I wish books came with soundtracks. Honestly, I don’t understand how we live in a world where books don’t have soundtracks. Think about it, movies, tv shows, and video games all have soundtracks to accompany the stories they tell. How is it that books haven’t adopted this same philosophy? This seems like something that could further boost sales in the book community, not to mention making reading even more awesome, and if it becomes a thing you better believe I’m going to want a handout for this awesome idea.

Seriously, how many of you when reading throw on a movie/television/video game score? Something in the background that you’ve hand-picked to match the theme of your current book. For example, I just finished reading the most excellent conclusion to the Star Wars Alphabet Squadron trilogy, Victory’s Price. I wanted music that I thought would sync up with that reading experience so obviously, I went with the score to The Last Samurai. Kidding, kidding. No, when it was time to read I chose the score to the last four episodes of The Clone Wars, the Star Wars Squadrons soundtrack, and some season two Mandalorian vibes. Music that was within the universe I was reading and added an extra element to the reading experience. Added atmosphere if you will.

This is something I do quite often when I’m not asking Alexa to play something rain sounds because we all know that reading is a million times better when it’s raining. This is saying something because reading is already the greatest thing in all the land. I don’t mind picking out music either, it becomes a fun little game. I just started reading The Blade Itself, the first book in The First Law trilogy which came highly recommended, for a few years now, by my buddy Kyle. In fact, Kyle came to this very site and told all of you to read this book too. So for a fantasy series, I’ll read the first couple of chapters to get a feel for the story and then probably listen to something like the Lord of the Rings scores or maybe a couple of the Game of Thrones soundtracks. Again, something that’ll fit the mood and enhance the reading experience.

As much as I love choosing music to listen to, wouldn’t it be awesome if these books came with music already prepared?! The only problem would be that the soundtrack wouldn’t be as long as the book but that’s okay, you can just keep listening to it over and over and over again while reading. You could break down the tracklisting by chapters too so you can make sure you and the music are literally on the same page. Then when the book is over, get this, you can always play the soundtrack and remember all the feels you had while reading the book. Music allows the story to live even longer and more vividly in your head and heart. It’ll tickle your memories and probably make you want to re-read the book or at the very least, get someone else to read it so you can discuss. Which we all know is the true gift of reading books. Discussion.

This feels like a million-dollar idea, doesn’t it? Book publishers should be contacting all composers, giving them advance copies of titles and tell them to have at it. Just think of all the horror book soundtracks?! You can play those around Halloween, in between watching horror movies of course and have the best spooky season yet. Think of all the great science fiction soundtracks that could be made. Stuff to listen to while driving and pretending your car is a spaceship… I can’t be the only one who does this. Think of the romance novel soundtracks. Stuff to listen to when it’s time to get down.

And with all these soundtracks for books we could also start debates like, was the book or the soundtrack better? This sounds like a podcast waiting to happen.

Yeah, audiobooks are cool but give me a book soundtrack any day of the week.

What do you think Geeklings, would you buy book soundtracks to enhance the reading experience? How many of you listen to scores while reading? What are your go tos? Sound off in the comments below or throw me a line over on Twitter @iamgeek32. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some scores to sort through before I start reading tonight.