Do you remember the song that was playing when you fell in love for the first time (Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are") or when you suffered your ...
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Jan 26, 2011
Kim
rated it: 
This review’s content may be confusing, annoying, trite or downright laughable to persons not born between 1965 and 1978. Hell, it may be all of that and more to just about anyone. Consider yourself warned.
Put your thinking caps on ‘cuz I’ve got some trippin’ down memory lane for you:
Where were you when you first heard ‘A Day in the Life’? What about ‘Wild World’? What did you think when you finally understood the meaning of ‘She Bop’? What does ‘My Heart Will Go On’ mean t More...
Put your thinking caps on ‘cuz I’ve got some trippin’ down memory lane for you:
Where were you when you first heard ‘A Day in the Life’? What about ‘Wild World’? What did you think when you finally understood the meaning of ‘She Bop’? What does ‘My Heart Will Go On’ mean t More...
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Nov 09, 2007
Heather
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Love Is A Mix Tape just absolutely knocked my socks off.
I devoured this book in one weekend and enjoyed every single page, heartily. This is ostensibly a book about mix tapes, and looking back at a life spent seeing the world in a series of 45-minute vignettes (then, of course, you flip the tape over). Rob Sheffield has penned an honest (yet wildly entertaining) book that affected me more deeply than any book I've read in recent memory, woven throughout with a genuine and bleeding lo More...
I devoured this book in one weekend and enjoyed every single page, heartily. This is ostensibly a book about mix tapes, and looking back at a life spent seeing the world in a series of 45-minute vignettes (then, of course, you flip the tape over). Rob Sheffield has penned an honest (yet wildly entertaining) book that affected me more deeply than any book I've read in recent memory, woven throughout with a genuine and bleeding lo More...
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Dec 17, 2009
Emilia
rated it:
Oh man, shucks.
I loved this book.
I could say that the story arc could have been stronger or that he could have talked about mixtapes more (even though he talked about them a lot, I never get sick of it). But I won't. I don't care about those things.
I care that I basically love this book way too much. There are many reasons.
1) I am a sucker for exercises in love and grief, which a lot of this book is--his wife died suddenly after they were married for like 5 More...
I loved this book.
I could say that the story arc could have been stronger or that he could have talked about mixtapes more (even though he talked about them a lot, I never get sick of it). But I won't. I don't care about those things.
I care that I basically love this book way too much. There are many reasons.
1) I am a sucker for exercises in love and grief, which a lot of this book is--his wife died suddenly after they were married for like 5 More...
Dec 07, 2010
JSou
rated it:
I didn't really know what this book was about until I started flipping through it last night. I bought it as a last minute, bargain priced add-on from Barnes & Noble, pretty much just to bump up my total to $25 so I could get free shipping. The title caught my eye since making mixtapes took up a lot of time during my teenage years. Seriously, when the iPod was first introduced, I thought it was the greatest invention since the automobile.
Anyway, I was expecting this to be a humoro More...
Anyway, I was expecting this to be a humoro More...
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Jul 09, 2011
Buggy
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Opening line:"The playback:late night, Brooklyn, a pot of coffee, and a chair by the window. I'm listening to a mix tape from 1993."
Before I-pods and ripped CDs we all made mix tapes. I'm sure most of us over a certain age still have them safely hidden away somewhere, never quite having had the nerve to throw them out (broken cases and all) We named these tapes, gave them away to friends or lovers and assigned them different purposes. Remember the break-up tape, the I'm so More...
Before I-pods and ripped CDs we all made mix tapes. I'm sure most of us over a certain age still have them safely hidden away somewhere, never quite having had the nerve to throw them out (broken cases and all) We named these tapes, gave them away to friends or lovers and assigned them different purposes. Remember the break-up tape, the I'm so More...
