Ham on Rye

[Sloth]

Anybody read this? It is amazing! The best Bukowski I've ever read. But I say that about all his books. The more you read him the more you understand him and want to be him. He is like Miller's little brother without the artypants.

I always wondered why he was put on the bus alongside Vicent Van Gogh. Not anymore. Score another one for the McCutcheon.

I am sending a copy to my dad for his 60th birthday this Sunday. I hope he likes it as much as I do.

[mccutcheon]

I just had a cheese on rye. And a red eye flight. But while in prison I stayed away from the big bad ham and red eye. Bukowski is good when he is good and so on. Tenderness.

[<me>]

ham on rye... who invented the sandwhich?

[Sloth]

This english guy called the Earl of Sandwich.

No shit.

Also, I put Ham on Rye on the Top Reads section. Check it out. And let me know if there are any typos and I have been constantly drunk and/or high for the past 13 years and I find it hard to focus on shit like that since my editor quit (god spare her soul).

http://www.paxacidus.com/views/Top_Reads/hamonrye.html

[h.]

I just read that book last week. Good taste in literature Ooh!

[Sloth]

What was your favorite part?

[h.]

I like the way he lays things out in a simple way. The whole book is full of anger but at the same time, there's the damaged human aspect of it. Like how he spends three quarters of the book skimming over the fact that he loves to write until it gets to the part about his father kicking him out and you get to see how much he loves writing by his reaction to his father dumping his manuscripts all over the place.
I think my favorite part would have to be when he busts into the shack next door from where he's staying because the people there are being too loud. It turns out to be some ugly fat people trying to make a go at romance and he feels bad for fucking it up.
And the penny arcade boxing with the little mexican kid. I liked that too.

[mccutcheon]

The thing about Bukowski is that it's cool to like him when you are young and at college or Uni thinking your five pints down the pub makes you an alchy living the seedier life. Then as you get older you are supposed to move on to Miller or Hardy and you think Bukowski is only for stupid kids at college or Uni. But people don't give it enough time. I think reading Bukowski is like listening to The Velvet Underground. Take that anyway that you want. At the moment I'm listening to There She Goes.

Taken from McCutcheon's novel Burnt roof of Mouth:

She is nubile and wearing a tight T-shirt. The worn faded fabric is pulled taunt over ravishing tits that are anything but worn or faded. In film class she always wears big baggy sweaters. I wonder why she doesn't choose to always show off such a blouse full of bountiful breasts. If I had a physical trait so extraordinarily alluring I would walk around naked. I notice what her T-shirt says because from the moment that she opened the door I realize I haven't taken my eyes off her chest.

The T-shirt reads- ‘I don't date boys who read Bukowski'

“Are you going to hand me my pizza or just stare at my tits?� The girl asks.

“I wasn't…I was just reading the T-shirt.�

“Do you?�

“What?�

“Do you read Bukowski?�

“No.�

“Why not?�

“I don't know. I don't know Bukowski.�

“Oh.�

“Why don't you like Bukowski?�

“I love Bukowski.�

“But I thought…�

“I like his writing. I don't like drunken boys who don't understand the tenderness. The separation of art from artist.�

“Oh.�

“Come in,� she says.