Average customer rating:
- Bits and Pieces.
- Congrats Mr. B - What a pile of drivel!
- Nobility Among Ruined People
- the greatest short story writer of them all!
- Modern Examples of Old Wisdom
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Tales of Ordinary Madness
Charles Bukowski
Manufacturer: City Lights Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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General
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Bukowski, Charles
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 0872861554 |
Book Description
With Bukowski, the votes are still coming in. There seems to be no middle ground-people seem either to love him or hate him. Tales of his own life and doings are as wild and weird as the very stories he writes. In a sense, Bukowski was a legend in his time . . . a madman, a recluse, a lover . . . tender, vicious . . . never the same . . . these are exceptional stories that come pounding out of his violent and depraved life . . . horrible and holy, you cannot read them and ever come away the same again.
Customer Reviews:
Bits and Pieces........2007-08-23
While the stories aren't all together linked, the big picture is clear. Charles Bukowski may very well be writing from the mouth of madness. He uses this book to paint pictures of the lives he sees, and often times lives. If you're looking for a good starter book that doesn't hold back, I recommend this one. My first and still my favorite of his works.
Congrats Mr. B - What a pile of drivel!.......2007-03-14
Congrats Mr. Bukowski! You win the prize for being the first-ever book that I just couldn't make it through. 60 pages. That's all I could read before I threw it in the trash.
Such filth (and I'm in construction, should hear MY mouth) and pointless drivel. Completely disjointed - and not the stories to each other, but within each story. How in the world did this guy ever get to be published?
Buy something else. Anything else. Just DON'T READ THIS BOOK!
Nobility Among Ruined People.......2006-08-20
Is it possible to have sympathy for alcoholics, foul-mouthed madmen, a liquor store hold-up man, draft-dodgers, sexists, self-centered writers or any combination of the above? Yes, as long as the writer is Charles Bukowski.
The famous symbolist painter, Odilon Redon once said that dead flowers are just as beautiful as those in full bloom. Bukowski would agree. His characters have seen better days; in fact their best days are well behind them. Or, to paraphrase one of his characters, once you think you've hit bottom, another bottom rises up to hit you. And yet, there is a substantial nobility, a worthiness--I'm struggling for the right word--about these down-and-out characters. For the most part, you like them. Watching a felon, on the night he is about to stick up a liquor store, conversing with his little daughter, is downright poignant. (If you can't tell, "A .45 To Pay The Rent" is among my favorites.)
I'm stretching here a bit, but reading this reminded me of Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives". While I am a working class guy, these stories revealed to me a world that I could never have imagined, nor survived in. The only difference between this and Riis' classic, is that this is autobiographical fiction. But the feeling is still there. These wretches have pride and assert their needs and identities.
These are not stories for the squeamish. So do not go lightly into "Tales of Ordinary Madness". But these stories are not shocking for shock's sake. They are shocking because they are real.
the greatest short story writer of them all!.......2006-06-29
I have been reading books for about 50 years now--and this guy just about beats them all. Buk lives on! So much sorrow and pain--but what a talent, what a crazy genius!
Modern Examples of Old Wisdom.......2006-03-06
A Taoist story tells the tale of poor sage who declined an invitation to live in the palace of the Emperor. When asked how he could possibly choose to continue living homeless and broke instead of living amidst the slendor of the Emperor's palace, the sage pointed to a pig rolling about in the mud, and said, "Like that pig, I prefer to live in the mud then be dead in a velvet box."
In the movie "Barfly" (screenplay written by Bukowski), "Hank" (Bukowski's fictional alter ego) was invited by a beautiful lady to live in her mansion, where he could live and write in peace. Hank declined, saying "Look around you, you're in a cage with golden bars."
This collection of stories further illustrates the beauty and honor of living in the mud.
Customer Reviews:
The Eloquent Sewage of a Drunken Mind-The Buk Pukes It Up.......1999-08-27
Bukowski's carnival of the grotesque culminates in a collection of shorts that take you through booze, broads, cockroach-infested rooming houses and inevitably, skid row. Buk banalizes wretched despair making it seem comic, terrible and commonpace as a car wreck. Not for the uninitiated, these pages show Buk at his hardcore, least palatable best. (Beginners should try Ham on Rye for laughs and biographical insight.) For a quick sampler, juxtapose "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town" with "3 Chickens and "The Copulating Mermaid of Venice Beach, Ca." Who else could put the poetry in necrophilia and the pathos in suicide? Make you split a gut as two old whores do the dozens over his sexually spent body while the heat is ever at the door? Make you feel a tingle when two fat-headed slobs kiss the lovely lips of a stolen corpse and float her out to a sunlit sea? Make you cry when a gorgeous, self-lacerating nutjob drags a broken bottle across her neck and disappears forever into the LA night, never to warm the corner barstool again... If you ever manage to get your hands on this book, bring a flask, bottle of Peopto Bismol and a handkerchief. Strap yourself in and get ready for a bumpy night.