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Jan 27, 2011
Malbadeen
rated it: 
If you've lost someone that you cared deeply for you know the frustration in not being able to express who that person was to others. The on going loss that comes from meeting new people and knowing they will never know this person (this HUGE part of your life) can seem crippling at times. In some ways this book appears to be Sheffields attempt to make his wife known to us after her very early death. Personally, I don't think he succeeded. His short lived marriage to her seemed sweet in a teen a
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Aug 14, 2010
Shawn
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Now I know someone likes making mix tapes (and by extension mix cds) as much as I do. I also know someone's as crazy about the corniness and desperation of 90s music as I am about 80s music. When I embrace some of mainstream music's most desperate attempts to throw something profound into our pop culture - take Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" or Spandeau Ballet's "True" - I know author Rob Sheffield will join me in my heartfelt applause. And, like Sheffield, I think my
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Jan 16, 2008
Rory
rated it: 
I didn't like this as much as others have seemed to. And what I liked most was probably what others discarded--I liked hearing about the signifcance of all the songs and mixes and bands. But the love story? Sap-tastic and hit-me-over-the-head-repetitive.
Every tenth line of the first long chapter is heavy foreshadowing mixed with hipster melodrama--you know, "That music changed my life. But Renee was my life. And then my life went away." Then something like "Love isn't More...
Every tenth line of the first long chapter is heavy foreshadowing mixed with hipster melodrama--you know, "That music changed my life. But Renee was my life. And then my life went away." Then something like "Love isn't More...
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Jul 16, 2008
jess
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 22, 2008
Kevin
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Anybody who grew up in the 80s and 90s remembers making mix tapes. You made them for yourself, you made them for friends, you made them for her (or him, as the case may be). You took songs from records, cassettes, CDs, and the radio and mixed them into the order you wanted and, sometimes, you even had running commentary in the form of your own voice during the gaps or the DJ from the radio station from which you recorded the track.
But have you ever defined your life based on these re More...
But have you ever defined your life based on these re More...
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Mar 12, 2008
Bryan
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I really wanted to like this book, despite my mild dislike for Sheffield's writing in Rolling Stone magazine. While the story is heartbreaking -- he becomes a widower earlier than anyone should be allowed to -- I was expecting much more insight than what's provided in this slim tome (I read it in one sitting.)
The story boils down to this -- music nerd from Boston meets awesome Appalachian girl who is everything he isn't. You know where the story is heading after he is instantly smitt More...
The story boils down to this -- music nerd from Boston meets awesome Appalachian girl who is everything he isn't. You know where the story is heading after he is instantly smitt More...
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Feb 18, 2008
Matt
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This is the kind of memoir I'd like to have written (albeit without the deceased wife). The only reason I didn't give it another star is that Sheffield and I don't really have the same musical tastes. Still, the premise and writing are great.
I've had a few conversations with friends in the last year or so about the long-lost art of the mix tape, which has been delivered a death-blow by the digital age. Burning a CD mix just isn't the same; for one, it doesn't take nearly as long to More...
I've had a few conversations with friends in the last year or so about the long-lost art of the mix tape, which has been delivered a death-blow by the digital age. Burning a CD mix just isn't the same; for one, it doesn't take nearly as long to More...
Jan 25, 2012
Jennie
rated it:
I’m having a really hard time reviewing Love is a Mix Tape and I can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s because this book was as near to perfect as I could ever hope. Or maybe it’s because, as anyone who is familiar with the late 90s tour de force Playing by Heart (all 10 of you) knows, talking about love is like dancing about architecture. I don’t know if that’s true or not, because Rob Sheffield talks about love just fine. Maybe he has a dance about The Sears Tower, too, and that’s what his next boo
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Jan 09, 2012
Madeleine
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I started reading this book during the two-day buffer between the beginnings of both 2012 proper and the working year, thinking that I’d have to look no farther than the other end of the couch if the story really destroyed me to the point of needing my myriad mostly-under-control-but-always-threatening-to-surface spousal fears allayed by husbandly hugs. Turns out, catching up on laundry and tidying up our soon-to-be-vacated first home ate into my reading time and I wound up finishing this about
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 15, 2010
Cami
rated it:
I loved this book. If you know me well, you know I am obsessed with music and the old mix-tape was the medium that introduced me to most of the stuff that I love.
