Goodbyes

This is kind of a sad entry. I'll be stepping down as books editor/blogger for Enfuse. The "real" work situation just keeps getting crazier, and I'm finding myself with less time for "fun" projects like managing reviewers and writing reviews. Thanks to everyone who checked in on this blog, and thanks to all my wonderful reviewers who contributed their wit and intelligence to this site over the past year.

I want to mention a couple of outstanding books that I didn't have time to review in full. Dan Kennedy's Rock On: An Office Power Ballad is a hysterical memoir of his time in the music industry. This is the first nonfiction book in a long time that had me laughing out loud - Kennedy's style is reminiscent of David Sedaris. His story about the Donnas is particularly funny, as are the lists and lyrics he includes in some of the chapters, such as "Ineffective Names for a Hardcore Death Metal Band." From Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill .

This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record is a debut novel from Susannah Felts. It follows staid, somewhat nerdy photography obsessed 16-year-old Vaughn as she reinvents herself over the summer. She forms a friendship with incandescent bad-girl Sophie - a neglected teen who ends up living with Vaughn and her parents and becomes the subject of most of Vaughn's photos. At the outset, I wasn't sure about this book - the voices of the teenagers didn't always ring true in the first couple of chapters. But, despite the imperfections in tone, I became engrossed in Vaughn and Sophie's story. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this charming novel. From Featherproof.