#5: Love is a Mixtape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield

Love is a Mixtape is the ultimate story for music geeks. Sheffield writes humorously and truthfully as he tells of his relationship with his wife Renee. Their love of music is what ultimately brings them together and keeps them going as they get married. Renee dies suddenly a few years later, but Rob remembers their shared life and moves on through his obsession with music. In reading it, I went through the typical emotions of being incredibly happy as he tells of how they met and then devastated as something was unexpectedly taken away from him. But the truth through it all is that, whether people listen to Prince, Elvis, Hanson, or Aretha, music continues to move people and expresses what most of us couldn’t dream of speaking out loud. This was a quick, weekend read but I think the love story and mixtapes will last far past Monday. In fact, this is a book I’ll probably read again and again.