When did you discover Bukowski?
- Thread starter mjp
- Start date
I know, and the coincidence is what I was responding to.
You misunderstand me. I don't hate Howard Stern. Rather, I put him in the same bin as Richard Simmons: insignificant, but for some reason, well-known.
Of course there's nothing wrong with it; not only is this a free country, we are all entitled to like what we like and vice versa. And in my opinion, it's more like mentioning Bach and Carrot Top in the same sentence. One has nothing to do with the other, but there's just a bit more to it than that.
Well, again, I don't hate Stern, and I certainly don't need your sympathy for my tastes in entertainment.
Now, again: welcome to bukowski.net. There's a great deal to learn here for all of us, and all tastes are welcome (along with most forms of expression).
As far as the first Buk book I ever read, I don't remember (I may have even posted it in this thread). Probably Dangling in the Tournefortia or War All the Time. First novel was Post Office; I know that for sure. Enjoy the books!
Oh-oh... :D
Stern isn't talented, just opportunistic. Not that that's a bad thing.:p
mjp
Founding member
Au contraire, Pierre! But let us not derail this thread into a pissing match over radio performers, eh?
Edit: We now have a Howard Stern thread, if you really must.
Ambreen
Sordide Sentimental
Erections, ejaculations, exhibitions and general tales of ordinary madness, in october 2006.
In the novel Women, a female groupie said to Henry Chinaski (I translate it into english from a french edition, so it is certainly approximate) : "Your writing, [...] it's so crude. Like being hit by a club, and yet it contains humour and tenderness".
It was exactly my own feeling during my first encounter with Buk's world.
In the novel Women, a female groupie said to Henry Chinaski (I translate it into english from a french edition, so it is certainly approximate) : "Your writing, [...] it's so crude. Like being hit by a club, and yet it contains humour and tenderness".
It was exactly my own feeling during my first encounter with Buk's world.
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Yes, I really was. I was brought up as the youngest one,having two older sisters and two older brothers and my parents were very liberate in a somehow typical way for the seventies.I had all these records from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Sex Pistols ... coming to my ear by my brothers and the "connected" literature was not hidden in a safe. I could also have grabbed Jan Cremer, but I didn't like the cover, I remember. Around the same time, I also saw the film Temrok ( is that with k or ck? ), I wouldn't let my child see that movie on tele, but I can't say I suffered from any trauma. Eating cops is cool. :D
Some of us here have recently discovered Buk. And others, like myself, have been reading him for years. I thought it would be interesting to hear about when in our lives we encountered his work. And a little about the circumstances leading up to it.
I'll start.
It was April 2001 and a Books-a-Million had just opened locally. The poetry section there was bigger than other bookstores in the area. And a little more comprehensive. It was there and then I picked up "Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way." My introduction to the world of Bukowski.
By that time, I was early in the recovery from a terrible depression. A writer's block that lasted five years was still crumbling down. But there were still a few ramparts in my mind. Looking at Bukowski's work made me realize that I could write through my pain. Not just wait for it to subside for periods at a time. I found comfort in that.
Looking back, it's quite ironic to me that "Sifting..." is the first book of his I read. I was going through quite a bit of madness at the time. Still do, occasionally. But I cope better these days.
Before 2001, I had never heard of Charles Bukowski. Growing up in West Virginia blinded me to most goings on out west. I stuck mostly with poets my parents knew. Like Robert Frost and Ogden Nash. I read e.e. cummings and Jack Kerouac in school, but never Bukowski.
Never until that month in that year of my life. As if he was waiting until I was ready for him.
So that's my story. How did you discover Bukowski?
I'll start.
It was April 2001 and a Books-a-Million had just opened locally. The poetry section there was bigger than other bookstores in the area. And a little more comprehensive. It was there and then I picked up "Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way." My introduction to the world of Bukowski.
By that time, I was early in the recovery from a terrible depression. A writer's block that lasted five years was still crumbling down. But there were still a few ramparts in my mind. Looking at Bukowski's work made me realize that I could write through my pain. Not just wait for it to subside for periods at a time. I found comfort in that.
Looking back, it's quite ironic to me that "Sifting..." is the first book of his I read. I was going through quite a bit of madness at the time. Still do, occasionally. But I cope better these days.
Before 2001, I had never heard of Charles Bukowski. Growing up in West Virginia blinded me to most goings on out west. I stuck mostly with poets my parents knew. Like Robert Frost and Ogden Nash. I read e.e. cummings and Jack Kerouac in school, but never Bukowski.
Never until that month in that year of my life. As if he was waiting until I was ready for him.
So that's my story. How did you discover Bukowski?
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
I heard about him from Roger Ebert, his review of Barfly, but never got around to finding any of his stuff. Then I heard again when they talked about Factotum but still I didn't see the movies or read the books. Finally in Nov of 2006 my youngest daughter got Born Into This and I watched it and started reading her books.
Roger Ebert did the most to spur my interest by making him sound exciting but back then I didn't read. I was lucky to read a book a year so it took nearly 10 years. I making up for lost time.
