Book Review - Cassette from my ex

I don't remember how old I was when I made my first mix tape.  I'm sure I was young, in elementary school.  The tape itself was probably taken from my father's collection.  I know it involved recording songs off the radio, probably by putting the tape recorder right next to the speaker or my little transistor radio. The beginnings of the songs were cut off and a voice drowned out the end by the station's call letters.  The tape included all of my favorite songs at the time, and I spent a good many hours dancing around my bedroom and singing into a hairbrush while listening to it.

As I grew older, not much changed.  As my methods and technologies became more advanced and my collection expanded, I continued to make mixes of my favorite music.  I do it to this day - which is how I ended up with a copy of Cassette from My Ex. 

My friend Clara and Tom, the recipients of many of my compilations, gave me this book as a gift.  In it, people share precious mix-tapes they received from love interests over the years.  The playlists act as a time capsule, capturing a moment, communicating a mood.  The mixes vary wildly, some include artwork and well-planned song orders.  Some consist of entire albums or artists with hastily scrawled messages.  For whatever reason, over the years these little gems have remained in collections.  They represent a time when feelings could be conveyed with music, when hours were spent driving around in the woods.  They are tangible forms of nostalgia.