Book picks similar to
Roppongi by Nick Vasey


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Violence. Speed. Momentum.


Dr. DisRespect - 2021
    Wow. Too much energy. Wow. Too much anticipation. WOW. It’s the new memoir from the biggest star in gaming: Dr Disrespect.Dr Disrespect is a 6-foot-8 freak of nature with a 37-inch vertical, the two-time, back-to-back 1993-94 Blockbuster Video Game Champion, and in his factual opinion, the most dominant international gaming superstar in the history of the world. It was just a matter of time before Western civilization came begging Doc to save literature by writing a memoir that reads like a vicious, muscular lion clawing his way through the rocks, roaring in anger and dominance. Here you will find his deepest, most intimate secrets. The untold history of his mysterious, legendary origins and his rise to unparalleled dominance. And most of all, you will find out what, exactly, Doc’s a doctor of. Are you ready for a book with the rhythm of a sleazy ’70s muscleman and the ruthlessness of a ’90s serial killer? A journey that stares down the long, dark alley of your fears and never looks back? Does your warrior’s heart yearn to reach the tippity top of the mountain just to realize you’re still only halfway up? If so, firm handshakes, Champion: Welcome to the salvation of literature.

Crossing on the Paris


Dana Gynther - 2012
    Three women set out on the impressive Paris ocean liner on a journey from Paris to New York. Julie Vernet is a young French woman from a working class family who has just gotten her first job as a crew worker on the ship. Escaping her small town and the memory of war, she longs for adventure on the high seas...Constance Stone is a young American wife and mother who has traveled to Paris to rescue her bohemian sister, Faith, who steadfastly refuses to return to America and settle down. Constance returns home to New York, having failed at the duty her father asked of her...Vera Sinclair, a rich, ex-patriate American is leaving France after thirty-one years to live out her remaining time home in America. Over the course of the transatlantic voyage, she reflects on her colorful life and looks forward to a quiet retirement. While each of these women come from different walks of life, their paths cross while at sea in a series of chance encounters. The powerful impact these disparate lives have on one another make for a magnificent and unforgettable read.

Intensive Therapy


Jeffrey Deitz - 2015
    Jonas Speller still has a lot to learn when he meets college student Victoria Schone, whose troubled relationship with her parents has her teetering on the verge of suicide. As Jonas struggles to make sense of his feelings for Victoria, he helps her become her own person and stand up to her overpowering mother, while she challenges the budding doctor to become more emotionally forthcoming and involved with her. Years later, a crisis in Victoria’s life reunites doctor and patient, forcing them to confront poignant truths about themselves, their families, and their powerful feelings for each other. Intensive Therapy: A Novel takes readers deep inside the hearts and minds of analyst and patient as they grapple with the limits of doctor-patient propriety. The novel, Deitz’s first, has garnered widespread praise both within the therapy community and the literary world.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Yuasa)


Matsuo Bashō - 1702
    The sketches are written in the "haibun" style--a linking of verse and prose. The title piece, in particular, reveals Basho striving to discover a vision of eternity in the transient world around him and his personal evocation of the mysteries of the universe.

The Gender Experiment


L.J. Sellers - 2016
    After discovering they were born at the same clinic two decades earlier, she investigates further and uncovers a startling list. With the realization that more gender-fluid people are targeted for elimination, Taylor kicks her investigation into high gear. But the researchers who conducted the experiment aren’t about to let anything interfere with their plans. Soon Taylor is in deep trouble and needs the help of FBI Special Agent Bailey. As Bailey scrambles to track down leads, events spin out of control and she finds herself blocked at every step by powerful military forces. With the clock ticking on Phase 2 of the experiment, can Bailey and Taylor uncover the truth in time to save the other subjects?

The Japanese Have a Word for It


Boyé Lafayette de Mente - 1997
    The co mpanion will interest tourists, students and business travel lers to Japan. '

The Wonder of Ordinary Magic


Lilli Jolgren Day - 2011
    Deteriorating both physically and mentally while still painfully aware of what's going on around him, Bobby continues to work on the murder mystery he was writing before his life took a sudden and unexpected turn. As Bobby strives to tie up loose ends in his final story, if just for himself and his characters, the reader is given a glimpse of the life he's left behind in the form of day-in-the-life vignettes of his family. A vibrant, original story steeped in symbolism and family ties, this haunting debut explores the subtle ways lives are connected, broken, and renewed by love.

Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide


Hiroko Yoda - 2008
    This book is the result of long hours spent poring over data and descriptions from a variety of sources, including microfilms of eighteenth-century illustrations from the National Diet Library in Tokyo, in order to bring you detailed information on almost 50 of these amazing creatures for the first time in English.Illustrations, created by the talented Tatsuya Morino, detail the potential appearance of each yokai. Alongside each illustration is a series of "data points," with each yokai's significant features at a glance—especially handy for any potential close encounters.Yokai Attack! will surely convince you that Japan's tradition of fascinating monsters is a long one—yet far from being history.Together with Yurei Attack! and Ninja Attack!, Yokai Attack! is the last guidebook to Japan you'll ever need.

Final Crossing


Carter Wilson - 2012
    He kills because he needs to. When the sadistic Preacherman stole the last bit of Rudiger's already troubled childhood soul, Rudiger lost himself forever. He has committed atrocities even he cannot explain in his quest for the End of Days, a release from his pain by finding and crucifying The One.Jonas Osborne, an Army Ranger and Senatorial Chief of Staff, recognizes Rudiger’s disturbing capacity based on a terrifying firefight in Somalia almost two decades earlier. Now Jonas—and the beautiful psychic criminologist he’s enlisted to predict Rudiger’s next brutal attack—become targets. Only on the biggest international stage—a summit for Middle East peace talks—will Jonas and Rudiger meet again for one final confrontation.

