RECENT REVIEWS:

The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 by Thomas Ott »

Omaha Steaks' The Great American Grilling Book by John Harrison and Judith Choate »

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond by Ben Macintyre »

Skyscrapers of the Midwest by Joshua W. Cotter »

True Norwegian Black Metal by Peter Beste  »

In 2003, a young Brazilian prostitute scandalized her country by launching a blog detailing her many sexual exploits. The blogger, who used the professional name Bruna Surfistinha ("Bruna the Surfer Girl"), ended up appearing on TV and in magazines. The fervor with which Brazilians followed her rise to infamy revealed a repressed, conservative core beneath that country's veneer of sexual permissiveness.

The melodramatically titled The Scorpion's Sweet Venom is the book that grew out of Bruna's blog. Her story is all-too-familiar: A troubled middle-class youth awakens to her sexuality, rebels against the stifling nature of her home life, is beaten by her father after she's caught stealing from her mother, breaks with her family to make her living on the streets and in the brothels of the big city. What distinguishes this memoir is Bruna's playful love of sex and sexuality -- for her, visiting a sex club is as exciting as going to the Super Bowl for an NFL fan. She's surprisingly insightful about her chosen line of work. Perhaps most titillating: Bruna actually has orgasms with clients!

But this is also a cautionary tale. Bruna nearly dies of a drug overdose. One of her clients brutally rapes her. Because she's in constant competition with other prostitutes, their offers of support are dubious, at best. Even while she's enjoying her many sexual encounters, Bruna makes it clear that her life is suffused with pain. She talks about how she sometimes goes in the middle of the night to stare at her family's home, wishing she could reconnect with them. "To this day," she admits, "I sometimes feel sick when I see a hand stroking my body."

Bruna doesn't delve deeper into her psychic pain, which is too bad. We get the sense that what she's showing us is just the tip of the iceberg. Still, there's enough sass and honesty here to make The Scorpion's Sweet Venom a compelling -- as well as fast and easy -- read.