Review: Pianist in a Bordello by Mike C. Erickson ★★★★
Pianist in a Bordello by Mike C. Erickson is a political satire about a congressional candidate who, ten points down in the polls, decides to tell the truth about his life in an incendiary memoir. After the introduction where his handlers are imploring him to not release this autobiography, the bulk of the book is the autobiography itself, where we learn that the congressman-to-be was raised by a hippie father on a commune, and gets involved with all types of women, nearly gets arrested for spilling state secrets, and basically doesn’t behave very well for someone hoping to enter politics.[…]
“I’ll bet you twenty bucks that you won’t mess with that old man by the bar.”
Vaporized by Victor Levine follows the exploits of up-and-coming/down-and-out musician Jon Cells who’s looking for his big break in the New York music scene of the early eighties. In the meantime, he’s working at a perfume factory, which is under investigation by the FBI for possible drug connections. John Cell gets caught in between the rivalry between two familes, the Iranian Monsouris and Italian Pecorinos, when all that he wants to do is make music.
Just Pru, by Anne Pfeffer, is a laugh out loud, heartwarming story about a twenty-five-year-old woman named Prudence Anderson.
Brothers in Arms by Jack O’Riley follows a group of friends who spend a lot of time drinking (and drinking and drinking) who takes their antics too far and end up violently beating up a husband and wife with a pious vanity plate. The victims of the crime are then pegged as snobs as the small band of misfits then become a major phenomenon in the Twin Cities, and the city is plunged into a debate about the nature of crime and punishment.
The Man I Love is an incredible and emotional tale that pulls the reader into the pages and doesn’t let up until the end.
Dumped years ago by his college sweetheart Lila, and slightly lazy in his job going nowhere as a local hotel waiter in the same town he grew up in, Jason Chapman embarks on a quest chasing The One That Got Away when Lila sends him a wedding invite.
At fifty-three years old, lifetime tennis pro Wally Wilson has shelved his ambition for a comfortable and happy life as a tennis instructor for the rich and richer of Silicon Valley, under the watch of the questionable benefactor 17-year-old Ashley Margincall.