Title: Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
Author: Rob Sheffield
Genre: Non-Fiction
Saying I loved this book would be such an understatement so I refuse to do it. But I also know I’ll never be able to read it again. It’s a strange thing to fall in love young and make it work. You see your friends hookup, breakup, sleep around, cheat, get cheated on, fall into semi-long term relationships and all the other things single people do. But not you. Nope, you find that mythical “one” and that’s that. You’re done. You’re together and you always will be. And that’s how it was for Sheffield. He met Renee and he was done, just like that. They were in love, they were together, they were happy and then she died. That basic story arc would be sad enough but Sheffield tells their love story in the language I’m maybe most fluent in, music. He associates songs and mix tapes with the feelings and experiences that made up their love and their life together. Songs on the radio, records they bought together, shows they went to, bands they loved, dogs named Duane Allman. Music was a third party in their relationship and a happy poly-family they were.
The love story of the book and the music touched me so freaking deeply that I couldn’t do an objective criticism or response to Sheffield’s writing if I wanted to. Is he a great writer? Don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. Is it a great book? Absolutely. Wait, I think he is a pretty great writer and pretty aware mostly because of his analysis of Nirvana’s Unplugged performance. I won’t spoil it for you but read that analysis and how Sheffield felt when the power went out and you’ll understand what it’s like to be very young but already very much in a position of wanting to protect and take care of another person, even if you don’t exactly know how to do that, even if you aren’t even in a position to do that. Read that and pretend that I wrote it and you’ll know me a little more. And you’ll know why I can never read this book again.

Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fiction
I re-read HBP last week so I’d be completely refreshed and reminded about how it ended in anticipation of reading Deathly Hallows. Neither the second reading of HBP nor Deathly Hallows disappointed. As it’s only been out a couple days I’ll be careful not to spoil anything other than to say it was a completely enjoyable and satisfying ending to a series that deserved no less.

Title: A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Genre: Fiction
Clearly moving from Indianapolis to Louisville has put me insanely behind in my quest to read 40 books this year. I’m confident I can catch up in the fall though. Onward.
The older I get the more and more I enjoy Hemingway though this is probably my least favorite of his that I’ve read. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as some of his other works and boy, it was depressing.