into whichever holds my interest more and ignoring the other.

There is one exception:
If I associate a song or artist with a specific character, book, or story line, this is a beautiful sweet spot. The music serves as a soundtrack for my reading and turns it into a 'stereophonic, multimedia event!'

For example, while participating in a blog tour for The Ever Afters series, I featured the music playlists the author used while writing each character, so I loved listening to that on repeat. With the I Am Not a Serial Killer series by Dan Wells, I really listened to the lyrics of a song called Monster by Imagine Dragons for the first time and I think it's the perfect theme for John Cleaver, so I listen to that a lot while reading those. Any of The Blacklist tie-ins are obviously enjoyed with my Blacklist OST in the background. (Here's a similar version on YouTube.)

Can you multitask read?