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Notes of a Dirty Old Man 25 reviews
Charles Bukowski
City Lights Publishers, 2001
Chuck's more than just booze, sex and horses
This is the fourth Bukowski novel I have read after Women, Hollywood and Post Office. It is essentially a collection of vignettes written for the CITY PRESS which was an underground newspaper in the late 60's where Bukowski was given more or less carte blanche to indulge in and write about any subject/theme/fantasy/issue that turned him on. The book takes a while to get used to as the relative ...
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post office: A Novel131 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2007
Bukowski was a funny guy!
Out of what I've read by Bukowski at this point in time (I've only read four of his books as of today) I would rank this and Ham on Rye as his best.
Most of Post Office revolves around his two stints as a Postal Worker, boozing, gambling, relationships with women and his trying to keep on with his writing while juggling all the other facets of his life. Its actually no wonder he was so ...
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Love is a Dog From Hell34 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
The laughter of the mutilated who still need love
It's hard to think of a person less likely to
achieve posthumous fame than Charles Bukowski.
His poems don't scan or rhyme, they're imposs-
ible to memorize and the stories that they
tell repeat themselves like a whisky drinker
around 1:30 in the morning. In fact, you could
write a decent-sized essay on why nobody
should ever remember Bukowsky.
And yet. . .
There have been two ...
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Ham on Rye: A Novel127 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2007
Great work from a disciplined writer
At times in his life, Charles Bukowski may have lived like the dissolute Hank Chinaski, his alcoholic protagonist in post office: A Novel, Factotum, Women: A Novel, and HAM ON RYE. But in reading HoR, the quality that communicated most clearly to this reader was Buk's immense discipline. There's no self-indulgence, anywhere, in this book. There's no material, anywhere, that doesn't immediately ...
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Tales of Ordinary Madness 33 reviews
Charles Bukowski
City Lights Publishers, 2001
Tales of Ordinary Madness
Charles Bukowski, brutally honest, as usual. This book was pretty good but not as good as his poetry.
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Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 19441990 4 reviews
Charles Bukowski
City Lights Publishers, 2008
For Fanatics Only
This isn't for a beginner or a casual fan of Bukowski. If your like me though and have read everything you can by Bukowski and want more, than this is your next step. This book is a nice collection of Bukowski stories that for one reason or another haven't made mass circulation. Many of these stories are being reprented here for the first time since their appearnce in some long ago forgotten ...
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You Get So Alone at Times19 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Golden Years Epiphanies
Success and acclaim might damage some artists. They had the opposite effect on Bukowski. Once he felt he was getting the recognition he deserved, a lot of the bitter hatefulness fell away, and his brilliance grew brighter. This volume goes well with "The Last Night of the Earth Poems," the final volume published in his lifetime.
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Hollywood35 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 1989
Entertaining but not his Best
I'm not sure exactly what to say about Hollywood. I certainly enjoyed it and always appreciate Bukowski at some level. In terms of his novels, I'd place this one behind Factotum, Post Office, and Women. Ham and Rye I have not yet read but will...unlike Pulp (whose subject matter does not appeal to me). I think that Hollywood's lack of edge--in comparison with his past achievements--reflects his ...
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Women: A Novel118 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2007
A Raucous Good Time
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R27PF6CT4ON2CQ This book is a jolly good time and I hope you like the review.
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Factotum66 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
A Tour of Bohemia
I just finished rereading Women two days ago and rebreezed through Factotum today. Between the two it's hard to say which one I enjoy more. The one thing for certain is that Factotum is a not-so-guilty pleasure. For L7 square types like me, it's fun to careen through Bohemia atop the words of Bukowski. He may not be the world's greatest writer, but his works are consistently a good time and ...
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What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire20 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Consistent Quality Even After Death
Here is another collection of Bukowski poems posthumously released and what else can be said that hasn't been said before. If you have read any of his poetry in the past and you are a fan, here you go folks; more edgey, off beat, colorful stories told in Bukowski's unique poetry rhetoric. The title of this book sums up what I believe to be the most important aspect of Bukowski's message. Let no ...
