Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944-1990

I am going to throw out 2 fans of his. The famous internet guru, Frank Kern, and the famous author and hedge fund manager, James Altucher. Both of completely different backgrounds. When Bukowski, was churning out his famous novels in the 80's, his readership base included the actors, Sean Penn, and Mickey Rourke. Today he, as alot of "artists" are more widely known and read after living their life on Earth. This particular collection of his short stories gives you an idea of him, living a relatively unknown and reclusive life, before "Barfly" introduced "Hank".

Just so you understand my perspective, I'm a long-time fan: I've read all of the novels, all of the short story collections, and a good deal of the poetry. This collection put me in mind of the posthumous Hendrix releases: a few really good pieces, some mediocre stuff, and some things that I thought were completely unnecessary. Undoubtedly some fans will love it, but I only found a small percentage that did anything for me. Definitely not a good choice for beginners.

great. my hero.

Not every single story is a gem, but then again, it doesn't have to be. Worth the price.I get a kick at the way Bukowski detractors love to groan and moan, belch and fartat every opportunity...and this recent title will be just one more reason for them towhine.Fact is, Bukowski keeps being read, books continue to sell and sell and sell...and the jealous pi**ants can't stand it.Is Bukowski the greatest writer of all time? Probably not. Although, as far as I'm concerned,as a writer of short stories, he is second to none. Ham On Rye ain't bad either; Factotum ain't bad either.Then, of course, you've got the poetry. About a third of it is pure gold--and I doubt anyone else comes close.Oh, they might try, but don't even rate.Anyway, enough about that.By the way, cover design is excellent, a work of art. Whoever designed this cover is one talented individual.Cover designers seem to hardly ever get adequate credit--and I thought I'd mention it.Thank you, City Lights.

A must for Bukowski fans. Great read, cover to cover.

I'm love John Fante and bought this book just to read I Meet the Master. I would say I'm a moderate fan of Bukowski, as he writes naturally, in a way one would speak thoughtfully or emotionally, but I'm a huge fan of this collection.

The book collects short stories and some other early stuff too. Including books introductions for other writers and such.If you never read Bukowski's books, this is NOT the one to begin the reading. If you already read all of his stuff (or most of it), then this is the right buy, although the quality of the paper does not meet any high standards, it's good enough.

A fan til I die!

Fifteen years after the great man's demise, and still the Bukowski legend rolls on. This selection of his miscellaneous prose writings spans his earliest short stories published in the 1940s, through a brace of his `Notes of a Dirty Old Man' columns for Open City and LA Free Press, odd bits of journalism (including, if you can credit it, a `review' of a Rolling Stones concert), and more later fiction that for some reason didn't make it into the Black Sparrow collections - possibly because one of them at least - `Workout' - is rather porny, and Black Sparrow publisher John Martin took a dim view of Hank's contributions to girlie mags.If you are unfamiliar with the Bukowskian Weltanschauung, then you might want to beware, because it's far from politically correct by 2009 standards. Notwithstanding, `Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook' contains some of Bukowski's best prose, and one gets the impression that it has benefited from a buff-up by editor David Stephen Calonne, whose well-informed introduction places Bukowski's work in a wider context of 20th Century literature. The only item that is a bit iffy is the the title piece, which comprises 13 pages of rather inconsequential and fractured jottings and ramblings that are of curiosity value mainly.The opening stories first appeared in high-brow US fiction magazines like `Story', `Portfolio', and `Matrix', when Charles Bukowski was in his twenties, and it's intriguing to speculate on what direction Bukowski's writing would have taken if the American literary establishment had afforded him more recognition and success at this early stage of his career.Bukowski admirers will not regret purchasing this title.