Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers |
1994 |
Buy |
| Mondo Marilyn |
1995 |
Buy |
| Letters to America |
1995 |
N/A |
| Writing Los Angeles |
2002 |
Buy |
| The Portable Sixties Reader |
2003 |
Buy |
Chap Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Fire Station |
1970 |
Buy |
| Bring Me Your Love |
1983 |
Buy |
| There’s No Business |
1984 |
Buy |
Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Run With the Hunted |
1962 |
Buy |
| It Catches My Heart in Its Hands |
1963 |
N/A |
| Crucifix in a Deathhand |
1965 |
Buy |
| Cold Dogs In The Courtyard |
1965 |
Buy |
| At Terror Street And Agony Way |
1968 |
Buy |
| The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills |
1969 |
Buy |
| Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness |
1972 |
Buy |
| Mockingbird Wish Me Luck |
1972 |
Buy |
| South of No North |
1973 |
Buy |
| Poems written before jumping out of an 8 story window |
1974 |
Buy |
| Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame |
1974 |
Buy |
| Love Is a Dog from Hell |
1977 |
Buy |
| Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit |
1979 |
Buy |
| Dangling in the Tournefortia |
1981 |
Buy |
| The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories |
1983 |
Buy |
| Tales of Ordinary Madness |
1983 |
Buy |
| Hot Water Music |
1983 |
Buy |
| War All the Time |
1984 |
Buy |
| You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense |
1986 |
Buy |
| The Roominghouse Madrigals |
1988 |
Buy |
| A Bukowski Sampler |
1988 |
Buy |
| Septuagenarian Stew |
1990 |
Buy |
| In the Shadow of the Rose |
1991 |
Buy |
| The Last Night of the Earth Poems |
1992 |
Buy |
| Betting on the Muse |
1996 |
Buy |
| Bone Palace Ballet |
1997 |
Buy |
| What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire |
1999 |
Buy |
| Open All Night |
2000 |
Buy |
| The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps |
2001 |
Buy |
| Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems Book 1 |
2002 |
Buy |
| Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems Book 2 |
2002 |
Buy |
| New Poems Book One |
2003 |
Buy |
| New Poems Book Two |
2003 |
Buy |
| New Poems Book Three |
2003 |
Buy |
| New Poems Book Four |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain |
2003 |
Buy |
| Come On In! |
2006 |
Buy |
| The People Look Like Flowers At Last |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Pleasures of the Damned |
2007 |
Buy |
| Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Continual Condition |
2009 |
Buy |
| Absence of the Hero |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Most Beautiful Woman in Town |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Bell Tolls for No One |
2015 |
Buy |
| Storm for the Living and the Dead |
2017 |
Buy |
Mondo Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Mondo Barbie |
1993 |
Buy |
| Mondo Elvis |
1994 |
Buy |
| Mondo Marilyn |
1995 |
Buy |
| Mondo James Dean |
1996 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| All the Assholes in the World and Mine |
1966 |
Buy |
| Notes of a Dirty Old Man |
1969 |
Buy |
| Shakespeare Never Did This |
1979 |
Buy |
| The Bukowski/Purdy Letters |
1984 |
Buy |
| Screams from the Balcony |
1993 |
Buy |
| Living On Luck |
1995 |
Buy |
| The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship |
1998 |
Buy |
| Reach for the Sun |
1999 |
Buy |
| Beerspit Night and Cursing |
2001 |
Buy |
| Selected Letters Volume 1: 1958-1965 |
2004 |
Buy |
| Selected Letters Volume 2: 1965-1970 |
2004 |
Buy |
| Selected Letters Volume 3: 1971-1986 |
2004 |
Buy |
| Slouching Toward Nirvana |
2005 |
Buy |
| Selected Letters Volume 4: 1987-1994 |
2005 |
Buy |
| More Notes of a Dirty Old Man |
2011 |
Buy |
| On Writing |
2015 |
Buy |
| On Cats |
2015 |
Buy |
| On Love |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: On Writers and Writing |
2018 |
Buy |
| On Drinking |
2019 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Post Office |
1971 |
Buy |
| Factotum |
1975 |
Buy |
| Women |
1978 |
Buy |
| Ham on Rye |
1982 |
Buy |
| Barfly |
1983 |
Buy |
| Hollywood |
1989 |
Buy |
| Pulp |
1994 |
Buy |
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was a German-American writer who spent most of his life in Los Angeles. He worked a series of low-paying jobs, most notably as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, before becoming a full-time writer in his late forties. His writing draws heavily from his own life and is known for its blunt, unpolished style and focus on drinking, women, gambling, and the daily grind of working-class existence.
Bukowski published six novels, dozens of poetry collections, and several volumes of short stories during his lifetime, with many more published posthumously. His alter ego Henry Chinaski appears in much of his fiction. Despite critical ambivalence during his lifetime, Bukowski has become one of the most widely read American poets, with a readership that continues to grow.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Charles Bukowski written?
Charles Bukowski has written 84 books across six series.
What was Charles Bukowski's first book?
Charles Bukowski’s first book is Run With the Hunted, published in 1962.
What are Charles Bukowski's most famous books?
Bukowski’s most famous novels are Post Office (1971), Factotum (1975), Women (1978), and Ham on Rye (1982). His poetry collections Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977) and The Pleasures of the Damned (2007) are also widely read. Much of his work draws from his own experiences with manual labor, drinking, and life on the margins in Los Angeles.