if you like bukowski... (1 Viewer)

Don't panic, you still have many many Buk books to read.
However, if you'd rather read some other author check this thread and similar threads (1, 2, 3, 4...)
 
Bob Kaufman.

Honestly, I’m not a big beat fan (which is funny because Bob Kaufman coined “beatnik”) but Kaufman is powerful.

‘The Ancient Rain: Poems 1956-1978’ is what i’d suggest. He’s definitely got a Bukowski vibe at times but still has his own voice.
 
Some great recommendations in here:-)

I will add the Danish author, Tom Kristensen to this list. I find him very similar to Bukowski(and Hamsun). Check out his novel, Hærverk(Havoc) from 1930.

And there is also this Swiss writer Robert Walser, who reminds me of Bukowski. Especially his book Jakob von Gunten.
 
Billy Childish - Sex Crimes of the Futcher, Note books of a Naked Youth, My Fault, The Stonemason.

Lots of poetry by him is in a similar vein too. The man with the gallows eyes, the uncorrected Billy Childish...
 
Apart from being a treasure chest of Bukowski info, this forum has provided me with very nice recommendations from the multiple "Other authors you like" threads. Seeing that the forum is closing, I thought I'd finally create a user.

While there is still time, I will kindly ask you all to bring me even more recommendations of books that - like those of Buk, Fante, and Kafka - cut the bullshit and tell it as it is. I am rather young and need enough books to fill out a lifetime of reading now that this forum is closing, so please don't hold back!
 
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Here are some of my favorites that fit that style and a place to start with each of them:

Dan Fante (Chump Change)

Fernanda Melchor (Season of Hurracaines)

Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting)

Raymond Carver (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love)

Pedro Juan Gutierrez (Dirty Habana Trilogy)


These are just off the top of my head. There are a lot more of course, some of which you probably know (Hunter S. Thompson, Vonnegut, etc.). You should obviously check out Bukowski's influences (Céline, John Fante, etc.), too. Also, I must suggest you check out work created by the memebers of this forum. You won’t be disappointed.
 
If you are adventurous and ready for a bad Buk plagiarism, try Philippe Djian. He’s a french « writer », maybe some of it is translated in English. You never know. Shit happens.

Don’t forget Kafka and Salinger...
 
Look... if you’re allergic to Salinger that’s YOUR problem. Obviously Bukowski liked him and so do lots of people amongst them many Bukowski fans. Be aware of that, swallow it because you’re NOT the center of the world. Have I made it clear to you?
 
Aw, I APOLOGIZE, if I've hurt your feelings.
I really didn't mean to be rude.
Look my friend... you didn’t hurt my feelings. And by the way my feelings don’t matter. Really. Simple said I don’t want to start a feud here. It‘s obvious that Buk liked Salinger and it‘s obvious that lots of Buk fans like Salinger. You didn’t write : do forget Salinger. You wrote : DO forget. Bukowski didn’t like dictature and writing so you sort of betray him.
So have some respect towards somebody else opinion, beginning with Buk’s one!
That’s it. Don’t be offensive to me, I don’t want to be offensive to you.
Here we are : two Buk fans and we should fight about it? Come on!
He was right : this world is a circus.
All the best to you.

Please, let us comport ourselves with dignity and grace.




Besides, everyone knows I'm the center of the universe.
Hello, I agree 100% lol!
And by the way I absolutely love your change of look!
Kiss from Belgium!

Jean-Pierre
 
Another poet that most who like Bukowski would like: Philip Larkin. Especially his last book, High Windows. I am surprised and not surprised that Bukowski never mentioned him.
 
I think maybe he did mention him, and favorably. I've been reading his book On Writing and I think Larkin comes up. But I could be mistaken. I'll try to find that again.
 
I am guessing many people here have also read the Fantes? I think people know of CB and John's connection. I corresponded several times with Dan -- I think he also knew CB. Dan's autobio is pretty good, a very different sort of life than mine, closer I guess to CB's.
 
I've read most of John Fante and a bit of Dan. I really like most of John's work with the exception of The Road to Los Angeles which, for some reason, just totally missed the mark for me.
 
Way out of what one associates with Bukowski but... I read Don Quixote for the first time early last year. I also recently re-read Notes, and Bukowski mentions Cervantes passingly in the column about moving to New York when he was young, but as far as I can recall that's the only mention of him in all of B's work.

I once heard that Cervantes is what people think Shakespeare is, and I couldn't agree more. Of course being contemporaries, it is obvious why Shakespeare gained more traction in the English language. Cervantes is just kinda brushed off to the side in English lit courses, as far as I know. I acknowledge it is a steep comparison, with Shakespeare writing plays and Cervantes writing mostly novels, but I think it's a fair one, the two being giants in their own respective languages and what not. I am also not as much of a hater on the old bard as Buk was. I've read a few of his plays and liked a couple. But he is just outmatched in terms of wit and prose against Cervantes, in my humble opinion. Maybe it's the fact that Cervantes was much more of a realist, and it shows in his writing style. I like to think Bukowski did read him but who knows.

Planning on reading Exemplary novels later this year. Anyone else a fan of the father of Spanish letters?
 

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