In the 1990s, when "alternative" was suddenly mainstream, bands like Pearl Jam and Pavement, Nirvana and R.E.M.--bands that a year before would have been too weird for MTV- were MTV. It was the decade of Kurt Cobain and Shania Twain and Taylor Dayne, a time that ended all too soon. The boundaries of American culture were exploding, and music was leading the way.
It was also when a shy music geek named Rob Sheffield met a hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl named Renée, who was way too cool for him but fell in love with him anyway. They had nothing in common except that they both loved music. Music brought them together and kept them together. And it was music that would help Rob through a sudden, unfathomable loss.
In LOVE IS A MIX TAPE, Rob, now a writer for Rolling Stone, uses the songs on fifteen mix tapes to tell the story of his brief time with Renée. From Elvis to Missy Elliott, the Rolling Stones to Yo La Tengo, the songs on these tapes make up the soundtrack to their lives.
Rob Sheffield isn’t a musician, he’s a writer, and LOVE IS A MIX TAPE isn’t a love song- but it might as well be. This is Rob’s tribute to music, to the decade that shaped him, but most of all to one unforgettable woman.
Reviews
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Music can heal us, drive us to tears, warm our hearts, and express our deepest emotions. Rob Sheffield, writer for Rolling Stone, has a profound appreciation for all kinds of music--past and present. In this honest and sweet memoir, he recounts how music united him with Renée, a hip reflection of himself. They eventually married, and when their life together was cut short, Sheffield was devastated. In this book he cleverly uses an eclectic collection of songs he recorded on mixed tapes over the years to purge his grief and trace how he ended up who he is today. Sheffield makes us laugh and cry--remaining ever true to himself and the music he loves. B.J.P. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
Chuck Klosterman, bestselling author of Fargo Rock Cty, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Killing Yourself to Live and Chuck Klosterman IV...
• ?;"No rock critic- living or dead, American or otherwise- has ever written about pop music with the evocative, hyperpoetic perfectitude of Rob Sheffield. Love is a Mix Tape is the happiest, saddest, greatest book about rock'n'roll that I've ever experienced."
Kirkus, starred review...
"This is a lightly-handed, skillful and sincere celebration of pop, of love, sad songs, bad songs and the long, nearly unbearable ache of being a young widower. Witty and wise; a true candidate for the All-Time Desert Island Top 5 Books About Pop Music."
Haven Kimmel, bestselling author of She Got Up Off the Couch, A Girl Named Zippy and The Solace of Leaving Early...
"I can't think of many books as appealing as Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mix Tape; Sheffield writes beautifully about music, he's hilarious, and his story is alternatingly joyous and heartbreaking. Plus, everyone knows there's no better way to organize history and make sense of life than through the mix tape."
Publishers Weekly « starred review...
"A celebratory eulogy of life ‘in the decade of Nirvana.'"
Library Journal « starred review...
"Sheffield's description of Renée's brilliant eccentricity and lovable quirkiness causes the reader to fall in love with her just as he does."
- The Miami Herald...
"A glorious elegy to a pop culture-blessed decade and a tender, unforgettable tribute to the power of love"
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