"Three Books ..." is a series in which we invite writers to recommend three great reads on a single theme.

All I wanted for my 14th birthday was a keytar, one of those hybrid keyboard-with-a- guitar-neck instruments that you see in old, old music videos.

It was 1986, the age of glam rock, and everyone wanted to be a rock star. A six-string, a drum kit — even a saxophone — would have been a more valuable commodity to the aspiring bands in my junior high.

But with six years of piano lessons behind me, there was no time to learn a new instrument. I wanted stardom; I wanted a keytar. I didn't get either.

So, when I want to live the fantasy of being in the band, I turn to these three books.

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