Love is a mix tape

By Rob Sheffield. Random House, 2007.

This is the first book I’ve been really excited about in a while so had to share it! Written by music journo Rob Sheffield, this is memoir told with the aid of mix tapes. If I was being corny I would say: ‘the soundtrack to his life’. Having many shoeboxes full of mix tapes myself, this concept really ‘struck a chord’ with me. And for me, like Rob, listening to the tapes is like dredging up whole parts of your life, and this is what Rob does with the book.

Each chapter starts with the track listing of a tape and the rest of the chapter expands on where Rob was in his life when the tape was important to him. The music is mostly nineties alternative – a genre I really love, and I was introduced to some great music I had never heard through the book, including Pavement (where was I?). Mostly the book is a sad but joyful elegy to Rob’s wife Renee, who died tragically young. But I was laughing in parts as well as crying. Yes, crying. Not something I do often with books, but this one was worth it.

Here’s the official website for the book. It can be found at NFPB/BIOGRAPHY in Manly Library.

- Anne