Read all the Bukowski books when I was young, found his writings when I was in junior high through his column in the LA Free Press. I picked this up at a used book store recently and really enjoyed the meatiness of it. I still pick up his early books from time to time and skim them but they don't have the impact on me they did when I was younger. His fiction and poetry skim the surface of the life of the alcoholic outsider, albeit in a quite charming way. The letters however have a more - dare I say genuine - immediacy to them. He has a knack for writing the way most people think in these missives. Something that is very difficult to pull off. ( )