Continuing to read all prose Bukowski wrote, I finished "South of No North" from my reading list. As I said before, I prefer his novels as there is a continuity in the story and a clear sequence and structure. Not so much in the short stories. This book seems to be a collection of previous "chapbook" editions which usually contained one story and were cheap to publish (not by Bukowski, but by the actual publishers who took a chance on him).
I like the best "All the Assholes in World and Mine" story which describes Bukowski's hemorrhoid operation and is enough to scare anybody away from having their hemorrhoids surgically removed. I know your doctor told you there will be 1 week in bed recovery, but Bukowski found out that is more like 6-8 weeks, i.e. two months. Good luck with that and not being able to pee or shit because of the spinal tap.
I don't like his rape fantasies, like the Penthouse story, and variations on the guy who bangs cars on the highway and then rapes the girls in them. Rape fantasies are too vulgar, cheap and obvious - nothing much art about them. I also dislike his "pure fiction" stories, i.e. the ones that are not based on some parts of his life as they sound hollow and fake, much like any other fiction out there, unlike the raw reality of his own life.
The last story in the book is pretty much the base for one of his later novels, and much of the material here is in a more raw and extensive form which was later reworked into parts of his novels in a much more polished and humorous way. And enough with the horse racing instruction manuals already for God's sake - now I can go on the track and bet myself with all the instructions on horse betting I had to read from Bukowski - something I really never wanted to do, and still don't.
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