Poetry Books
Betting on the Muse
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Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books
Author: Charles, Bukowski
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
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Our Price: $9.99
You Save: $ 3.96 ( 28% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books
Author: Charles, Bukowski
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Average Customer Rating:
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Betting on the Muse Description
Binding: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
Format: Kindle Book
Label: HarperCollins e-books
Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2007-07-17
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Product Release Date: 2007-07-17
Studio: HarperCollins e-books
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
Format: Kindle Book
Label: HarperCollins e-books
Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2007-07-17
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Product Release Date: 2007-07-17
Studio: HarperCollins e-books
Editorial Review of Betting on the Muse
Description information pending
Customer Reviews of Betting on the Muse
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: Stronger than much of the other posthumous work.
Review: Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories (Black Sparrow, 1996)
The general rule of thumb is that Bukowki's posthumously-published works are of lesser quality than those published during his lifetime. So far, I have come across two exceptions to this rule. One is The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, a wonderful book of journal-like observations and such. The second, in parts anyway, is Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories.
Much of the poetry in the book seems as if it was written in the fifties and sixties, during the peak years of Buk's quality output (though there are some of the later "I couldn't care less what it's about" poems scattered throughout). Much of it may well have been. Some, however, bears timestamps in the work that show them as having been written early in the nineties; makes me wonder what Buk might have come up with had he lived a few more years.
The final selection of poems (I divided the book up in my head while reading into sections, each bounded with short stories) is a series of meditations on death. Not Buk's normal death writing, which always had some fierce spark of hope in it, but writing that made it clear he knew he was facing his own demise. With the exception of the amazing "Last Call," which is roughly halfway through the book, this final selection is perhaps Buk's best work since Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame back in 1973. The process of "observe and write with as little translation is possible" is abandoned, and the work shows that either Buk revised these poems, or turned them over in his head a lot more before putting them down on paper. It shows.
The short stories (and one short nonfiction sketch about publishing his first chapbook in 1960 that is far more optimistic) are a pretty fair reminder that despite Buk being known mostly for his poetry, he was always a strong writer of short stories-- arguably, his short stories are stronger than his poetry. Reading them is like reading Spillane, if Spillane had spent most of his life drunk in a flophouse and didn't care about the mystery aspect of what he wrote. These are quick, easily slices of life, biting with satire and rife with well-drawn characters.
This is good stuff, and the first of Buk's books I've read in quite a while I would unhesitatingly recommend to those few people who have not yet encountered the writing of Charles Bukowski. ****
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: 1st book by Bukowski I've read...more to follow
Review: I found this book at my college's library and I really like it. I'm sure there might be better Bukowski books, but this is my first and I found it really interesting to read. I don't finish many books, but this one was easy too. So check out anything by him, he will make you laugh, think and keep you company on a boring night.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: good horse betting poems
Review: stories from the track, poetry tops here
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: don't bet on this one
Review: I have been reading Bukowski for 25 years now--and I can honestly say this is not very good here at all. Maybe 5 to 10 percent has merit and is worth reading--and the rest? Babble, gibberish, flat. Mind you, this is not easy for a Buk fan to admit--but the way it is. I bought it cheap so I don't really regret getting it. But if you're looking for great writing, great poetry you won't find it here.
If you're looking for excellent Buk prose try Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (broken down into two volumes and titled something else, from City Lights) Factotum, South of No North--even Hollywood. Living On Luck worked for me as well, so did Screams From the Balcony (letter collections, etc.) As far as his poetry? As someone else stated: the early or middle stuff. Septuagenerian Stew (stories and poems) isn't very good either. Could be one reason why Martin decided to sell the store.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A woman who likes Bukowski?!
Review: How could this be? I like Bach, classical poetry, high-brow literature...and Bukowski! I will admit his attitudes about women make me cringe, but this guy can really tell the truth. He knows people inside and out and that is why I like his work. Since 9.11.01 many people have asked if irony is dead. When you read Bukowski you understand that irony is probably the most essential human trait. Irony lives on in our daily lives and in the works of Charles Bukowski. This is a great book.
Review Summary: Stronger than much of the other posthumous work.
