The room is packed; there are 50 (uncomfortable) chairs that were quickly commandeered but the clerks stopped counting at 100 when the crowds continued to flow into the second story of BookPeople, Austin’s funky, well-loved, independent bookstore. BookPeople rarely gets this SRO crowd – except for former presidents and celebs; book talks by the average author garner a handful these days. So who’s the big draw? Music journalist Rob Sheffield, author of the surprise New York Times bestseller Love Is A Mix Tape.
For a music-lover like me, this book is a no-brainer favorite. Of course I’d be into an intense and tragic love story told through mix tapes and music; it’s a music geek’s dream—love among the LPs. But as this large and diverse audience (and loads of great reviews) indicates, this book is not just for intense music lovers.
The timeless themes of love and loss, along with charming writing that’s accessible for music illiterates, make Love Is A Mix Tape a sweet read for just about anyone.
Here’s the basic plot: It’s Rob’s memoirs of his five-year marriage to music critic Renee Crist, and how he used music to cope with her sudden death and to celebrate her life.
Renee may have left this life, but she is alive again through the words on these pages. It is hard to not love the irrepressible whirlwind that is Renee, and after reading the book, it almost feels like you were in her orbit as well. Love Is A Mix Tape is honest and poignant, and you can feel Sheffield’s love shining through.
Every good book leaves you with questions, and luckily I had a chance to sit down with Sheffield after his Austin reading and find out more about one of my favorite writers.
I had to know: Was it hard to write about a tragic story of living with and losing such a wonderful partner? “I always knew I wanted to write about her and tell her story,” begins Rob, “and it was just a matter of finding the right way. There were a lot of false starts, there were a lot of times where I tried and didn’t get too far into it. And it was when I was moving into a new apartment and unpacking my tapes and putting them on shelves and putting them in groovy little piles. Each tape seemed to be screaming out “play me next; I have a story to tell!” And I just started writing about the tapes, and the story just kind of came out of that. That was kind of the way I had been looking for.”
randomhouse.com/crown/mixtape/