I know, not nearly as dramatic as zenguru. One thing I noticed, reading Bukowski makes you want to have a drink.
Roger Ebert did the most to spur my interest by making him sound exciting but back then I didn't read. I was lucky to read a book a year so it took nearly 10 years. I making up for lost time.
I know, not nearly as dramatic as zenguru. One thing I noticed, reading Bukowski makes you want to have a drink.
Digney in Burnaby
donkeys live a long time
I see there is a similar thread to this one here.
But it is an interesting question. I sometimes look at the timeline on this site or the pencilled in price on the inside covers of some of the books I have and remember another tidbit from the "discovering" of Bukowski.
bukbabe's appearance on this forum, and her mention of McLeod's books, reminded me that I found a second hand copy of Dirty Old Man at his old Cambie and Hastings store. Price on the inside was $3.50 (for a $4.95 book).
I believe that store had a fire and the owner Don Stewart moved over a few blocks to Pender and Richards. Don't know the year the fire happened so I can't place the year I bought the book. (I did buy some military surplus boots in that same block back around 1980, and I think that was before the fire.) Bought the reprint of A Bukowski Sampler (Druid Books, 1971) at the newer store close to 20 years ago. $7.50 on a $1.75 cover price. Both times I remember Stewart making a comment about Bukowski. Nothing very disparaging as I remember. I never know how to react to store people commenting on any of my purchases so I probably just laughed and left.
Fire scares me. So does water. Just had Jake the "supe" come up (10:30 p.m., Friday) to fix a plumbing leak in the hot water register. Some damage to some paper material (no Bukowski) of stuff on the floor. Caught it early so less damage. Good thing my laptop is sitting near the register. My socks getting wet was the first clue.
Reading Bukowski then helped make me realize I wasn't alone in feeling the way I did about myself and the world. He made me laugh if nothing else.
Jake is cool as well even if he has far too many dumb jokes and smokes too much. Today was his "zap" day, electro shock treatments. He was close to death a few years back, tumour and other complications but he made it back. Should be retired but he's too stubborn to completely stop. Before he left he talked about a book on local motorsport people I had a hand in producing. He knew lots of the names because he owned a garage years back and had all sorts of hot cars that he wishes he still had now. But he's alive and can tell a story, and knows this building pretty well and all of those things add up to something good.
But it is an interesting question. I sometimes look at the timeline on this site or the pencilled in price on the inside covers of some of the books I have and remember another tidbit from the "discovering" of Bukowski.
bukbabe's appearance on this forum, and her mention of McLeod's books, reminded me that I found a second hand copy of Dirty Old Man at his old Cambie and Hastings store. Price on the inside was $3.50 (for a $4.95 book).
I believe that store had a fire and the owner Don Stewart moved over a few blocks to Pender and Richards. Don't know the year the fire happened so I can't place the year I bought the book. (I did buy some military surplus boots in that same block back around 1980, and I think that was before the fire.) Bought the reprint of A Bukowski Sampler (Druid Books, 1971) at the newer store close to 20 years ago. $7.50 on a $1.75 cover price. Both times I remember Stewart making a comment about Bukowski. Nothing very disparaging as I remember. I never know how to react to store people commenting on any of my purchases so I probably just laughed and left.
Fire scares me. So does water. Just had Jake the "supe" come up (10:30 p.m., Friday) to fix a plumbing leak in the hot water register. Some damage to some paper material (no Bukowski) of stuff on the floor. Caught it early so less damage. Good thing my laptop is sitting near the register. My socks getting wet was the first clue.
Reading Bukowski then helped make me realize I wasn't alone in feeling the way I did about myself and the world. He made me laugh if nothing else.
Jake is cool as well even if he has far too many dumb jokes and smokes too much. Today was his "zap" day, electro shock treatments. He was close to death a few years back, tumour and other complications but he made it back. Should be retired but he's too stubborn to completely stop. Before he left he talked about a book on local motorsport people I had a hand in producing. He knew lots of the names because he owned a garage years back and had all sorts of hot cars that he wishes he still had now. But he's alive and can tell a story, and knows this building pretty well and all of those things add up to something good.
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Yes, and there's at least one more but I can't remember it's name, so I'll write down once more how I discovered Bukowski:
In 1978 or 79, I stumbled upon a one page ad for a collection of Buk's work in a German magazine. The collection included all of Buk's work in German up till that time. They offered a few Buk quotes too. One of them was from "Confessions..": "Hospitals and jails and whores: these are the universities of life. I've got several degrees. Call me Mr."
The ad also had the famous Buk-Georgia photo. The quotes and the photo intrigued me so much that I went to the biggest library in town to dig up some Buk books. In the late seventies Buk had'nt been translated into Danish yet, but I managed to find an English copy of Post Office. Reading Post Office was enough to make me a Buk fan. I could easily relate to his description of the eight hour work day. Finally a writer who felt the same way as I did and he was funny too. I then found an English book shop who sold the BSP books and the rest is history...
