Love is a Mix Tape

"[Kurt Cobain] made me think about death and marriage and a lot of things that I didn't want to think about at all. I would have been glad to push this music to the back of my brain, put some furniture in front of it so I couldn't see it, and wait thirty or forty years for it to rot so it wouldn't be there to scare me anymore. The married guy was a lot more disturbing to me than the dead junkie."

In Love is a Mix Tape*, you find out that the author's (Rob Sheffield) wife dies on the first page. He tells you. What he doesn't tell you is that he will take you on the journey of their love. For each other and for music. Music pervades the story. Each memory is tied to a song. He had a tape to wash dishes too. She had a tape to sew to. His story fills my soul and wanders around like an old friend looking for comfort and finding none.

Doesn't make you want to read it, does it? But I would tell you that is a mistake. His words resonate within you shaking you to your core. You feel his pain. You weep when he weeps. You want to sing along to Hall & Oates with him and Renée as they drive around with no particular place to go. The story is as much about their innocence and naïveté. About their coming of age, facing the realities of life head on with an exuberance only a true worshipper of music can.

If you haven't read it. Read it. I've read my copy many times. I pulled it down tonight to reread because I was in the mood for a story that would take me away from my world. And this story never fails.



*The hardcover addition is even in the bargain books now. I paid full price for mine and it was worth it. But I might have to buy a second copy to put away for when this one loses all its pages from over use!