About book Record Collecting For Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album At A Time (2011)
Gosh, I was eager to read this book, and I so hate to give an unfavorable review to any book. I read some reviews on Amazon that said it wasn't really about collecting, but was more of a memoir, and that made me want to read it even more. Ultimately, though, I didn't even finish the book. I started making a list of all the things that disturbed me about it. That the writer complains about a dearth of women in rock and rock criticism, then proceeds to write a book that feels like a typical male rock reviewer in its condescension. That she writes about all-female bands, but omits the Riot Grrl movement, except for Sleater-Kinney.I really lost it with the chapter of which songs from Romeo and Juliet soundtracks to make out to. A. Um, what? So weird that she takes it as a given that one would want to make out to music about two teenagers who ruin their families and kill themselves after falling instantly in love. (I guess this explains the poor romantic choices she mentioned earlier.) B. She writes, "this soundtrack, released by Capitol Records, places Radiohead right next to Everclear, who were bastions of mediocre pop songwriting beloved by the masses." OK, I'm not deeply familiar with Everclear or, for that matter, Radiohead. From the sentence structure, I can't actually even tell whether she's saying Radiohead or Everclear is the bastion, or if they both are. But I think she means Everclear. Why pick on Everclear? In terms of mediocre pop song writing, I would rank them about, oh, 10,000th. (True confession: I really like "Fire Maple Song," and that song about the guy's dad, and I've never heard anyone else even speak of the band.) And in terms of appealing to the masses, Radiohead has played in my area at venues like Red Rocks (capacity 9,500; my banker attended) and 1stBank Center (cap. 6,000), while Everclear has performed at the Ogden Theater (cap. 1,600). I'm confused. Then I came on Goodreads and looked at some other reviews of the book, and found that others had made my points as well, so it wasn't only me. At that point, I gave up. I may give it another shot later, but I have a towering mound of books on my nightstand, and too little time. Bummer, because I really liked the concept of this book. Maybe it would be helpful for someone who is very young and really, really wants an introduction to music. But I don't know. Reading this book was like sitting down on the floor with my best friend in her fifth floor walk-up on the Upper West Side, reading liner notes from rare Costello bootlegs, laughing at bad jokes that only we understand, and eating ourselves sick on takeout Chinese food.I could not put this book down, and, admittedly, cried a little when I finished it. Courtney E. Smith is the only person I "know" imbued with my level of sarcasm (almost sadistic), my enormous (bordering on ridiculous) knowledge of music, AND wit drier than a decent martini. She reminds me of all the people I wished I had known (many) years ago in college - I felt alone in my lust of audio. As a teacher, I appreciate the author's voice, which just screams here. I will be heartily recommending this book to many of my students later this fall, if only as an example of strong, intelligent, powerful, and evocative writing.I only hope (desperately) that this will be a first in a line of books from this amazing author. I feel like I've made a friend...with whom I'd like to someday share my Elvis Costello 45s collection. Courtney E. Smith, you are awesome personified...times a million!
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There's an entire interlude about the importance of last.fm, so. I was destined to enjoy it.
—mtackie
Nice to see book about cool music written by a woman- it gives it a different perspective.
—semibold
