Songbook

Image courtesy of postmodern.com

You know how you have that one mix tape, well now I guess it is a mix CD, where you just love every song and you have a compulsive need to explain why you have chosen each one and you want to share this incredible compilation with everybody because it is just so perfect? Well, author Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) does just that in Songbook and the result is pretty amazing.

I am not saying this because he picked all the tunes I would have (I was actually unfamiliar with about a third of them), but it is how he talks about song writing, music , and how a musician can tap into something within you. As you get lost in his pondering about these 31 song choices , you also wind up thinking about the music that has punctuated your life and why. Sometimes it is more than just the catchy tune that makes a song linger in your mind and nobody explains that better than Mr. Hornby. This "music as memoir" publication is difficult to find in hardcover with the 11-song CD inclusion, but if you are able to find it- it is definitely worth a read and listen.