What a good writer!.......1999-08-04
The tales in this book are from the Bukowski's greatests creations. They seem to be easily written, but with a quality (and rythm) that only a master could put on it. Definitely, one of the bests writers in English language in the XX century.
Book Description
We all have problems. Every day, our lives are peppered with a little bit of madness, things that push us over the edge and away from our sanity. Take Robert. He knows those eyes are watching him. What eyes? The ones that are everywhere, lurking in every corner, outside every window. Then there's David, who one day had the irresistible urge to walk out into the middle of traffic. Or Mrs. Yogeswarren, who is so scared of dogs, she has to plan a route ahead of time whenever she wants to go anywhere, just so she can avoid canines of any kind. These are the sorts of people who have to go to the psychiatrist to learn to cope. But what happens when the good doctor begins to identify a little too closely with his patients?
Average customer rating:
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Hot
Charles Bukowski
Manufacturer: Douglas College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007BWTJW |
Book Description
A Long December:
American crime fiction’s best-kept secret–as if Michael Connelly had
spent twenty-six years as a small-town cop in Iowa–has written his
breakout book.
Brief Description:
The people of Nation County, Iowa–a heartland town straight out of a
Coen Brothers movie or a John Cougar Mellencamp song–practice a
unique brand of American stoicism. You betcha. And they rely upon
their public servants to shield them from the horrors of the outside
world. Carl Houseman, deputy sheriff of the 750-square-mile county,
dedicates his life to keeping his citizenry so secure that you can leave
the door unlocked at home and walk his streets with a big hello and a
smile to every stranger. On Houseman’s watch, the mounting terrors
of the new world order stay far away.
But December 2001 could change all of that. Outsiders are everywhere.
The meat plant is now kosher and there are more Jewish fellows per
capita than any other place in the country. Hispanic and other foreign
workers, with dubious immigration papers, have taken jobs from the
locals. Eighteen other languages are now spoken within the tiny region,
and Carl and company can’t speak a single one.
Then the eighty-odd-year-old Heinman brothers’ call comes in from
their farm down in Frog Hollow. They’ve witnessed an execution-style
killing not one hundred yards from their pig feeders. The victim’s awful
dead and half his head’s been blown off. The boys haven’t seen nothing
like it since Normandy. When Carl gets to the scene, he believes them.
What follows is a masterful police procedural thriller–think Joe
Wambaugh crossed with Fargo–written with a singular and authentic
voice that has electrified readers around the world.
Customer Reviews:
Someone publish some more Harstad!.......2007-07-20
This is a very good Houseman book. Harstad has continued to develop his characters (both the "old" and the new alike), and has tried a new storytelling style with this book. At first, the chapter placement jarred me, but, in the end, it was very *right* for this story. (Those who haven't read: It begins mid gun-battle, then flashes back and forth to the backstory and the gunfight.)
If you are a Houseman fan, read this book. If you haven't read any of the Houseman series yet, start at the beginning! Save this gem for later.
SOMEONE PLEASE PICK HIM UP AND PUBLISH HIM SOME MORE! He's sitting on a manuscript right now (at least one) -- some publisher needs to grab him up!
Proud to claim him as a fellow Iowan..........2006-12-02
Mr. Harstad's books are the type not to start reading when you need to get a good nights sleep... you will be up late not wanting to put the book down once you start reading. They are very fast paced, full of action and suspense. I am proud that we can claim an author of his caliber as a fellow Iowan!! There are many good things here in Iowa and Mr. Harstad is one of them - and we are thrilled to share him with the rest of you! Interestingly, the first book of his that we read, we came across in Vaxjo, Sweden when browsing through the section of English language books in a bookstore there!
Wha' happen??.......2006-10-27
Where is Harstads new book? It was due to be released Jan 2005, and is not availble. The publisher changed and everything went downhill from there. Is Donald dead or what? Does anyone know what is going on in Elkader,Iowa?
great series.......2006-02-03
I've loved every book in this series. Low-key wit, intelligent humor, tight writing that gets better with each outing, an insider's glimpse at how Things Really Work.