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mjp
Founding member
No offense, but someone who picked up Sifting as their first Bukowski book and says they have been "reading him for years" while others are newbies just strikes me as funny. Don't get me wrong, it's great whenever anyone discovers his work. But it just sounds odd.
In 100 years it won't matter anyway, because we'll all be worm meat and everyone will be new to him.
Odd how? I know I've only been reading him for less than a decade, but that still qualifies as "years." More than a decade would be qualified as "years and years." Ha ha ;)
And when BAM opened, there were no Buk novels in stock. So until I bought Sifting... I thought Buk was just a poet.
When I introduced myself here, bospress.net also said it was odd to see someone who discovered Buk's poetry first and novels second. Well,there's a reason for that.
I hated reading thick books as a kid because I could never get through them for some reason. I would get stuck on a paragraph for half an hour. Some letters and numbers played tricks on me. I only recently discovered that I'm dyslexic. And I've been dyslexic all my life. It's only in the past year or two that I've come to understand how it is a part of me.
So I read things that were simple to finish. Or just watched a lot of TV. I was intimidated by books as a kid. All of my friends were reading Lord of the Flies and J.R.R. Tolkien and I had this invisible wall in my head. Probably one of the precipitating factors of my depression later in life.
Now that I realize a little more how my mind is wired, I'm able to read more. I've always been a good reader. Top speller in my class. But because words danced on paper, I thought I was stupid. It was the '70s. Dyslexia wasn't well known. I thought I would never be as good as the other kids.
I've learned to be more patient when I read bigger books. Take them one page at a time like I take life one day at a time. Over the past dozen or so years, I've read novels from several authors. Carl Hiaasen being one of my favorites.
Somehow I've been able to cope with all the crap and lifelong disappointment reading used to give to me. Reading poetry was the beginning of this transformation, I think. Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Ted Kooser, Buk, and others. They've all helped me to turn my eyes around and learn to enjoy reading again.
I found him a few years before he died, I was about nineteen. I didn't have enough life experience to relate, but the way he laid it down got me going somehow.
I first read the poems in Dangling in the tournefortia. and worked my way back.
as i get older and having put myself through some ridiculous stuff, I really dig his truth no matter what stance.
I first read the poems in Dangling in the tournefortia. and worked my way back.
as i get older and having put myself through some ridiculous stuff, I really dig his truth no matter what stance.
Lolita Twist
Rose-hustler
I walked into a Borders one day, and one of the salesmen there (Saratoga) knows me. I think I went to the track that day? Maybe, I dunno. But this was a couple years back. But I told him to give me something I'd like. I gave him some keywords, "chain-smoking, drinking, under-age relationships, etc". He came out with Bukowski's "Tales of Ordinary Madness" and said, 'you'd better start with this'. I still don't know how it's "under-age relationships", but I've never turned back and thank god (or whoever) for that.
First Buk Book
Broke, unemployed, split up with first wife, walking hungover in Portland, Oregon, passing a small book store, I spotted "Love Is A Dog From Hell" in the window and walked in and bought it as an impulse buy. 1978. Got sober a year later in Florida, haven't had a drink since, still think he is the equal of Whitman, Frost, and Hemingway, at least.
Broke, unemployed, split up with first wife, walking hungover in Portland, Oregon, passing a small book store, I spotted "Love Is A Dog From Hell" in the window and walked in and bought it as an impulse buy. 1978. Got sober a year later in Florida, haven't had a drink since, still think he is the equal of Whitman, Frost, and Hemingway, at least.
Appropriately enough, I was taking a leak at work in 1987 (yes, in the Men's Room, in case you were wondering), and a friend walked in with, if I recall correctly, Dangling in the Tournefortia. "What's that?" I asked...
University of Houston, 1984, the famous guy yapping at the front of the writing class could not keep the attention of my neighbor who was engrossed in Ham on Rye. My attention now lost, I read over his shoulder enough that I had to go out and get my own copy...And it was all downhill from there.
chronic
old and in the way
So what happened after he turned to answer and inadvertently pissed down your leg?
I was a Frost fan before I ever heard of Buk. Welcome to the boards!
And a belated welcome to you, Paddy.
I ordered "Dangling..." in the mail just recently. Think I just may crack that open after I finish "Most Beautiful Woman in Town."
Those of us who are cultured enough to see through the "15-year old boy" moniker are fully capable of glancing over one's shoulder whilst still pointing percy at the porcelain, as it were, of course. ;)
chronic
old and in the way
:)
Okay, scratch that and let's try it another way:
..."My penis" he answered.
...and then what?
:D
Sorry, I just can't seem to stop myself.
I think I answered this before but I started reading him in 81 or so, I was disillusioned with music and had an interest in poetry & remember seeing him on PBS a few years back doing a reading with a refrigerator full of beer.
He was the first poet I read and the last that I really liked.
Oh, and just wanted to say Zen may be young but he's ok in my books.
He was the first poet I read and the last that I really liked.
Oh, and just wanted to say Zen may be young but he's ok in my books.