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The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-19938 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2008
there are really people like this
I used to work for a newspaper here in chicago that exclusively devoted itself to bars, every bar, in the city of chicago. Most of these establishments were pretty decent but there were a few that probably should have gone out of business some time ago but still somehow subsisted on older patrons who went and drank there. These were older drinkers who would sit at the bar alone or hollar accross ...
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The Last Night of the Earth Poems20 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Death is smoking my cigars...
...and.....
The piano has been drinking
My necktie's asleep
The combo went back to New York, and left me all alone
The jukebox has to take a leak
Have you noticed that the carpet needs a haircut?
And the spotlight looks just like a prison break
And the telephone's out of cigarettes
As usual the balcony's on the make
And the piano has been drinking, heavily
The piano has been drinking
...
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Run With the Hunted: Charles Bukowski Reader, A22 reviews
Charles Bukowski
HarperPerennial, 1994
Just what I expected ... only better!
This double CD is a total joy! Quintessential Bukowski - there's nothing like hearing poems read by the author, I think, especially with him.
There's two CD's, poems interspersed with conversations with the people doing the recording. The only drawback could be that all of the recordings were done in a room with only a few people there, so there's an odd lack of feeling, the buzz you normally ...
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Play the Piano10 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
confessions of a first class maniac
This is the first Bukowski book that i read. All you have to do is take a look at both of my books, STONE HOTEL and RUSTY STRING QUARTET to see the obvious influence. Bukowski's importance as an American writer will only grow in the 21st century. The man is already a Hemingway-like figure in Europe;the cultural snobs of academia in America have tried to ignore his work, but that will change. This ...
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The Most Beautiful Woman in Town25 reviews
Charles Bukowski
City Lights Publishers, 2001
Spotlight on the seamy side of life
Bukowski tends to, as far as I can tell, polarize readers something fierce. There are those who claim that he belongs among the highest pantheon of American writers for his no holds barred writings and ability to tell it like it is. Others will say that his stories aren't worth the paper they're printed on, full of trash writing and vulgarity, appealing to only the basest of emotions. While I ...
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Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame21 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Old Man Poet
This is one of the best collections of poetry that I have ever read. I've recently discovered Bukowski after having one of my poems compared to his work. I did some research and a lot of people told me to start with this book. I am so glad that I did because it was a great introduction to Bukowski's work (and he does have a lot of work!) I am looking forward to reading my way through more of ...
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Pulp 40 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Bukowski's Swan Song
Bukowski begins the book with a dedication to bad writing... a category that I would not put Pulp into. To read this book and realize Bukowski was as old as he was when he wrote it and that it was his last book, is an amazing thing. I don't understand a single one of these negative reviews, they must not have understood what the book was about.
Pulp was Bukowski's final book and is unlike any of ...
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Hot Water Music16 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2002
Edgy laughs and splendid moments from the Poet Laureate of the American gutter
Ah, the Drunken Master his own self...here he is at his best, writing pleasingly spare and oft hilarious vignettes of his later life's ramblings through the bars and bedrooms of Hollywood's seedier avenues.
Not recommended if you don't like to drink, laugh and/or are easily offended...Buk is as far from politically correct as Santa is from Antartica...but oh man, the laughs that his laconic ...
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The People Look Like Flowers At Last: New Poems2 reviews
Charles Bukowski
Ecco, 2008
And it is the end
Sad to say, this book exhausts the remainder of Buk's poetry. The work is not as strong as earlier books, not as pointed. But as he would have understood, all ends. So what else is new? There are some strong poems: a eulogy, "legs"("she was a great woman/with great legs/but she found life too hard/she died 34 years ago and/I haven't seen/legs like that/since/and I have never stopped/looking"); ...
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