Did Bukowski buy books

[VelvetGlove]

Sort of a side question: Did Bukowski ever buy books, or did he only borrow them at the library?
He talks quite a lot about reading, but I only remember him talking about libraries ( in e.g. the Ask the Dust foreword), never bookstores.

 

[jpb230659]

I’ve never seen a picture or a footage in Buk’s homes where you see some sort of bookshelf... So good question.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Top left corner here: Buk Photos. He wrote of having his own books, but this would seem to show some that aren't likely his. Also some papers, notebooks, etc. So, he likely bought some at the very least.

 

[jpb230659]

Nice one!!! Bought or gifts? We must go on digging this! Why not ask Linda Lee?

 

[Hannah]

I think we established before that Bukowski is not in his own house in that picture, so the books on the shelf belong to someone else.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Apparently I forgot that conversation...

 

[roni]

He owned a copy of Schopenhauer's "Parerga and Paralipomena", which were sent to him as a gift by a German guy named Ulrich Aigner in 1984 (which goes to show, how he came to nod so much to Schopenhauer in "You Get So Alone", 1986).

 

[VelvetGlove]

So perhaps he only owned books that he received as gifts?

 

[tony walton]

Pamela Wood (Cupcakes) spoke in detail about his reading habits during her time with him. https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bukowskis-Scarlet-Pamela-Wood/dp/0941543587

 

[Johannes]

He writes about buying Camus books before going in for his hemorrhoid operation in 1966 (I believe). It's in the letters, Screaming from the Balcony I think.

So he probably did buy books occasionally. He writes much more often about not being able to read anymore though, that books simply fall from his hands etc.