Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield

Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield, pub. 2007, 224 pg.
Rating: 5/5 stars

Mix tapes: We all have our favorites. Stick one into a deck, press play, and you’re instantly transported to another time in your life. For Rob Sheffield, that time was one of miraculous love and unbearable grief. A time that spanned seven years, it started when he met the girl of his dreams, and ended when he watched her die in his arms. Using the listings of fifteen of his favorite mix tapes, Rob shows that the power of music to build a bridge between people is stronger than death. You’ll read these words, perhaps surprisingly, with joy in your heart and a song in your head—the one that comes to mind when you think of the love of your life. --From cover

Anyone who appreciates music or loves a good love story NEEDS to read this book. It's an amazing memoir about how music shapes our lives and brings us together.

Sheffield tells his story through the mix tapes he made at different points in his life. I thought this was genius. I'm the type of person who had been making mixes of music since I first really discovered what music I liked. I have compilations of my favorite music spanning the past ten years at least, so I can relate to how different mix tapes tell stories, and each story probably changed you in some sort of way.

We all have those songs that bring us back to specific memories and moments from our lives. That is exactly what this book is. Through his mix tapes, Sheffield tells us the stories of his many loves in life, from the time he started liking girls until he met (and lost) his wife.

This book is beautiful and hilarious and tragic. It's an intimate look into the mind of a person who loves music as strongly and purely as he loved the girl of his dreams.