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The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
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The Basketball Diaries (edition 1987)

by Jim Carroll

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1,1691817,206 (3.85)12
Today, Jim Carroll is a highly renowned poet and rock musician. But in the mid-1960s, during his coming-of-age from twelve to fifteen, he was a rebellious teenager making a place and a name for himself on the unforgiving streets of New York City. During those years, he chronicled his experiences, and the result is a diary of unparalleled candor that conveys his alternately hilarious and terrifying teenage existence. Here is Carroll prowling New York City--playing basketball, getting high, getting hooked, and searching for something pure.--lastgasp.com.… (more)
Member:V1LL1N
Title:The Basketball Diaries
Authors:Jim Carroll
Info:Penguin (Non-Classics) (1987), Paperback, 224 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll

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» See also 12 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 18 (next | show all)
I read The Basketball Diaries as a teenager and was impressed by Carroll's level of self-destruction that made my teenage years seem very lightweight. Then as a freshman in college I met him. He had a certain aura not only of fame and talent, but hard living. Rereading again as a father and in my forties, I still like his sense of humor and turn of phrase, but I mostly feel grateful that I read about his path rather than follow it. ( )
  ProfH | Apr 28, 2021 |
Facinating, entertaining, engaging... and of course better than the movie. ( )
  Amelia1989 | Jun 10, 2019 |
Interesting-- the prose for someone of this age is commendable. Nonetheless, I found it lacking in that sense and the journal entries were not as vivid as I would have liked.

Still, a good read. ( )
  DanielSTJ | Dec 17, 2018 |
Without being pornographic, this book has the most wonderfully erotic sequence, I've ever read. Jim Carroll, what happened to you?
  dangnad | Jul 12, 2017 |
Read this in high school and loved it (and the movie). Go Ask Jim... ( )
  Kaytron | Feb 28, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 18 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Jim Carrollprimary authorall editionscalculated
Steeger, StephanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Fall 1963
Today was my first Biddy League game and my first day in any organized basketball league. I’m enthused about life due to this exciting event.
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Today, Jim Carroll is a highly renowned poet and rock musician. But in the mid-1960s, during his coming-of-age from twelve to fifteen, he was a rebellious teenager making a place and a name for himself on the unforgiving streets of New York City. During those years, he chronicled his experiences, and the result is a diary of unparalleled candor that conveys his alternately hilarious and terrifying teenage existence. Here is Carroll prowling New York City--playing basketball, getting high, getting hooked, and searching for something pure.--lastgasp.com.

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"In the midst of the Cold War, war in Vietnam, race riots in New York City, and a turning point in American culture between "Leave It to Beaver" and Woodstock, Jim Carroll began writing his "basketball diaries" at the age of 12. He's an all-city basketball star at an ivy league prep school leading a double life, experimenting with drugs, getting hooked, hustling gay men to support what will become an epic heroin addiction, and . . . becoming a poet. This is an incredibly funny book as well as a remarkable document of a key period in American culture -- but read it for the language!
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