This isn't really a spoiler as the book cover makes no effort to hide that Rob Sheffield will become a widow over the course of this memoir. Rob tells us about a girl named Renee and all of the wonderful idiosyncratic things about her and how music and mix-tapes were the glue that held them together, until her untimely passing and More...
This isn't really a spoiler as the book cover makes no effort to hide that Rob Sheffield will become a widow over the course of this memoir. Rob tells us about a girl named Renee and all of the wonderful idiosyncratic things about her and how music and mix-tapes were the glue that held them together, until her untimely passing and More...
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Jun 20, 2007
Shanna
rated it:
One of my friends told me to read it and said I would enjoy it.
I liked parts of it a lot: the discussion of the nature of mix tapes v. other mediums and the way that music can define relationships, the fun new songs I found for the first time/remembered, and the really poignant description of his wife's death. This was in some ways more unsettling for me than The Year of Magical Thinking, mainly because they were both so young. They didn't get a chance to live their lives together. It was More...
I liked parts of it a lot: the discussion of the nature of mix tapes v. other mediums and the way that music can define relationships, the fun new songs I found for the first time/remembered, and the really poignant description of his wife's death. This was in some ways more unsettling for me than The Year of Magical Thinking, mainly because they were both so young. They didn't get a chance to live their lives together. It was More...
Mar 01, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
I dare you to try and not like this book. I guarantee you'll fail. This book is a beautifully crafted mix of everything. It's about music, yeah. There's talk of some pretty sweet tunes in there and anyone who grew up in the 80's and 90's knows the significance of the mix tape. The book is also one of the greatest unconventional love stories I've ever read.
Reading Love Is a Mix Tape is like listening in on the soundtrack to Rob Sheffield's life. He takes you through the music of his y More...
Reading Love Is a Mix Tape is like listening in on the soundtrack to Rob Sheffield's life. He takes you through the music of his y More...
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Apr 08, 2008
Frank
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Any book that describes the summer of '94 as a series of drunken southern barbecues populated by mod-girls and indie rock dudes who always ended the party with the girls singing along to the entirety of Liz Phair's 'Exile In Guyville' on the back porch (word for word) while all the guys listened intrigued and obsessed and befuddled in the kitchen is A+ in my book. See also, the tragic passage inspired by Sleater-Kinney's 'One More Hour', the eulogy to the '90s, and the author's recipe for the pe
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May 15, 2008
Phyllis
rated it:
Holy Smokes . . . if you've never had a heartbreak where a CD / tape / or album didn't get you through, then this book isn't your calling . . .
Yet, have you ever lost one you've loved and that damn tune makes you shutter when you believe you've escaped the loss, but to have it be relived with recall . . .
This book made me think so much of my college roommate / & high school friend, Amber . . . we swore the only reason we got such crappy grades in college is that we had More...
Yet, have you ever lost one you've loved and that damn tune makes you shutter when you believe you've escaped the loss, but to have it be relived with recall . . .
This book made me think so much of my college roommate / & high school friend, Amber . . . we swore the only reason we got such crappy grades in college is that we had More...
Jun 13, 2008
Chelsea
rated it:
A touching book about Sheffield's all too brief marriage and the music that helped define it. I liked the idea of framing his life - and, specifically, his relationship with Renee - around mix tapes, and I think it was a great touch to include the track listings at the beginning of each chapter. He did a good job of making Renee come alive to readers who have never met her, and I think he did nearly as good a job trying to convey just how broken he was after losing her.
It was an in More...
It was an in More...
