Title: You're the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About
Author: Daniel Herborn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary.
Publication Date: May 1st 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Rating: 2/5
Tim’s a young singer-songwriter with a guitar case full of songs and dreams of finding an audience to embrace his tunes.
Mandy’s obsessed with music and a compulsive dreamer. She’s longing for something more fulfilling than daytime TV and cups of tea with best friend Alice, something like the excitement and passion of rock ’n’ roll.
When their eyes meet at a gig, sparks fly across a crowded room and hope burns in their hearts.
But in a city of millions and a scene overrun with wannabes, can they ever get it together? Will Mandy’s nerves doom their romance before it even starts? And where does the darkness in Tim's songs come from?
This is a story of Sydney's Inner West, of first love, crush bands and mix tapes; of the thrill of the night and what happens when the music stops.
Set in the cafes pubs and dives of Sydney's Inner West YOU'RE THE KIND OF GIRL I WRITE SONGS ABOUT is a ballad to that time of your life when you are trying to work out who you are, what it is you want and what will it take to get you there.
You’re the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About was one of my most anticipated releases this year — so what went wrong?
I know the few people that have rated this on Goodreads have given it pretty high rating which is the only reason I made it to page 107 at all. I’m mentioning this book, like with every book, everyone is going to have a different opinion — this is mine.
Music books are difficult to read in my opinion. Everyone listens to different bands, different albums, different genres and sometimes the music just don’t click for you. This was the case for me with this book. I hadn’t heard of a lot of the music, except for The Smiths (which felt a little too Perks for me) and the few lyrics that were in what I read weren’t my kind of thing at all. I’m not saying the music isn’t good, but I just found it hard to read about what I wasn’t into.
On that note about Perks, I felt like this was trying a little too hard to be like that. Not only with the music, but the writing and just the general feel of it too. It was trying very hard to be that sort of weird, depressing but beautiful thing that, if you ask me, only the Perks movie manages to pull off. I know the reviews I saw really liked the writing, but it just annoyed me.
So yes, unfortunately this wasn’t my kind of thing.