Noble Chase


Michael Rudolph - 2016
    For fans of Greg Iles and Linda Fairstein.Beth Swahn is a young associate at Wilcox, Swahn & Giles when she makes a costly mistake - she believes her client. During what is supposed to be a celebratory dinner, she quickly realizes that $70 million of a settlement has gone missing, and worse, so has her client. With the millions lost, her professional reputation at stake, and even her safety on the line, Beth has to act quickly. With the help of a few tight-knit and talented friends and her step-father Max, a powerful, retired lawyer, she embarks on her own private investigation and learns that the hunt for the money - and the truth - will take her to the most unexpected places and will challenge her survival skills to confront a very complicated and surprising enemy.

What Could Be Saved


Liese O'Halloran Schwarz - 2021
    When a stranger contacts Laura claiming to be her brother who disappeared forty years earlier when the family lived in Bangkok, Laura ignores Bea’s warnings of a scam and flies to Thailand to see if it can be true. But meeting him in person leads to more questions than answers. Bangkok, 1972: Genevieve and Robert Preston live in a beautiful house behind a high wall, raising their three children with the help of a cadre of servants. In these exotic surroundings, Genevieve strives to create a semblance of the life they would have had at home in the US—ballet and riding classes for the children, impeccable dinner parties, a meticulously kept home. But in truth, Robert works for American intelligence, Genevieve finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with her husband’s boss, and their serene household is vulnerable to unseen dangers of a rapidly changing world and a country they don’t really understand. Alternating between past and present as all of the secrets are revealed, What Could Be Saved is an unforgettable novel about a family shattered by loss and betrayal, and the beauty and hope that can exist even in the midst of brokenness.

Call Me Pomeroy


James Hanna - 2015
    But Pomeroy plays by his own set of rules. He may be on the dole, but he’ll tip his breakfast waitress $20 just for being nice to him, even if it means he has to sit an extra hour on the street corner to make ends meet. He’s a skirmish-loving, dumpster-diving, ego-starved crazy who thinks that he can sing and that all women are in love with him—or should be. His parole officer, an Hispanic woman who tells Pomeroy he’s off-base and he 1) won’t become a rock star, 2) needs to find a decent job, and 3) would be better off if he stayed out of trouble, is totally exasperated by him. But Pomeroy is his own man, takes no advice, and has more wisdom that we’d like to admit. You may find yourself laughing when you shouldn’t. (“A good strong piss is better than sex. Lasts longer too.”) May find his egocentric opinions politically incorrect. ("There ain't a dyke alive ol' Pomeroy can't turn straight.") But don’t blame yourself if you start rooting for this anti-hero, you’ll have a lot of company. (Note: Adult language and situations.)

The Starlight Club


Joe Corso - 2011
    "They looked like mob guys. They had that arrogance exuded by those who liked to intimidate - those who were the proud purveyors of fear." Amidst the nightly gaiety was the back room, where business deals were made, hits were ordered, and territories were divided. Trenchie, not being a "rat" is just released from his ten-year prison sentence. A new life is waiting - complete with envelopes of money and a steak house to call his own. He finds the woman of his dreams who brings along ex-husband baggage. Hit man Jimmy The Hat finds unexpected fame and fortune in Hollywood, yet always stays true to the "boys", especially Trenchie. His loyalty costs him his life. "Crazy Joey Gallo" and his brothers break away from the Profaci family and go "rogue, on their own now. They split their gang into several small groups and spread them out over the five boroughs." Harsh punishment awaits those who talk. "The colt 45 caliber bullet did its deed, taking with it a sizable portion of Rag's brain, forming a pink mist, mixed with bone and grey matter that puffed in front of Rag's head like a small mushroom, deflating when it met the chilly evening air. The current would soon carry his body at least a mile away."

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves


Kristina McMorris - 2012
    Violinist Maddie Kern's life seemed destined to unfold with the predictable elegance of a Bach concerto. Then she fell in love with Lane Moritomo. Her brother's best friend, Lane is the handsome, ambitious son of Japanese immigrants. Maddie was prepared for disapproval from their families, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed the day after she and Lane elope, the full force of their decision becomes apparent. In the eyes of a fearful nation, Lane is no longer just an outsider, but an enemy. Maddie follows when her husband is interned at a war relocation camp, sacrificing her Juilliard ambitions. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America--at tremendous cost--in this beautiful, timeless love story . . .

The Reluctant Farmer of Whimsey Hill


Bradford M. Smith - 2016
    That is what troubles animal-phobic, robotics engineer Smith who just got married. He learns that his bride’s dream is to have a farm where there are lots of animals and she can rescue ex-race horses to retrain and find them new homes. But according to a Meyers-Briggs Personality Test that they took for fun, their marriage is doomed. There is only one problem: the newlyweds took the test after the wedding. Whether Smith is chasing a cow named Pork Chop through the woods with a rope, getting locked in a tack room by the family pony, being snubbed by his wife’s dog, or unsuccessfully trying to modernize their barn using the latest technology, the odds are stacked against him. It seems like everything with four legs is out to get him. Will the animals win, forcing Smith to admit defeat, or will he fight to keep his family and the farm together? Enjoy the true, warm, and frequently hilarious stories of Smith’s journey along the bumpy road from his urban robotics lab to a new life on a rural Virginia farm.