Freestyle Blog Entry 2

Yesterday I began reading "Run With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader", compiled by John Martin. Charles Bukowski never wrote a memoir, but this book is arranged chronologically and becomes somewhat of a memoir of his life. The material in this book was supplied by over twenty novels, books of short stories, and volumes of poetry that have been published. Because the book is arranged chronologically the novels are broken down by chapter and separated by poems, so it's difficult to choose a quote and relate it to the rest of the book. However, there is a rather significant quote on the first page of the book from Bukowski's semi-autobiography, "Ham on Rye", expressing part of his earliest memory:
"Two people: one larger with curly hair, a big nose, a big mouth, much eyebrow; the larger person always seeming to be angry, often screaming; the smaller person quiet, round of face, paler, with large eyes. I was afraid of both of them."
Charles Bukowski had a less-than-pleasant childhood and disliked both of his parents, mainly his father. I believe this quote is significant to his work in general because a lot of it is semi-autobiographical and in the work that is, it expresses trouble with his father. The quote is significant because it expresses that, from the beginning, he had issues with is parents. His father was also a huge (negative) influence to his life and writing.
I wouldn't actually recommend this book to anybody who hasn't read Bukowski before. It interests me because it's somewhat of a memoir and is a chronological collection of his work rather htan simply novels and poems; to someone who hasn't ready any of his work, it would probably be difficult to follow and uninteresting.