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Aug 02, 2008
Autumn
rated it:
loved this book. It mentions a lot of bands from the 90s but I don't think that you need to have a lot of background regarding this music to appreciate the book. It is a human story about falling in love, losing it and how music played an important part in the journey. Anyone that relates specific music to a memory, whether a good or bad memory, would enjoy this book. I feel like I could say so much more about this subject...but it is a review not a blog entry. SO READ IT and discover its grea
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Dec 27, 2011
Christina (Reading Thru The Night)
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The Short of It
Music narrates moments in our life.
The Long of It
Rob Sheffield is a mix tape aficionado. In fact, at one point in his memoir he mentions filling shelves upon shelves with mix tapes and still have boxes left unpacked filled. Unlike other memoris out there, Rob shares roughly eight years of his life through music. What makes these eight years so important, give or take? Rob processes the experience of his first true love and her death. All before th More...
Music narrates moments in our life.
The Long of It
Rob Sheffield is a mix tape aficionado. In fact, at one point in his memoir he mentions filling shelves upon shelves with mix tapes and still have boxes left unpacked filled. Unlike other memoris out there, Rob shares roughly eight years of his life through music. What makes these eight years so important, give or take? Rob processes the experience of his first true love and her death. All before th More...
Mar 10, 2009
kthread
rated it:
I spent Saturday afternoon reading in the sun in Charlottesville, Virginia, the way I spent many weekends when I lived in this little town.
Dar Williams refrains filled the cul-de-sac, and the wireless networks were named "TJistheman", "PabstBlueNetwork", and "moonbaker" (the last, perhaps belonging to a baker at Mellow Mushroom pizza near campus).
I thought about how hard it is to leave this place, and the first time I heard the author's nam More...
Dar Williams refrains filled the cul-de-sac, and the wireless networks were named "TJistheman", "PabstBlueNetwork", and "moonbaker" (the last, perhaps belonging to a baker at Mellow Mushroom pizza near campus).
I thought about how hard it is to leave this place, and the first time I heard the author's nam More...
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Feb 14, 2009
Julia
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 05, 2012
Christina Marie
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Not only was Love Is A Mix Tape a brilliantly-written book, it also brought back great affection for the mix tape. Or is it mixed tape? Whichever. You know what I'm talking about. Rob Sheffield hit it dead on when he describes the tape as an amalgam of music and ideas. The best kind of mix tape was the one left in the stereo to record songs from the radio. A bit of DJ here. A radio ad there. Hissing. Squealing. Tape malfunctioning. Ah, the joys of the cassette.
Putting together a tape More...
Putting together a tape More...
Dec 28, 2011
Folami
rated it:
First thought: This book has a great title should be an interesting read. It wasn’t until ¾ of the way in that this statement proved true. I love how much the music plays a role in sharing his story. The relationship he had with his former wife reminds me a lot of what I had with Lucien. His expression of losing such a great love mirrors my own sentiments of the loss I too have faced. One of my favorite lines in the book comes at a time where the author moves to new city and continues to live a
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Dec 19, 2011
Julia
rated it:
In Love Is a Mix Tape, the longtime Rolling Stone critic explains his heartbreaking tale of love through a different mix tape each chapter. A passionate and ultimately devastating romance shares great music from the 70's-90's while telling the story behind the meaningful tunes. When I started this book I wasn't expecting it to make me emotional, I was thinking it would be another one of those music journalists describing various amazing shows. However, instead Rob Sheffield used his talent a
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Dec 08, 2011
Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield is a love story type of book telling how he met his wife, Renee, and he tells his life with her. Right in the beginning of the book, he comes right out and says when him and Renee met, when they had gotten married, how long they have been married, and right to the date that Renee died. Sheffield even includes the exact location of where Renee is buried. He includes much about how he made mix tapes More...
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield is a love story type of book telling how he met his wife, Renee, and he tells his life with her. Right in the beginning of the book, he comes right out and says when him and Renee met, when they had gotten married, how long they have been married, and right to the date that Renee died. Sheffield even includes the exact location of where Renee is buried. He includes much about how he made mix tapes More...
