Sunday 30 May 2010

Books & Music & ScribeWriter

So, for my third blog post I am testing out this blog editing software thing. The one I am currently using is called ScribeFire which is a Firefox add-on (also available on Google Chrome, don't know about Internet Explorer). I have also downloaded two others (Windows Live Writer and W.Bloggar) and will be trying those out later on.

ScribeWriter so far looks quite sleek and you access it through your web browser rather then as a separate program. So far very simple, you just press F8 and it pops up - either in a new tab or as a split window so you can browse at the same time as you blog. Seeing as I haven't tried publishing anything with this yet I shall reserve judgement until the end.

Who else uses things like these to blog by the way? What do you think is the best one, not just of these I have mentioned but all the others I haven't decided to (yet) try out?

Anyway, Books and Music two things that for me go really well together. I like listening to music as I read, I know not all of you do, but for me it helps keep all those other distractions at bay.

My favourite are usually soundtracks - I love Hans Zimmer and John Williams equally - and I try to match music to books to really immerse me in the mood.

My favourites are probably Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams and The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer. Last April I read Shogun by James Clavell (which is by the way my favourite book in the world) and when I listen to these two albums, I do not picture their films, I feel Shogun in an almost physical sense. It's wonderful to feel as if I have been reunited with the book just by listening to these soundtracks once again. Perhaps I have gone mad, I don't know.

Another book that for me, became intertwined with the music I listened to - was The Counte of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Now if you haven't read this, if you've been put off by the sheer size please don't be because it is a absolutely brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book.

I read this whilst listening to Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man album. Why I chose this to listen to whilst reading I do not know, but some how it worked and I can still feel that book inside me whenever I listen to it again.

Karl Jenkins is a modern day neo-classical composer whom I really enjoy, but this following piece is my favourite of anything he has done.




Bededictus - Karl Jenkins

I love the gentle, haunting build up that is so sad and then the soul-catching choir half way through. For me it resonates with the sadness of The Counte of Monte Cristo and his crusade towards revenge. Now as I listen to it again, I can almost smell the book again. Some books just seem to remain, physically in your mind and by associating the book with music, I can bring that back whenever I listen to it again.

Music I have been listening to lately though - not always book related because it isn't all the time that the book and the music gets so closely intertwined - has been what's apparently known as nu-folk. I love Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling, wonderful music, great lyrics and they both seem to fill a hole inside me. Go check them out if you are interested. I recommend The Cave by Mumford and Sons and Rambling Man by Laura Marling.

At the moment I'm listening to Mumford and Sons whilst I read The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones. I hope you've enjoyed my third blog post - I'd appreciate any comments and constructive criticism.

(Now let's see how this ScribeFire works... if you're reading this then obviously it has!)

1 comment:

  1. lovely descriptions of how the music makes you feel about the books.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails