It's interesting that Brothers Karamazov was mentioned. I remember when I was trying to find out where, exactly, in BK the line "Who doesn't want to kill the father" occurs. I did a google search, and the first hit I got was a mention of the line cited in Ham On Rye.
When did you discover Bukowski?
- Thread starter mjp
- Start date
hello Wanda, glad you're here.
you'll like it, i'm sure.
you'll like it, i'm sure.
The most beautiful woman in town. It made me laugh and then shocked me and then made me keep seeking more of his work to read.
When I was in college in the early 90's I used to visit a pal up in Gainesville who'd gotten kicked out of my school more or less and we went to see a friend of his who was talking about Bukowski, writing a thesis. Said he wanted to interview him but didn't think it likely because he was notorious cermudgeon or some such. I didn't give it too much thought. Some time later a friend gave me Notes of a Dirty Old Man. Loved it and I don't know when but began to read more of his stuff. The same girl later gave me The Most Beautiful Woman in Town. After that I read all the short story collections, all the novels, a lot of the poetry books. Many years later when I worked at Cornell I was able to access special collections and was able to hold (but didn't readd all of) It Catches My Heart... and Crucifix in a Death Hand. Those books are just lovely to look at. Cornell has a great collection and I got to read a lot of the small books about Buk: Spinning Off Bukowski, among others. Can't remember all the titles. Over time I read both Sounes' and Neely's biographies, Shakespeare Never Did This, some of the broadsides, the Christmas stuff. Also read a goodly portion of his letters. Read Drinking with Bukowski, Bukowski in Pictures, A Sure Bet, Friendship, Flame...., All's Normal Here. Even saw some of the recordings. Bukowski at Bellevue. At one point I didn't think much of the poems but loved the prose. I was too into the Surrealists I suppose. I guess I've read as much as can be found easily and some things a bit more obscure. Not as much as many here but more than others. These days I am a great fan of his poems though. I go hiking once a year in the Pyrenées with a pal and we often bring The Roominghouse Madrigals to read aloud. Maybe the only fools in France who cart along a fat book and whisky and bottles of wine up into the stratosphere. We get misty-eyed and always say yeah that guy's really got it all right, he sure has got it. We probably use the past tense though.
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HarryC13
RIP
Erections, Ejaculations ... was my first, and in my opinion I started out with the best. The copy I have is 7th printing, 1982, but I was reading Buk back in the 70s -- my copy of South of No North was 6th printing, 1978 -- so my guess is I lent my old copy of Erections out or lost it. Post Office was probably the first novel I read.
mjp
Founding member
And here's the actual news photograph from 1982!
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
That is a catch all picture. A broad stroke of meaning.
Good job on that.
Good job on that.
the only good poet
One retreat after another without peace.
Women was my first. a Virgin paperback. i didn't get it.
Post Office was the first Bukowski I ever read. I bought it at a yard sale, faded blue, ragged and papery, and had never heard of him at the time. I was 16. I may have seen Barfly before I read that book, but didn't know about Bukowski at that time, either. Needless to say (since I'm here) I really dug Post Office. I've really enjoyed his poetry, as well. Love is a Dog From Hell is amazing, and so is You Get So Lonely... I haven't read much of his work that I don't like.
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
Great drawing !
Post Office when i was 15. I got it from one of my teachers. At the time my stories/reports were dark and fucking wierd, to the point where he asked "Have you heard of this guy named Charles Bukowski?" After reading that book I was hooked. My mentor in 12th grade liked Buk too, so he'd pretty much be the only one i'd talk to about him. Good stuff.
<3
<3
Hi all!
Im a newbie to both this forum and Buk himself, anyway here is my little story:
Ive always been interested in reading and poetry (from afar) and so I decided I should get a book on the subject to see if I like it etc, last week I went out with my mates and got very drunk, the following day I woke up (still drunk) and went into my local town on the way home, i popped in the local bookstore and decided to look for poetry books, at this time I still felt very drunk and couldnt really take much of it in, THEN i saw a book with a picture on it that looked interesting (it was Buk smoking a fag) so I typed his name or what I thought it was into my phone Charles BuWOWSKI (I was drunk) and as I did not have any money left I went home. I did some research on the net and I Ordered the book its called "Come On In!"
I also did some research on Buk himself and as he seemed such a great character ive been takin in by it all, strange that I found Buk by being very drunk as it seems he was fond of the odd beer or three! lol
The book came today and I cant wait to get home and read it!
PS
Im not always drunk ;)
Tommy80
Im a newbie to both this forum and Buk himself, anyway here is my little story:
Ive always been interested in reading and poetry (from afar) and so I decided I should get a book on the subject to see if I like it etc, last week I went out with my mates and got very drunk, the following day I woke up (still drunk) and went into my local town on the way home, i popped in the local bookstore and decided to look for poetry books, at this time I still felt very drunk and couldnt really take much of it in, THEN i saw a book with a picture on it that looked interesting (it was Buk smoking a fag) so I typed his name or what I thought it was into my phone Charles BuWOWSKI (I was drunk) and as I did not have any money left I went home. I did some research on the net and I Ordered the book its called "Come On In!"
I also did some research on Buk himself and as he seemed such a great character ive been takin in by it all, strange that I found Buk by being very drunk as it seems he was fond of the odd beer or three! lol
The book came today and I cant wait to get home and read it!
PS
Im not always drunk ;)
Tommy80
Father Luke
Founding member
When you've finished the book,
I would like to know your thoughts.
Thanks for coming by ;)
- -
Okay,
Father Luke
I would like to know your thoughts.
Thanks for coming by ;)
- -
Okay,
Father Luke
vodka
Miss Take
i found out about bukowski when i was about 15 and working at a Newberry's in Portland. i was carrying around a book of Rimbaud or something and this guy who worked at the camera counter was like psssst. have you ever read Bukowski? and i looked at him all doe eyed and was like who is Bukowski? he gave me my first copy of Love is a Dog From Hell and the rest is history.
I chanced on 'what matters most is how well you walk through the fire' while I was browsing strand books in new york last year. Don't know why I picked it up, guess I was just struck by the title. Skimmed a few pages and knew i had to buy it. Read it while traveling around asia the next month and that was it, i hadn't read anything that felt that direct before.
Rimboud...as in Penny Rimboud?
I found Bukowski thanks to a friend, I was so depressive thanks to an ex girl, (the relationship lasted 5 years) I did not know what to do, so, I was talking to this buddy of mine, he was all passed out with bear and weed, but found a way to go his computer, click in a couple of places and told me, read this,
"how to be a good writer"
It was very uplifting, and been reading Buk ever since.
My introduction to Bukowski
Seems like the best thread for me to start with on this forum.
I've been writing for a film review site called Film Threat (www.filmthreat.com) for about five years now. I read a review of "Bukowski: Born into This" by then-editor Eric Campos (http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=3799, and looked at the titles of Bukowski's books: Post Office? Ham on Rye? Didn't sound to me like titles you have for books. Seemed almost too regular.
I remember checking "Post Office" out of the Valencia library here in the Santa Clarita Valley, but don't remember much of the actual reading. However, I remember the exact day that I got hooked on Bukowski.
It was a Saturday, towards the end of the summer in 2004 and I was in my room in my family's apartment in Valencia, on my bed, with the blinds closed behind me, pure daylight filtering through the windowframe. By this time, I was too used to my parents fighting often. My mom was not happy with my dad still for moving us to Southern California so quickly, despite the fact that his job as a business education teacher was going to be cut in Florida by then-governor Jeb Bush in favor of the FCAT exam. We had to go somewhere and though it was thought that the trip to California that would eventually bring us here to live was going to be a vacation, there was job interview after job interview for my dad.
I don't remember what this fight was about (I imagine there was still some heavy resentment), but it was pretty bad. There's never been physical blows, but the raised and angry voices are just as bad. Being that there was no insulation in the walls of this apartment, I could hear them more clearly than I wanted to.
I ignored it as best I could (at this time, I always worried about my mom's insistence that she wanted to move back to Orlando since that's where we had our best times, because we'd just gotten here and we'd moved so many times beforehand in Florida that I really wanted someplace to be home already), and began reading "Notes of a Dirty Old Man," which I'd checked out from the library. Bukowski seized me from the first page. I was amazed at this honesty. The writing read so simply, and at the same time it was so loaded. I wanted more. Lots more. Not just because of Bukowski's writing, but because in a sense, he had saved me from my parents for a day. I truly felt like I was somewhere else and that helped a lot.
Since then, I've bought up lots of Bukowski's books. During the only time I was ever in San Francisco, I made sure to buy a few of Bukowski's books at City Lights, and even bought up two CDs, one a reading in Vancouver and a double-set recorded in his living room. I didn't mind that the total for everything came out to over $100. I'd been waiting to do that for such a long time. But I was glad to have received "Bukowski: Born into This" for free on DVD (for review), because the price at City Lights was $30. Far too heavy for me.
Seems like the best thread for me to start with on this forum.
I've been writing for a film review site called Film Threat (www.filmthreat.com) for about five years now. I read a review of "Bukowski: Born into This" by then-editor Eric Campos (http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=3799, and looked at the titles of Bukowski's books: Post Office? Ham on Rye? Didn't sound to me like titles you have for books. Seemed almost too regular.
I remember checking "Post Office" out of the Valencia library here in the Santa Clarita Valley, but don't remember much of the actual reading. However, I remember the exact day that I got hooked on Bukowski.
It was a Saturday, towards the end of the summer in 2004 and I was in my room in my family's apartment in Valencia, on my bed, with the blinds closed behind me, pure daylight filtering through the windowframe. By this time, I was too used to my parents fighting often. My mom was not happy with my dad still for moving us to Southern California so quickly, despite the fact that his job as a business education teacher was going to be cut in Florida by then-governor Jeb Bush in favor of the FCAT exam. We had to go somewhere and though it was thought that the trip to California that would eventually bring us here to live was going to be a vacation, there was job interview after job interview for my dad.
I don't remember what this fight was about (I imagine there was still some heavy resentment), but it was pretty bad. There's never been physical blows, but the raised and angry voices are just as bad. Being that there was no insulation in the walls of this apartment, I could hear them more clearly than I wanted to.
I ignored it as best I could (at this time, I always worried about my mom's insistence that she wanted to move back to Orlando since that's where we had our best times, because we'd just gotten here and we'd moved so many times beforehand in Florida that I really wanted someplace to be home already), and began reading "Notes of a Dirty Old Man," which I'd checked out from the library. Bukowski seized me from the first page. I was amazed at this honesty. The writing read so simply, and at the same time it was so loaded. I wanted more. Lots more. Not just because of Bukowski's writing, but because in a sense, he had saved me from my parents for a day. I truly felt like I was somewhere else and that helped a lot.
Since then, I've bought up lots of Bukowski's books. During the only time I was ever in San Francisco, I made sure to buy a few of Bukowski's books at City Lights, and even bought up two CDs, one a reading in Vancouver and a double-set recorded in his living room. I didn't mind that the total for everything came out to over $100. I'd been waiting to do that for such a long time. But I was glad to have received "Bukowski: Born into This" for free on DVD (for review), because the price at City Lights was $30. Far too heavy for me.
I heard 'Nirvana' on Waits' latest album. I thought it was genius and I found out it was actually Bukowski who wrote it.
That did it. Forever, I guess.
I started with 'Post Office', 'Factotum' and 'Women'. I think I read all his novels except 'Ham on Rye'. Now I'm waiting for 'South of No North'.
That did it. Forever, I guess.
I started with 'Post Office', 'Factotum' and 'Women'. I think I read all his novels except 'Ham on Rye'. Now I'm waiting for 'South of No North'.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Welcome quickfished! With the exception of Factotum that's how I started and I'm still hooked. Enjoy all the reading and there is a wealth of reading in here.
HarryC13
RIP
Hey, looking through my collection I think I found a rare Bukowski haiku, as mjp alluded to earlier:
cigar butt, bottom
of flat glass of beer -- stubby
last drink of the night
That Bukowski! Brilliant haikuist!
Here's another! Will miracles ever cease?
I got drunk and fucked
the whore and then I threw up
this must be heaven
Encapsulating the theme of Bukowski's work in three simple lines! Wow!
cigar butt, bottom
of flat glass of beer -- stubby
last drink of the night
That Bukowski! Brilliant haikuist!
Here's another! Will miracles ever cease?
I got drunk and fucked
the whore and then I threw up
this must be heaven
Encapsulating the theme of Bukowski's work in three simple lines! Wow!
Yeah, he came with his wife to the Casino in Vegas I worked at the time. While he was betting the TV horse races his wife told me that "...he was a poet!" ;-)
I don't remember when or how...I just remember finding myself in a library aisle devouring all of the books they had by him
--possibly out of an affinity for Crumb sprung my interest in Buk. I don't recall but I know that my best friend in college loved him too and encouraged me to branch out from his poetry to his books...I remember bringing Post Office with me during a trip my final semester of undergrad to find myself in Scotland...I finished Post Office but still didn't find myself...oh well, at least it wasn't a total loss.
Also--funny story,
I was in a big poetry class one semester (it was like 2 credits so no one actually participated) and after sleeping through most of the classes the final class we were supposed to bring a piece that was special to us. I brought a buk poem and after saying nothing all semester I stood up--I was so nervous that my bones were rattling, and read a piece that probably offended everyone in the room and then I sat down and went back to sleep. Oh good times.
sorry, I ramble.
--possibly out of an affinity for Crumb sprung my interest in Buk. I don't recall but I know that my best friend in college loved him too and encouraged me to branch out from his poetry to his books...I remember bringing Post Office with me during a trip my final semester of undergrad to find myself in Scotland...I finished Post Office but still didn't find myself...oh well, at least it wasn't a total loss.
Also--funny story,
I was in a big poetry class one semester (it was like 2 credits so no one actually participated) and after sleeping through most of the classes the final class we were supposed to bring a piece that was special to us. I brought a buk poem and after saying nothing all semester I stood up--I was so nervous that my bones were rattling, and read a piece that probably offended everyone in the room and then I sat down and went back to sleep. Oh good times.
sorry, I ramble.
so much for the benefit of Bukowski-texts used as lyrics for songs.
mjp - what about Waits?
i came across him first completly by chance. i was just pulling random books of the shelves at the library and reading the first few pages to see they were any good.most weren't.than i picked up post office and it had me from the first sentance.what an amazing day!