Review: Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories (Black Sparrow, 1996)
The general rule of thumb is that Bukowki's posthumously-published works are of lesser quality than those published during his lifetime. So far, I have come across two exceptions to this rule. One is The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, a wonderful book of journal-like observations and such. The second, in parts anyway, is Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories.
Much of the poetry in the book seems as if it was written in the fifties and sixties, during the peak years of Buk's quality output (though there are some of the later "I couldn't care less what it's about" poems scattered throughout). Much of it may well have been. Some, however, bears timestamps in the work that show them as having been written early in the nineties; makes me wonder what Buk might have come up with had he lived a few more years.
The final selection of poems (I divided the book up in my head while reading into sections, each bounded with short stories) is a series of meditations on death. Not Buk's normal death writing, which always had some fierce spark of hope in it, but writing that made it clear he knew he was facing his own demise. With the exception of the amazing "Last Call," which is roughly halfway through the book, this final selection is perhaps Buk's best work since Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame back in 1973. The process of "observe and write with as little translation is possible" is abandoned, and the work shows that either Buk revised these poems, or turned them over in his head a lot more before putting them down on paper. It shows.
The short stories (and one short nonfiction sketch about publishing his first chapbook in 1960 that is far more optimistic) are a pretty fair reminder that despite Buk being known mostly for his poetry, he was always a strong writer of short stories-- arguably, his short stories are stronger than his poetry. Reading them is like reading Spillane, if Spillane had spent most of his life drunk in a flophouse and didn't care about the mystery aspect of what he wrote. These are quick, easily slices of life, biting with satire and rife with well-drawn characters.
This is good stuff, and the first of Buk's books I've read in quite a while I would unhesitatingly recommend to those few people who have not yet encountered the writing of Charles Bukowski. ****
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: 1st book by Bukowski I've read...more to follow
Review: I found this book at my college's library and I really like it. I'm sure there might be better Bukowski books, but this is my first and I found it really interesting to read. I don't finish many books, but this one was easy too. So check out anything by him, he will make you laugh, think and keep you company on a boring night.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: good horse betting poems
Review: stories from the track, poetry tops here
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: don't bet on this one
Review: I have been reading Bukowski for 25 years now--and I can honestly say this is not very good here at all. Maybe 5 to 10 percent has merit and is worth reading--and the rest? Babble, gibberish, flat. Mind you, this is not easy for a Buk fan to admit--but the way it is. I bought it cheap so I don't really regret getting it. But if you're looking for great writing, great poetry you won't find it here.
If you're looking for excellent Buk prose try Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (broken down into two volumes and titled something else, from City Lights) Factotum, South of No North--even Hollywood. Living On Luck worked for me as well, so did Screams From the Balcony (letter collections, etc.) As far as his poetry? As someone else stated: the early or middle stuff. Septuagenerian Stew (stories and poems) isn't very good either. Could be one reason why Martin decided to sell the store.
The problem with Buk's later stuff is just this, I believe, he liked to say that writing was too easy for him, that there was nothing to it--and that what he produced was all good stuff. Well, as any writer knows, if it's that easy and you think everything you write is terrific, it very often means just the opposite.
I believe his publisher continued to publish the Buk's stuff because he was THE BUK, and we understand that.
My conclusion regarding Bukowski's work is just this: a third of his output is truly great and original, a third is fair--and the rest is blatantly bad, just too awaful to have any meaning or worth reading. And yet, having said that, as terrible as it may sound to the diehard Buk fan, I maintain it is a great compliment to the man, because the third that is good will forever keep him up there at the very top of the best writers ever. So, please don't despair because not everything he wrote isn't gold--it can't be. Nobody is that good; nobody can be. Buk was human and had his limitations.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A woman who likes Bukowski?!
Review: How could this be? I like Bach, classical poetry, high-brow literature...and Bukowski! I will admit his attitudes about women make me cringe, but this guy can really tell the truth. He knows people inside and out and that is why I like his work. Since 9.11.01 many people have asked if irony is dead. When you read Bukowski you understand that irony is probably the most essential human trait. Irony lives on in our daily lives and in the works of Charles Bukowski. This is a great book.