The only thing I find myself wishing for is more from Mrs. Houseman's (Sue's) perspective. Does she have to remain a nonentity? Or like Mrs. Columbo, does it just work best that way? hmmmm...
Another great book from Harstad!.......2006-01-15
Donald Harstad writes an incredibly good police procedural. I'm not even a fan of the genre and yet I am hooked on this series! Carl Houseman, deputy sheriff and senior investigator for Nation County, Iowa, is called to the Heinman farm to investigate a dead body. The dead body, Rudy Cueva, worked at a local kosher meat packing plant in Battenberg and was shot at close range. Soon, another body is found, Juan Gonzalez aka Orejas, only he wasn't shot. Instead, he ingested the deadly toxin ricin and what has appeared to be a drug deal gone bad now has turned into a federal case involving terrorism. Meanwhile, people in New York are dying from ricin due to purchasing products connected to the Battenberg plant. All the usual characters from this series are present, including Iowa DCI agent Hester Gorse and the dispatcher, Sally. The book actually begins with the finale where Carl, Hester, Sally, and George are holed up in a barn, outgunned and outmanned. Harstad alternates chapters with the investigation from the beginning and scenes from the barn until reaching the final, dramatic conclusion of the novel. At first, I found this confusing but soon I realized that this actually added to the story. I eagerly await Harstad's next Carl Houseman novel!
Average customer rating:
- The Noontide of the Rising Sun
- The title reveals authors failure to produce anything new.
- Innovative, moving history
- Long, Long Long Day's Journey
- The Day of Infamy around the world
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Long Day's Journey into War: December 7, 1941
Stanley Weintraub
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World War II | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Pearl Harbor | World War II | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0525933441 |
Book Description
Here is the definitive chronicle of "a date that will live in infamy" with a new Foreword by the author.
Long Day's Journey into War recaptures the whirlwind events sweeping the world on the calendar day that may be the most momentous of the twentieth century. In this riveting recreation, the worldwide scope of the major turning point of World War II comes to unforgettable life.
In Washington, D.C., the United States and Japanese governments move toward irreversible confrontation. In Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito strains to hear-amid the crackling radio static-the first reports of war. Landings in Malaya and Thailand at midnight are timed to coincide across the thousands of miles of ocean with carrier-plane and suicide-sub attacks at daylight on Hawaii.
In Russia, in the subzero snows, the German onslaught crests against the furious counterattacks of a Red Army rising from its ruins. In North Africa, in the torrid sands about besieged Tobruk, Rommel's Afrika Korps discovers its limits. In Nazi-occupied Europe, in a bleak Polish forest, Hitler's "final solution" is given its first grisly trial run.
In the kaleidoscope of Stanley Weintraub's narrative, events reveal themselves in dramatic hour-by-hour simultaneous time as scenes shift from front lines to home fronts. Meticulously researched, startling in its revelations and in its juxtaposition of events, Long Day's Journey into War is gripping, riveting history.
Customer Reviews:
The Noontide of the Rising Sun.......2007-04-12
In LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO WAR author Stanley Weintraub dissects December 7, 1941 hour by hour as it occurred around the globe. Relative to one's geographic location on the planet, December 7th occupied parts of three days, December 6, 7, and 8 (Hence the "long day" of the title). But December 7, 1941 was also a "long day" in the sense that it was a watershed of history. A vast chasm separated the world of the day before and the world of the day after, and that chasm had it's fault line at Pearl Harbor.
Weintraub uses both historical documentation and personal reminiscences to describe the occurrences of December 7th, and does so in a creatively novelistic manner that holds the reader's unflagging interest. Pearl Harbor Day is thus described from the standpoint of military men, diplomats, and the ordinary people who found themselves caught up in the extraordinary events recounted here.
Weintraub uses a bank of clocks at the head of each chapter to illustrate the relative time in, let's say, Tokyo, Manila, Washington D.C., and Stalingrad. Part of his thesis is that December 7, 1941 was the high-water mark of the Axis Powers. Although the Axis-dominated portion of the globe did geographically expand after this date, the edifice had begun to crack. Weintraub makes a convincing argument that this day in December was the Beginning of The End for Japan, Germany, Italy and their smaller satellites, as in retrospect it seems to have been.
Filled with accurate historical data and interesting personal stories, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO WAR is a fascinating presentation of a day which deserves the unique treatment this book provides.
The title reveals authors failure to produce anything new........2006-02-02
For someone who wants a quick study of what happened at Pearl Harbor, standard version, I would suggest buying Tora Tora Tora. In less than two hours, you would be caught up in the basic facts surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack.
