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/lit/ - Literature

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625487 No.625487 [Reply] [Original]

I've been getting more and more interested in reading Charles Bukowski for a long time, but never knew where to start.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

>> No.625505

Read the graffiti in a men's room stall. It's far more illuminating.

>> No.625518
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625518

I think his poetry is superior than his prose. So start here. If you don't like, then go to his prose.

>> No.625529

I looove Bukowski.

Heres what I recommend:

"Dostoevsky"
"A challenge to the Dark"
"the way it is now"
"Writing"
"as the poems go"

>> No.625535

yay! bukowski is the key to vagina
read it! (if you don't have a key of your own)

>> No.625549

>>625535
Filthy, truckstop vagina.

>> No.625552

Bukowski was a phony. The dumbasses on /lit/ just mistake using dirty words for being "honest".

>> No.625559

>>625486
h + T p : // À T . K Ì M M ò À . S E /

>> No.625571

I started with Post Office and thought it was excellent. I read all of his other prose (except Pulp, which I can't find at my library) immediately after.

Ham on Rye starts when he is a child and goes until college. A lot of great stories in this. Really funny. Picture of a lonely kid in a rough neighborhood trying to survive.

Factotum - his lost years, right after college, as he bums around the country writing and working odd jobs. Sort of repetitive and forgettable, imo. Memorable bits are his thoughts on the nobility of the starving artist (he thinks it's a stupid idea and you should try everything else first).

Post Office - he settles down in Los Angeles and works a shitty job as a postal clerk. Really, really good.

Women - he's finally a full-time writer and is traveling the country performing at poetry readings and book signings. He meets women. Interesting perspective on the writing world, what it takes to make money from your writing. A few descriptions and meetings of famous authors.

Hollywood - the story of the making of Barfly, the movie adaptation of Factotum. A good look at what it's like to make a movie, good insight into the people who were floating around Hollywood at the time. He fictionalizes a lot of the names but they are recognizable. One scene, in which he's interviewed by Roger Ebert, is also available from Ebert's perspective online. Pretty interesting. Really good book.

Pulp - haven't read it yet, but as soon as I find a copy I'll tear through it.

I hope you find one to enjoy!

>> No.625595

OP here

And what about his short stories?

Thanks for the answers by the way

>> No.625601

>>625595
"6 Inches" will horrify you. His girlfriends shrinks him to a penis-length and inserts him inside her vagina. Kind of funny though.

>> No.625611

>>625601

OP here

After reading (and liking) American Psycho I think I just can't be shocked again by anything. I was just interested in the themes of alcoholism and the troubled writer, with some existentialist overtones if possible.

>> No.625617

>>625611
For proper alcoholism, read Under the Volcano

>> No.625657

>>625611

"6 inches" won't shock you, you just never will be able to unsee.

Anon's description is far from the image described in the climax of that short story.

>> No.625730

Post Office is my full on recommendation.

I always thought that it would make a great 70s flick. Something in the line of "Five Easy Pieces' or "Dog Day Afternoon"

>> No.626440

Bukowski's poetry is really hit or miss. It's really good for convincing people who've never read poetry before that poetry is worth reading, though. A lot of people who go on to appreciate poetry got there start with a few of the better Bukowski poems.