Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time

Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
Love is a Mix Tape Life and Loss One Song at a Time
Author: Rob Sheffield
What Is love? Great minds have been grappling with this question throughout the ages, and in the modern era, they have come up with many different answers. According to Western philosopher Pat Benatar, love is a battlefield. Her paisan Frank Sinatra would add the corollary that love is a tender trap. Love hurts. Love stinks. Love bites, love ble...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9781400083039
ISBN-10: 1400083036
Publication Date: 12/4/2007
Pages: 240
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 79

3.7 stars, based on 79 ratings
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

candieb avatar reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 239 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
Someone mentioned to me they were reading this book and I told her to tell me what she thought because I was thinking of reading it. I went to my bookcase the next day looking for something to read - and - of course, I had already bought it and forgotten about it. So, I grabbed it thinking it would be a light-hearted funny read.

It was.

And it wasn't.

There were plenty of nostalgic moments of "oh! I remember that!" and "Did we really do that back then? Oh my gawd!" But it was also sad. I couldn't help but tear up and break down at one point. The whole thing is driven by music, by - well, mix tapes. And it kind of adds to the feeling of what the author was going through. I wouldn't even say this was a greatly written book. It was okay.

But, it didn't really matter. It was chaotic in places and heartwarming in others.

It also made me sit back and think... does it really matter that my husband left the milk out on the counter - again? When we are 85, living in Tampa with the other old folks, is the argument really going to matter? If I were to die tomorrow, would it matter? Then again, can we live our lives with the constant thought of "what if" and even if we did, wouldn't that take away what we truly were all about - arguing about the milk spoiling on the counter...?

I dunno, too deep I guess for such a simple little book perhaps.
sari-lynn avatar reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 207 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A unique journey through love and loss, told through the songs the author was listening to at the time. It goes from laugh out loud funny to tear in your eye poignant - often in the same paragraph. Read it, then give it to a music lover you love!
reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 124 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was incredible! It was so entertaining to learn about new bands and of course old bands and how they shaped someone's life. Sad, funny, and interesting would describe this book. This is the kind of book that makes you want to hold onto the person you love and appreciate the time you have with them. I loved this book!
Nightshadeisis avatar reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Wow. And I mean WOW.

I found paperbackswap from a cousin of mine that is more like a sister, that is also a member here. She got this book as a gift to me and upon reading it herself confirmed to me that she KNEW that I would love it.

I have n ever been more happy to say that someone was right in all of my life.

One page in and I was drawn in completely. Robert not only loves music, but appreciates its nuances. Appreciates the emotions that songs evoke and how they can apply to so many arenas in a person's life. He highlights each chapter with a specific mix tape list from his own history, and not only does that make it more obvious how much he appreciates the value of music, but it also makes him so very vulnerable, exposing how each of those songs touched, marked, and defined HIS life, and that of his late wife.

I read this book in a matter of days; I just couldn't put it down. You couldn't possibly be sorry in reading this book.
emmaausten7 avatar reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 54 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Funny, emotional, effective, tragic. I loved it. The references to great music was only one reason for that!

My favorite paraphrase quote: "Let's take it from the Western Philospher Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield." ;-)
Read All 13 Book Reviews of "Love is a Mix Tape Life and Loss One Song at a Time"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

erf2erb avatar reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 5 more book reviews
Balances the thin line between tragedy and comedy perfectly. It was sweet and sad and funny. I loved it. It's a quick read, but it is emotional.
reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 350 more book reviews
I read this after a recommendation from a friend of mine who loved it (and gave it 5 stars). It sounded so interesting. After two years of wanting to read it, I finally did. It is a bit of an autobiography about Rob Sheffield's life growing up around music and the love and heartache he endured. Each chapter is started by a mix tape with song listings (which I'll let you know that I actually searched out every single song and listened to them while reading the book & in between throughout my few days of reading the book). I honestly felt as if I was listening to a stranger ramble on about his life and memories that shifted as he told me his life story while smoking cigarette after cigarette at a restaurant. That's what this felt like to me.
reviewed Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time on + 5 more book reviews
This is a great sad but funny (sounds impossible, I know) memoir. Anyone who loves music and has ever made a mix tape will really enjoy the concept. Very well written!


Genres: