When did you discover Bukowski?

HenryChinaski

HenryChinaski

Founding member
LOL ...my favorite story in that is The Little Taylor...

does anybody know around what printings # the blue colored cover notes...

i've seen a few floating around and they just look so odd. are they legit?
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
HenryChinaski said:
does anybody know around what printings # the blue colored cover notes...

i've seen a few floating around and they just look so odd. are they legit?
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That's a legit City Lights release. Not sure at what printing they changed the cover. The one you see even less of is the one that came out between the original and the one with the blue cover...I hardly ever see those.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Here`s how I got to know Bukowski:
Back in `78 or `79 I studied german. One day the teacher gave us some german magazines to read. In one of them there was a whole page Bukowski ad. with the famous foto of him and Georgia in front of his fridge. Under the foto was some Bukowski quotes. My german was pretty lousy at the time but one quote I could read (more or less). It said something like: "Jails, whores and asylums are the universities of life. That`s where I got my exams". That quote and the foto got me interested in Bukowski. So I went to the largest library here in Copenhagen to find some of his books. There were none translated into danish but in the english section I found one single book - "Postoffice". And then I was hooked! Two years later - in 1980 - Bukowski was printed in Denmark for the first time ( It was a selection from "Erections..."). As time went by I discovered an English book store in town which had many Bukowski titles from BSP and it was also possible to order the titles they did`nt have. So now I have most of the BSP and Ecco books and Bukowski is not for the few anymore but a well-known writer...
 
Rekrab

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
Post Office and then The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills. Still two of my favorites. Before Post Office, only his Notes of a Dirty Old Man columns in an underground newspaper in L.A.
 
F

Foo

Around 2000 - 2001 I met this guy on the internet, very cultured and all. And he was totally into Bukowski. So, intrigued by this guy and Bukowski, I went to a bookshop and bought "what matters most is how well you walk throught the fire". And I was sold. 5 years later this guy and me met, we hooked up and still now Bukowski plays a big part in our lives. The last weeks, when my boyfriend's dad was dying, we've been sending a lot of Bukowski to eachother. So I can say, he's there in happy times and sad times.
Still now I'm trying to convince friends of mine to read Bukowski, and I must say a lot of them were impressed when discovering him.
I just thought this was a nice story to share.
:)
 
Father Luke

Father Luke

Founding member
Ham on Rye.

Mr 1:15 suggested I read it. "Read this guy, you'll love him."

Well, Bukowski was funny, raw and fucked up honest.

Ham on Rye was the first.
He was right.
 
Olaf

Olaf

Foo said:
Around 2000 - 2001 I met this guy on the internet, very cultured and all. And he was totally into Bukowski. So, intrigued by this guy and Bukowski, I went to a bookshop and bought "what matters most is how well you walk throught the fire". And I was sold. 5 years later this guy and me met, we hooked up and still now Bukowski plays a big part in our lives. The last weeks, when my boyfriend's dad was dying, we've been sending a lot of Bukowski to eachother. So I can say, he's there in happy times and sad times.
Still now I'm trying to convince friends of mine to read Bukowski, and I must say a lot of them were impressed when discovering him.
I just thought this was a nice story to share.
:)
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Jesus Christ! That story is very similar to my own! Some guy I knew online sent me one bukowski poem 'for Jane' and read it and was intrigued and went out and bought 'what matters most is how well you walk through the fire' - and from then on I got fished in and discovered it all.

Bizzare and wonderful
 
Forker

Forker

The first book of his I read was Bone Palace Ballet which I found in an airport bookstore back when I was 13.
 
G

Godog

First Bukowski book I read was Ham on Rye (the Dutch translation, called ?Kind onder kannibalen?, which can be translated back to English as ?Child amongst cannibals?). Really liked it. After that I read Pulp, Post Office and a lot of his poems. Planning on reading his other novels soon...
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Godog said:
First Bukowski book I read was Ham on Rye (the Dutch translation, called ?Kind onder kannibalen?, which can be translated back to English as ?Child amongst cannibals?). Really liked it. After that I read Pulp, Post Office and a lot of his poems. Planning on reading his other novels soon...
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Don?t forget the short stories! Some of them are real good...
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Hot Water Music and South of No North are both short story collections (no poems) and both highly recommended.

Some of the later books like Septuagenarian Stew also included half a dozen short stories mixed in among the poems, but in later years Bukowski's short story production dropped off quite a bit.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Godog said:
Hot Water Music consists of short stories, doesn't it? Can you recommend it?
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Yes, I can recommend it. Also "South of no North" and "Tales of ordinary madness" and "The most beautiful woman in town". The two latter was actually published as one book called " Erections, ejaculations, exhibitions and general tales of ordinary madness" but now it has been split up into two books. There?s also a book of articles called "Notes of a dirty old man" and as mjp says, you can also get books which combines short stories and poetry. So you have your work cut out for you...:)
 
Evas

Evas

"Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame" on a beach at 16 yrs of age - orange flashes from an electric storm on the horizon - just like the cover of the book. Beautiful. I managed recently to get a signed first - but money can't buy the experience.
 
R

ribaij

I n 1999 met this guy when I was in the army (obligatory in Norway), and he passed along his english Black Sparrow Press copy of Septuagenarian Stew: Stories & Poems.
Since then I've been hooked...
 
skbruce

skbruce

A friend had me read some poems from Love Is A Dog From Hell and I was hooked! After that I went out and bought Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Insturment Until The Fingers Begin To Bleed A Bit. Next came Post Office and after that there was no looking back....
 
HenryChinaski

HenryChinaski

Founding member
mjp said:
Hot Water Music and South of No North are both short story collections (no poems) and both highly recommended.

Some of the later books like Septuagenarian Stew also included half a dozen short stories mixed in among the poems, but in later years Bukowski's short story production dropped off quite a bit.
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yeah youre right. i can't remember why i ever thought there were poems in there. ahahahahahaa
 
theeffects

theeffects

NOTES OF A DIRTY OLD MAN, read it in 1989... I haven't read it again since the late 90's, I should pick it up again. There are a bunch of cover variations, versions of this book to be collected, I think City Lights was smart, changing the covers colors, then eventually cover pictures, etc... They knew we'd be COLLECTING them one day! Still don't have the ESSEX (1st) printing of NOTES...
 
HenryChinaski

HenryChinaski

Founding member
man I'm way behind you guys when it comes to finding out about Buk earlier. But i've made up for it by reading damn near most of his work.
 
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