Just Do It

Michael Grecco, Fri., Nov. 30, 6:30 p.m., $20, Robin's Bookstore, 108 S. 13th St., 215-735-9600, robinsbookstore.com

by Shaun Brady

Fri., Nov. 30, 6:30 p.m., $20, Robin's Bookstore, 108 S. 13th St., 215-735-9600, robinsbookstore.com

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When the family drops by this holiday season, sure, you could set out those boring old coffee-table books full of snapshots of western Pennsylvania covered bridges or kittens with inspirational slogans. But if you don't want to just set the stage for another awkward evening of tryptophan-induced snoring and alcohol-inflamed resentments, get their juices flowing early by leaving Michael Grecco's new photo collection, Naked Ambition (Rock Out Books, $40), open-faced in front of the TV.

Subtitled "An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry," the hefty tome compiles Grecco's portraits of porn personalities, onstage and off. A celeb and advertising photog by day, Grecco, who will lecture and sign at Robin's on Friday, favors bold, confrontational images that meet the viewer's gaze with almost uncomfortable directness.

Naked Ambition benefits from its scale; Grecco's up-close and decidedly un-retouched pics reveal every blemish, wrinkle and razor burn. When a zit crops up to mar the improbably sized breasts filling a two-page spread, the reality behind an industry built on fantasy comes into harsh light. Not that Grecco in any way passes judgment; rather he puts the colorful characters on display, with brief descriptors of each's specialty and candy-colored graphic design that makes words like "hot, big ass" leap off the page.

So if grandma tries to shock the kids by eating the turkey's heart (well, mine always did), fire back with the full-frontal she-male near the end of the book. Just don't ask what she and grandpa want with the leftover gravy.