if you like bukowski... (1 Viewer)

P

privileged

what else should you read?

i've read about every damn bukowski book i can get my hands on.

i tried last exit to brooklyn and it was good but no bukowski.

few of my all time favs:
confederacy of dunces
catch 22
lolita
steppenwolf
1984

recently started reading philip roth but after sabbath's theater i fear it all may be downhill

oh i also read fante's books and celine of course, also knut hamson's "hunger." these all via bukowski... i tried lawrence but maybe i just don't know where to begin... generally prefer novels to poetry.
 
And don't forget the books about Bukowski: Interview books (Pivano, Calonne), bio's etc. ...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lolita???? I loved it but it's very un-Bukowski-ish. (Unless you're thinking of the scene in Women (I think?) where he gets a hard-on rolling around on the grass with the pre-teen girl!)

Definitely Celine's Journey to the end of the night.
 
nymark said:
You can't go wrong with Raymond Carver.
Click to expand...

that's true!

also, how about jack london or eugene o'neil "drinking their lives away."
london's JOHN BARLEYCORN, a fascinating book on his descent into alcoholism; or o'neil's semi-autobiographical play, "long days journey into night." ??
 
i would second the Carver and Dan Fante recommendations, and also recommend Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son", Maggie Dubris' "Weep Not, My Wanton", and anything by Carson McCullers.
 
I certainly agree with the Raymond Carver recommendation and I would also suggest Knut Hamsun and any of William T. Vollmann's fiction.
 
If you like Bukowski's poetry you might want to investigate poets like Todd Moore and Ron Androla (and many others). Google them. Things show up.

Another absurd writer is Willie Smith. His stuff shows up online at zygote in my coffee.

Here's a recent offering. Don't think it's his best but it is entertaining, which always seemed to be one of Bukowski's criteria to shake up the staid lit world.

http://www.zygoteinmycoffee.com/80s/issue86superfish.html

I keep looking for a columnist that entertains, etc. Used to be a guy named Brian "Godzilla" Salmi in a Vancouver, BC, paper called Terminal City that was consistently good week in and week out but both he and the paper have disappeared.
 
I resent this ever so slightly but their are only three poets I truly love:

*Charles Bukowski

*e.e cummings

*Walt Whitman

Why do I resent? Because they are all Great American writers...Scotland seems to lack the same kind of Spirit these poets had...I can't find poets like them anywhere....except myself...

The good news is: there is plenty of work to be done here in Scotland, the words still need to be enlivened. I carry the Torch. :)
 
privileged: you mentioned at the beginning of the thread that you had tried reading philip roth but without much joy. try "american pastoral" - i loved it. it's not really in a buk-style but it explores the myth of the "american dream" and the stereotype of the "american male". no easy answers and no happy endings, but a really thought-provoking book. roth seems to have two distinct styles: while i loved "american pastoral" and "the ghostwriter", i hated "portnoy's complaint" and "the greatest american novel". depends on your taste, i guess. i prefer his more serious and dramatic writing to his black humour/slapstick stuff.
 
Olaf said:
I resent this ever so slightly but their are only three poets I truly love:

*Charles Bukowski

*e.e cummings

*Walt Whitman

Why do I resent? Because they are all Great American writers...Scotland seems to lack the same kind of Spirit these poets had...I can't find poets like them anywhere....except myself...

The good news is: there is plenty of work to be done here in Scotland, the words still need to be enlivened. I carry the Torch. :)
Click to expand...

come now Olaf, what about old Robbie Burns ? ;)
 
Read Where Dead Voices Gather recently. Have Country, Hell Fire, Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll, the Dean Martin bio on the shelf. Read them. Want to get the Sonny Liston book. Haven't got into the fiction.

Like his friend Richard Meltzer Tosches definitely offers some good moments of writing and insight into topics you might not have thought worthy.
 
come now Olaf, what about old Robbie Burns ?
Click to expand...

I have one book of Rabby Burns. I think it's dull and boring all in all. 'Tam o Shanter' is a great story, and some of the auld Scots language is good to hear, but all in all, I find it dull, terse and cryptic.

and james thomson
Click to expand...


I had never heard of him until you mentioned him.

There is no living poet in Scotland that has that same streak of invention I have found in so many american poets. I can think of some that are very inventive - Edwin Morgan because one of them, but none as much of an Icon as Bukowski, and with such an accessible style.
 
Digney in Burnaby said:
Read Where Dead Voices Gather recently. Have Country, Hell Fire, Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll, the Dean Martin bio on the shelf. Read them. Want to get the Sonny Liston book. Haven't got into the fiction.

Like his friend Richard Meltzer Tosches definitely offers some good moments of writing and insight into topics you might not have thought worthy.
Click to expand...

The Sonny Liston bio was real good. Have not read many of the fictional works either. Seems like an interesting character, Jersey City, coming up in a bar and all that.
 
Anybody mentioned Celine's "Journey to the end of the night?" Also, Camus "Stranger." Dan Fante is entertaining while reading, but only once around. Unlike Bukowski, unlike John Fante or 'Journey....'
 
You might want to read those authors whom Bukowski most admired (and many of whom are my favorites as well):

Ernest Hemingway (specifically his early short stories)
Louis Ferdinand Celine (specifically _Journey_--I don't think Bukowski liked much of his later work, although I do)
John Fante (specifically those novels "starring" Arturo Bandini)
Knut Hamsun (specifically _Hunger_; incidently, Knut is my favorite writer of fiction)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (as has been said by men wiser than myself, in _Notes From Underground_ one can "hear the voice of blood")
D.H. Lawrence

As for poets, I guess Ezra Pound ranks near the top, as does Robinson Jeffers.

