Saturday, January 12, 2008

Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield



Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
219 pages
Finished 1/11/08












Ah, the mix tape. I was a big fan of the mix tape when I was younger - my choice tape was what the author called "The Radio Tape." I always had a tape handy, ready to record my favorite songs when they were played on the radio. And the funny thing is, when I hear certain songs, I still hear the DJ's comments on the song, from the tapes that I played over and over. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I only made 1 mix tape specifically for a person - my friend Minta when we were in 8th or 9th grade. It was a damn good tape, too, with plenty of Boyz II Men and other sap songs (we were getting over boys at the time, of course).

This book actually hit me pretty hard - I was teary through most of it, and full on crying at the end. The author writes about his relationship with his wife, and how she died in his arms after only 5 years of marriage. I was reading it and thinking through out the whole thing - I cannot imagine losing David. Hate the thought of it. It doesn't help that he is gone for the weekend, either.

Anyway, the coolest thing about this book are the playlists that he gives at the beginning of each chapter. I admit, I'm not familiar with 80% of the music - it's a lot of underground, alternative 90's rock that really wasn't my thing. Still, it was cool to read about music and how it influenced their relationship. And I was a little giddy when I got to the chapter titled "The Comfort Zone" because that playlist had my type of music - Kris Kross, Paula Abdul, TLC, Hi-Five, and tons of other early 90s Top 40 goodness that I enjoyed.

Funny thing about the book - I never looked at the back cover to see the picture of the author. I knew his name, of course, and that he was an editor for Rolling Stone, but I didn't realize until I finished reading the book that this was also one of the guys that is always on those VH1 shows - I Love the 80s, I Love the 90s, etc.

Four stars.

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