49. Love is a Mix Tape

49. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield (3/16/2012 - 3/18/2012)

This is one of my favorite books of all time.  The love story that Rob Sheffield shares is rich in detail, full of odd humor and depth and the ideas of what makes love possible for everyone.  I read this book about once a year because I like being reminded that I am not the only one who experiences love like this; I recognize that others do, of course, but the story that flows forth from these pages is truly incredible.

Rob and Renee Sheffield got married relatively young, in their mid-twenties, after an unusual friendship and about two years of dating.  They lived a happy, full life on almost no money for about five years, exploring life, comparing their upbringings, and battling each other over everything from which words are banned in fights to why they should wait til they were more stable to have kids -- in other words, just about every major and minor topic that most loving couples also fight over.  A little more than five years after getting married, Renee stood up one Sunday afternoon, and fell over -- dead, from a pulmonary embolism.  She had no warning signs whatsoever; one moment she was there, the next she was gone.

The book is not just this tragic story; it is also the story of how one begins to move past the loss of the love of his life.  Sheffield does not sugarcoat his grief. He explores every facet of it, from his sudden obsession with Jackie Onassis Kennedy to driving for hours with Renee's dog, a pet he no longer knew what to do with.

I like this book so much because there is so much in it for me, as someone young and in love and desperately afraid of losing the love of my life.  There are so many circled, underlined, dog-eared passages in my copy of this book, so many shared moments between my fiancee and myself in its pages, and so many ways that Sheffield is able to perfectly and simply capture love.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. It truly is amazing.