Though I doubt Bukowski was familiar with him, some of my favorite writings are the "autobiographical fiction" of August Strindberg (_Inferno_, _Alone_, _Son of a Servant_, etc.)
 
Bill Sikes said:
Anybody mentioned Celine's "Journey to the end of the night?" Also, Camus "Stranger." Dan Fante is entertaining while reading, but only once around. Unlike Bukowski, unlike John Fante or 'Journey....'
Click to expand...

I enjoyed Celine's (death on the installment plan) like crazy more than Journey... and I agree with Fante only once around. Loved Dostoevsky's crime and punishment. But Buk is bedside buddy anytime any page any poem any story.
Buk:"Poetry is what happens when nothing else can" THE FLASH OF LIGHTNING BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN
 
Others in the alphabet soup

Boris Vian, Émile Nelligan, Al Purdy... I enjoyed Jeff Torrington but regrettably the Scottish slang was a bit much for me.
 
Try Will Self, W.T.Vollmann and some Russians like Dostoyevsky and Gogol.

maybe the second time , this will work. Most of the above authors are brilliant (except for the ones I haven't read yet). No one has mentioned Will Self yet and W.T.Vollmann is a must read although has been mentioned already

what a gallah! I thought that my posts werent getting through.
 
No problem, the webmaster is hardly busy with this forum, so he will put your posts together!
 
Pavlovich74,
So we know not that you are a cook, have recently stolen a $40 Bukowski book, have insomnia and have no appetite. Also, that you like Vollmann.

On to Bukowski. What is your favorite Book? Favorite poem? Do you collect or buy only to read?
 
Ever since i found a copy of " Ham on Rye" ive been stuck on the one author deviating slightly to read some of the books that B had mentioned in his work. I only stole the one book, at the time I could imagine Buk saying it was ok cause he was dead and wouldnt get any royalties any way. Before I read Buk It was mainly Russian lit that I was interested in

Favorite poems are metamorphosis and we'll take them that I have already quoted and put out the light ( the flash of lightning..). Too many poems and stories to mention right now but out of the thirteen books ( purchased ) that I have there are only a few stories that i can say dont either make me laugh or even consider my own life in relation to the stories being told
 
pavlovich74 said:
Ever since i found a copy of " Ham on Rye" ive been stuck on the one author deviating slightly to read some of the books that B had mentioned in his work. I only stole the one book, at the time I could imagine Buk saying it was ok cause he was dead and wouldnt get any royalties any way. Before I read Buk It was mainly Russian lit that I was interested in
Click to expand...

When you were imagining him talking to you from beyond the grave, did he also say that his heirs did not need the money? They are very much alive.

Bill
 
privileged said:
what else should you read?
Click to expand...

Harry Crews and Bukowski are kindred spirits, though Crews has a very traditional structure to his books that contrasts with Bukowski's heterodox style. They are alike insofar as the darkness of their worldviews is reflected in their books, and they write about marginal characters. A highly recommended author.
 
I can't believe no-one's mentioned Henry Miller yet!


I'd say anyone wanting something funny, Bukowski-esque and generally a good read, go for Sexus by Miller.
 
Dzerzhinsk said:
I'd say anyone wanting something funny, Bukowski-esque and generally a good read, go for Sexus by Miller.
Click to expand...
Sexus just reminds me of Robert Deniro and Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear...

Danielle, I told you, you can't escape your demons just by leaving home.

I didn't. My parents brought me here.

Of course. Where's Sexus?

Back at the house.

Shame. I had hoped we could read aloud from it together.

Well...I, um... I memorized some for you.

Did you?

Yeah.

Well, I'm impressed. Which part?

The part...You know what part. You know.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. I don't think you did your homework.

I did.

What parts was that? The good parts?

Yeah, they were...

Were you a good girl?

I was. I knew you'd follow me here.
Click to expand...

And then she proceeds to throw boiling water in his face, which doesn't even make Deniro's character flinch - being a supervillan and all - and he says, "Are you offering me somethin' hot?"

I know Deniro was supposed to be menacing, but that movie is pretty damn funny. I think he was playing it for laughs.
 
mjp said:
I know Deniro was supposed to be menacing, but that movie is pretty damn funny. I think he was playing it for laughs.
Click to expand...

I like De Niro and all (probably the best actor of his generation), but Mitchum was faaaar more menacing in the role. And if you want of the most menacing performances of all time, watch Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter.
 
Has anyone mentioned Tony O'Neill? I recently discovered him through Burning Shore Press, who also publishes Dan Fante. Tony O'Neill is pretty amazing in my opinion...

I guess I just like junkie stories, haha.

-jeremy
 

Similar threads

D
Why do you like Bukowski?
2 3
Replies
83
Views
20K
Marx Renoffski
M
O
If you could ask bukowski one question.....
2
Replies
53
Views
8K
pipelinecosby
pipelinecosby
Cubism
Which Bukowski do you like more?
Replies
18
Views
4K
yougetso
yougetso
roni
You can now like the Bukowski-Society
Replies
10
Views
3K
alonewiththegods
alonewiththegods
melancholic
If you could have only one Bukowski book forever
Replies
32
Views
6K
roni
roni

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top