The issue currently at discussion among serious readers is not what happened on 12/7/41, but what lead up to it. Furthermore, I believe that the author has inserted his political views into the discussion. For example, on p2266 (Lyons Press 2001), the author cites Admiral Kimmel's decision to stop the 300 mile air patrol, instituted by his predecesor Admiral Richardson. The author also gives the impression that the AA guns of the Navy and were not in combat readiness. This is either a failure of research, or an example of bias. Admiral Richardson was removed from his command by Roosevelt, for telling Roosevelt that among other deficiences, he could not fly 300 mile air patrols on a continuous basis because he did not have enough aircraft or aircrews. Nor did he have enough trained mechanics and spare parts. Roosevelt sent the fleet to Pearl Harbor against the advice of Richardson. And then FDR removed ships and aircaft to Russia and the Atlantic. Richardson warned Roosevelt that such a move would present an inviting target to Japan. Richardson, who was a permenent 4 star Admiral had an advantage that Kimmel did not have. Richardson's rank could not be removed if he was replaced at Pearl Harbor. Kimmel, who was a 2 Star Admiral was advanced ahead of senior officers to a temporary 4 star rank.
Writing that Kimmel was responsible for ordering a stop of the 300 mile patrols is irresponsible. The writer seems exposed to a pro-Roosevelt stance when he avoids my conclusion of the facts known today. Roosevelt fired Richardson and replaced Kimmel. Blaming Kimmel for the disaster at Pearl Harbor, simply because he was the man in charge, seems to ignore where the buck really stops, and that was on Roosevelt's desk.
Another reason I give this book 2 stars is the problem I had using the index. Names and pages did not match. I also found reading about the war in Russia distracting. Had Weintraub wanted to write about someting closer to home, he should have focused on the Atlantic War, which was a full blown shooting war by December 7, 1941. It was Roosevelt's policy to keep that war secret from the American Public. It was the withdrawal of forces from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet that drove Admirial Richardson to confront Roosevelt, which lead to his replacement.
How would Weintraub explain that the Atlantic Fleet was not put on a war footing, unless it was already operating under one.
In US Navy Air Combat, by Robert Lawson and Barrett Tillman, (2000), quotes a Navy Ensign assigned to the Carrier Wasp then at anchor in Bermuda, no recall was made to the ship to get underway the day after the Pearl Harbor attack.
These deceptions are the reason why there is no "Final Conclusion" to the questions behind Pearl Harbor.
Innovative, moving history.......2005-10-15
As has often been observed, to write history is to choose. Similarly, to read history is to choose. Should we read a history covering thousands of years, or a history limited to a single historical actor, or the annals of a single campaign, and so on?
With Long Day's Journey into War, Weintraub contributes a valuable innovation to historical writing. The history covers a brief period -- December 7, 1941 -- the 48 hours that it takes for the earth to complete a single date. During this time, Weintraub assembles a seamlessly woven montage from all parts of the globe as they experience the preceding tensions and subsequent ripple effects of Pearl Harbor. Cairo, Moscow, Washington, Pearl, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London and other key locations. Weintraub includes anecdotes from "lowly" privates running for cover, to worried diplomats, to America First isolationists, to a certain overrated general, to presidents and prime ministers.
The overall effect is successful and powerful. The reader becomes immersed and rooted in time and place, emerging with a sense of having experienced the fateful day on a global scale.
A splendid and unique history worthy of any bookshelf.
Long, Long Long Day's Journey.......2005-09-24
This book is far too long. Made up of hundreds of unrelated stories, many of them only a paragraph long, this book reads like a post-modernist novel and took me ten years to read (I read a couple of hundred pages and tucked it away for a decade until I could muster the fortitude to finish it).
Also, the author has strong emotions and does not hesitate to color his narrative to suit his prejudices. For instance, he paints the America Firsters as a sinister group of anti-semitic, Hitler lovers. No doubt there were a few mixed in there, but most of them were sincere if misguided people who were afraid that if we got involved in World War II, we would become an imperial power with an enormous military industrial complex. They may have been wrong, but most of them were not Nazis. I am very much against the protestors of the war in Iraq, but I recognize that only a small minority of them are in favor of genocide and the restoration of a Saddam-like strongman. The America Firsters deserve more sympathy than the current raft of protestors since we are currently in a war and the protestors want us to lose, rather than keep us out as the AFers did. Also, we were not aware of the Nazi genocide until 1942, whereas we have found the bodies in Iraq to prove that Saddam has been a practitioner of genocide for many years.
