Jim Carroll died this year on Sept. 11th. You may not know who that is but he's the author of "The Basketball Diaries" a journal of his adventures and misadventures as a kid in Manhattan. He was a world class basketball player in high school as well as a drug addict, a prostitute, thief and most importantly a writer, autobiographer, poet and musician. "The Basketball Diaries" was "Kids" before there was such a thing. It spoke of his childhood frankly talking about his sexual experiences as a teen. His heroin use. His prostitution to support his habit and his survival in that sort of world. Its prose is beautiful and tragic and you should give it a read. It'll knock your socks off.

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