Buck: A Memoir

Buck: A Memoir
M.K. Asante
818 As13Ya 2014

A coming-of-age story about navigating the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family, Buck shares the story of a generation through one original and riveting voice. MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: his mother a dancer, his father a revered professor. But as a teenager, MK was alone on the streets of North Philadelphia, swept up in a world of drugs, sex, and violence. MK’s memoir is an unforgettable tale of how one precocious, confused kid educated himself through gangs, rap, mystic cults, ghetto philosophy, and, eventually, books. It is an inspiring tribute to the power of literature to heal and redeem us.

(From publisher.)

Among Others

Among Others

Jo Walton

Fiction W176a

Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins. But her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. Then her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, and Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled--and her twin sister dead.

Now, having fled to a father whom she barley knew, Mori is sent to boarding school in England — a place all but devoid of true magic. There, she tempts fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends. But her magic attracts the attention of her broken and malign mother, pulling Morwenna toward a reckoning that will draw on everything she has learned in her years of engagement with stories and books.