Or MacArthur, another bete noire of Mr. Weintraub, who gets a lot of blame for losing his planes on the ground, even as the author shows how much it was the fault of Gen. Brereton, the Air Force Chief in the Philippines. Since Brereton went through the war going from blunder to blunder (while always procuring for himself the fanciest HQ, liquors and women) - he presided over the one of the costliest and least effective bombing raids of the war, the most disastrous friendly fire incident in history and the only Allied airborne assault failure in the war - you would think that some of the snide remarks that Mr. Weintraub has for Gen. MacArthur could have been spread to the real culprit.
Occasionally, the author's hatreds catch him telling tall ones. Chiang Kai-Shek was receiving aid from the Soviets (which was one of the causes for the postwar Sino-Soviet rift), so Chiang's Nazi sympathies must have been muted if they existed at all.
OK, so the book is too long and somewhat untrustworthy. Why four stars? Because the author attempts something rarely seen, which is valuable in its own right. A reader of a book like this would be foolish to actually think he's learning about the events. The narrative is too choppy for that. The value here is in reminding us that history ISN'T a smooth narrative, that events are happening around the world, some of them relevant, some of them not, two steps forward and one step back. The author made a great and largely successful attempt to find events happening simultaneuously around the globe, all on a single day. Breaking 12/7/41 into the 47 hours of the sun's movement around the globe (from midnight 12/7 on the western side of the International Date Line to midnight 12/8 on the eastern side) and moving from Orson Welles in a train heading to Chicago to General Rommel in a conference with an Italian general in the Egyptian desert to Cordell Hull in DC waiting for Japanese diplomats to the withdrawal of a Spanish division in Russia to a football game in Manhattan to the aircraft carriers steaming toward Pearl Harbor, the story is compelling.
John Ellis wrote a book about a day in October, 1944 and there is an excellent book about a day in the middle of the American Civil War, but those books focused on their respective wars and told their stories on a theater by theater basis. You had a feeling that you were the President being given an intelligence report the first thing in the morning. They were exciting books because of that, but they had a different purpose than Mr. Weintraub's book, which is, ultimately, an impressive acheivement.
The Day of Infamy around the world.......2002-02-08
This is a unique look at the events of December 7, 1941. Mr. Weintraub has taken on the enormus task of not only describing the events of December 7, 1941 in regards to Pearl Harbor, but he examines the Day of Infamy on a world-wide scale. The reader finds themselves in the frozen Soviet Union as the Germans desperatley try to hold back the counterattacking Red Army. In North Africa, Rommel is being harassed by the British at Tobruk. In Washington, the reader is taken inside the White House as Roosevelt writes his personal plea for peace to Hirohito. I thought that the chapter headings with a clock showing the time at different places in the world was a nice touch for the reader. I have read numerous books on the subject, but never on a world-wide scope such as this. I would highly recommend this book for Pearl Harbor readers. Another book that is similar to this one is Gordon Prange's December 7, 1941.
Average customer rating:
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A Long December
Donald Harstad
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1841155489 |
Average customer rating:
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Advances in Image and Video Technology: First Pacific Rim Symposium, PSIVT 2006, Hsinchu, Taiwan, December 10-13, 2006, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Encryption | Security & Encryption | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Web Design | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Distributed Databases | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Compression | Algorithms | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Machine Vision | Artificial Intelligence | Computer Science | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Networks, Protocols & APIs | Networking | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 354068297X |
Book Description
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First Pacific Rim Symposium on Image and Video Technology, PSIVT 2006, held in Hsinchu, Taiwan in December 2006.
The 76 revised full papers and 58 revised poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 450 submissions. The papers cover a wide range of topics, including all aspects of video and multimedia, both technical and articistic perspectives and both theorectical and practical issues. The papers are organized in topical sections on 3D scene modeling, image analysis, intelligent vision applications, multimedia compression and transmission, multimedia signal processing, panoramic imaging and distributed video systems, sensor technologies, and visualization.
Average customer rating:
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Long December
Manufacturer: Fabian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BW78LQ |
Books:
- Tell Me Your Dreams
- The 13th Juror (Dismas Hardy)
- The Art of Breathing: 6 Simple Lessons to Improve Performance, Health, and Well-Being
- The Bridges of Madison County
- The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (Cat Who...)
- The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (Cat Who...)
- The Cross-Country Quilters
- The Day After Tomorrow
- The Death Collector (Smart Kids)
- The Deep Six
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