Another one my favorite Bukowski poetry collections. I remember very distinctly I chose a poem called "Sardines in Striped Dresses" to present to my HAnother one my favorite Bukowski poetry collections. I remember very distinctly I chose a poem called "Sardines in Striped Dresses" to present to my Honors Lit class in high school, which was filled with all the smartest and coolest girls that I was desperately trying to impress. Needless to say, they weren't all that impressed, but my heart was pounding when I read aloud the work "fuck" in English class....more
This is alter-ego Henry Chinaski's unembellished account of growing up, getting in fights, getting drunk, quitting a series of dead-end jobs, trying uThis is alter-ego Henry Chinaski's unembellished account of growing up, getting in fights, getting drunk, quitting a series of dead-end jobs, trying unsuccessfully to pull women, and actually going insane and becoming homeless for a spell. Quite an eye-opener for anyone who doesn't think it's cool to be semi-delirious, stinking-drunk, living in the park. And writing poetry and literature too.
Bukowski is a unique individual, either love him or hate him. ...more
Well, it's hard to resist the charm of this unashamed alcoholic poet lowlife (or is is lowlife alcoholic poet?). He just tells it like it is, and his Well, it's hard to resist the charm of this unashamed alcoholic poet lowlife (or is is lowlife alcoholic poet?). He just tells it like it is, and his life is a series of drinking bouts, dead-end jobs, flings with equally down-and-out women, and banging out poetry on his typewriter.
This particular book was just hilarious, particularly when his mail truck gets stuck in a freak rainstorm in LA (how often does that happen???). Loved it....more
The Shining: It took 39 years, but I finally finished it My first experience with The Shining was in 1980 - I was six years old, and for some totally iThe Shining: It took 39 years, but I finally finished it My first experience with The Shining was in 1980 - I was six years old, and for some totally inexplicable reason my parents decided that it would be fun to see the movie at a drive-in theatre. That any parents, especially ones who normally had no interest in horror, would take a helpless and easily frightened child to that movie, borders on negligence or cruelty.
So I innocently watched the opening third of gradual horror creeping up, not understanding but getting a bad feeling. So I told my mom I was going to the bathroom, and then was too scared to go back to the car. My mom eventually got worried and found me plastered to the back wall of the bathroom bldg. Not a good memory.
Fast forward 35 years. My daughter was around 15 and said, "hey, let's watch The Shining, I heard it's a classic." Well, I have deliberately avoided all horror novels, including all of Stephen King's huge catalogue of door-stopper best sellers. I know he is one of the most popular writers in the world, but I don't like being scared. What's entertaining about that? But I wasn't going to admit that to my teenage daughter, so I said, "Sure." The iconic Kubrick film was just as visually and psychologically creepy as I had expected, and much more patiently paced that modern horror films. A great piece of film-making.
However, I have heard that Stephen King really didn't like Kubrick's rendition of his book, and it has bothered me all these years that I have never ready any of his books. So when the option of audiobooks arose, I thought it was a perfect way to try out his work without losing my eyesight from all those words on the page. So I listened to the audiobook of The Shining, as it's one of his earlier and less bloated works. And man, what an experience.
While the film version is of course visually brilliant, the book has real depth of characterization, and most importantly much of it focuses on Jack Torrance's psychically sensitive little boy Danny. The relationship of the struggling alcoholic writer Jack to redeem himself with his estranged wife and son is a very poignant and realistic one, and when they find themselves with no other option but for him to take the winter caretaker job at the ominous and isolated Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains, it is a perfect metaphor for the writer's isolation trapped in their own mind, struggling to create a story that other's will accept. I heard the author was also fighting alcoholism during the writing of the book, and he pulls no punches in showing its insidious power to twist ones thoughts into bad ways, even against his loved ones.
There are a ton of differences between the book and film, and I'd have to say the book is the superior version, simply in terms of the depth of backstory and insight into the characters' minds. It also explains the origins of the strange power called "the shining" and the grim history of the hotel itself. It's an excellent intro to Stephen King, and allowed me to finish something started almost four decades ago. Now I'm ready for his door-stoppers!...more
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