Die Young with Me: A Memoir

Not only are his dreams of punk rock stardom completely shredded, there is a very real threat that this is one battle that can’t be won.While Rob suffers through nightmarish treatments and debilitating surgery, Nat continues on their band’s road to success alone. In the tradition of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, this incredibly moving and harrowing true story of a teenager diagnosed with cancer is “a resounding affirmation of how music can lift one’s spirits beyond gray skies and bad news (Kirkus Reviews).”Punk’s not dead in rural West Virginia. To them, school (and pretty much everything else) s

His band, Blacklist Royals, has released two full-length albums and played in sixteen countries over the past five years. Rob Rufus is a musician and writer living in Nashville. His new project, The Bad Signs, released their first single in 2015. . He is the author of Die Young with Me

“Rob Rufus is a punk after my own heart and his book is a raw, honest picture of the weirdness of growing up.” (Marky Ramone)“A resounding affirmation of how music can lift one's spirits beyond gray skies and bad news. It's a good piece of rock writing, too, with ‘one hell of a soundtrack.'”  (Kirkus Reviews)"This is the true story of the healing power of music." (Inked Magazine)"After reading this book, and understanding what it took for him to take his seat behind the drumkit again, I’d be a fan even if I’d never heard a song." (Midlife Mixtape)"Evocative Rufus's writing describes the medical rabbit hole we all dread falling into in a style so candid you can

The YA Non-Fiction I've Been Waiting For This year, I vowed to find non-fiction that caught my attention, as it's a genre I don't pick up, like, ever. After reading Being Jazz, I waited patiently for the next non-fiction book to drop into my lap. Folks, here it is in all its 5 star glory.Die Young with Me is basically everything I want in a book and so much more. I am a huge huge fan of alternative music, huge fan of books I can't put down, and huge fan of books that leave me a little teary at the end. Die Young with Me wrapped all those up in a not-so-neat (because cancer sucks) bow.I knew this book was going to be a tearjerker but that it wo. Elizabeth Tankard said Get Fired Up About Life. Well, I tore through this in a day, which should tell you how damn enjoyable it is. I laughed, I cried, I reevaluated my life, I got inspired to keep doing all the things I love, and I cursed The Man. I never had cancer, but I *was* a teenage outcast, and the author totally nails that feeling. It took me back to being in high school in the best way. Please do yourself a favor and read this - at the very least, you'll come away with a new killer playlist!. its a great record and shows you where Blacklist Royals came from Joshua This memoir is one of the smoothest and most rewarding reads I've had the pleasure of reading in awhile. Rob is able to keep it light while still painting a picture of the pain and suffering he and his family faced during his teenage years of sickness. at times the description and pain within the pages seems to be a tale drafted by hollywood rather than a real life story of a boy from West Virginia facing death. Sidenote, if you can track down a copy of Defiance of Authority "Born in Sin come on in" DO IT, its a great record and shows you where Blacklist Royals came from.