Love Is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield (Crown)

In the 1990s alternative music became mainstream with bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana: it was a decade when the author, a shy music geek, met a punk-rock girl who fell in love with him. Despite their many differences, the one thing they held in common was a love of music – which kept them together. LOVE IS A MIX TAPE uses songs on fifteen mix tapes to tell of his romance and its brief surge. His passion reflects the sentiments and passions of the 1990s and beyond: LOVE IS A MIX TAPE reads like a history of the era and goes far beyond autobiographical reflection to reveal the heart of the alternative music movement. A striking, gripping account evolves, suitable not just for music history libraries, but for any general lending library hoping to reach out to the avid young music fan. – Midwest Book Review

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California Wine Country, Peter Fish & Sarah Schneider (Sunset Books)

There are plenty of wine travel books on the market, but what makes CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY special is several attributes. First, a coat pocket sized appearance with a hard cover lends itself to take along totes and easy consultation, especially the numerous maps and charts which display the latest wine country wineries, hotels, restaurants and more. Reviews of hundreds of wineries from 11 top regions throughout the state also lend to travelers who plan on going beyond the usual Napa/Sonoma Northern California regions. From suggested touring routes to winery web pages, phones, descriptions of wines and more, CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY is a top field guide not to be missed: a pick for any California visitor or resident who loves wine and travel. – Midwest Book Review

Mavericks at Work, Taylor & LaBarre (William Morrow)

Like a host of the new “psychosocial” business books, Mavericks at Work describes what it takes to have a breakthrough corporate success in the new millennium. The focus is not so much on the business styles of the 50’s and 60’s, as illustrated by the work of, say Peter Drucker, but rather it focuses on the new gestalt of branding through an intense devotion to customer service. By examining companies from the large scale of Proctor & Gamble and the World Bank, as well as new upstarts like Craigslist and ING Direct to open source communities like Wikipedia and TopCoder, authors William Taylor and Polly LaBarre take a new approach to finding out what the basis of the new energy and focus of companies who’s products or services allow them to differentiate themselves and pull away from the pack. As veterans of the cutting edge business magazine Fast Company, the authors are well suited to have the inroads and knowledge in witnessing what works (and what doesn’t) for the new breed of entrepreneurs or those within established enterprises trying to re-write the rules of business in the new world order. In addition, the pair operate one of the best follow-on websites we’ve seen featuring outtakes from the book, a blog, podcasts, interviews and information about their ‘Mavericks Live’ special events around the country www.mavericksatwork.com. A must for anyone thinking about Business 2.0. – Tim Devine

The Twinkie Cookbook, Hostess (10 Speed Press)

When we were given a review copy of this book we really couldn’t believe our eyes. A book of Twinkie recipes? Well now we’ve seen it all! We were told over 100,000 copies of this book have been sold so far, a fact which astonished us even more. But with half a billion Twinkies sold each year, we suppose anything is possible. If you’re a Twinkie fan and have ever been inspired to attempt some inventive uses of the creme filled cakes, this would be the book for you. Twinkie pie, Twinkie pancakes, fried Twinkies, a Twinkie burrito, even Twinkie sushi are all revealed in this quirky little book. The book was conceived as a way for Twinkie fans to celebrate the 75th birthday of this dessert confection by contributing recipes to Hostess. The history of the Twinkie through the ages makes for interesting reading in the front of the book, but as far as the recipes themselves, you are on your own!

Out of His Head, Richard Williams (Omnibus Press)

Veteran U.K. music journalist Mick Brown was the last reporter to interview Phil Spector before he was arrested and charged with the murder of Lana Clarkson. During their rambling four-hour discussion, the legendary producer tellingly admitted, I have devils inside that fight me. And I am my own worst enemy. The story ran in the U.K. Telegraph just two days before Clarkson was found shot to death in Spectors spooky Alhambra mansion, and undoubtedly this book would not exist if it were not for that bizarre incident. Still, Browns sympathetic story traces Spector’s incredible rise in the early ’60s, with a real understanding of how the producer turned the three-minute pop song into works of art like Be My Baby, You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling and River Deep, Mountain High, only to inspire the very same British Invasion that would, at first, replace him on the charts, then ultimately give him a second chance through his work on The Beatles Let It Be and the solo albums of John Lennon and George Harrison. It is easy to compare his career trajectory to that of Orson Welles, another youthful phenom never able to top himself, whose own Citizen Kane provides a convenient parallel to the producers eventual self-exile from the world behind the gates of his gothic manse, with his Rosebud the early suicide of his father and the constant hectoring of an overbearing mother. But that does not begin to explain the combination of obsession, stubbornness and unbridled ambition that led Spector to create pop masterpieces that took teen angst to mythic heights. Brown leaves little doubt that Spector and his continuing fascination with guns, and his penchant for waving them around to get his way, would eventually lead to a tragedy like this, without necessarily condemning him. What we are left with is a feeling of tremendous waste. For all of his accomplishments, for all his desire to create a larger than life image of himself that would effectively shadow his intense vulnerability and feeling of insecurity, he will undoubtedly be remembered for those final pathetic images, of a wigged nut job brought down by his own Achilles heel. To know him is not to love him, but rather to feel sorry for him…which is something Phil Spector spent his life running from. – Roy Trakin