BOLD MONKEY- TOP 25 HITS

You might have noticed that BM has an unhealthy obsession with statistics. The blog recently recorded its 50,000th hit & this page is devoted to documenting what has interested readers. Follow up any shit that appeals to you on the side bar.

 #25 Book Recommendation: Michael Dransfield:  

Dransfield was a heroin addict who died young in Australia. His poetry remains remarkably fresh & he lives on.

#24 Song Lyrics: Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage:

Again, I didn’t do much here but link an incredible improvised live performance of ‘Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow’ to a compilation of a fan’s lyrics.

#23 Book Review/ Interview: Mather Schneider Drought Resistant Strain:

This is a largely underrated first collection of poetry and deserves greater readership.

#22 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Last Night of the Earth Poems:

This is Buk’s last collection of poetry published during his lifetime and one of his best.

#21 Book Review: John Yamrus Doing Cartwheels On Doomsday Afternoon

Yamrus shows us here how to distill language to its simplist purity but still retain complex meaning & relevance.

#20 Book Review/ Interview: Mather Schneider He Took a Cab: 

This is Schneider's best collection of poetry and documents his job as a cabbie in Arizona.

#19 Book Review: Rob Plath A Bellyful of Anarchy

This is as good as a first publication of a poet gets. If you are a mainstream reader this book will change the way you perceive poetry.

#18 Book Review/ Interview: Paul Harrison Meet Me at Gethsemane

This is the best recent underground book by an Australia poet. 

#17 Book Review/ Interview: Wolfgang Carstens Crudely Mistaken For Life:

Wolf Carstens is not only is a brilliant publisher but lays down a lean clean line.

#16 New Release: Scott-Patrick Mitchell The Tricking Post

This is a tricky po-mo book of poetry by the young, highly experimental Western Australian poet.

#15 Book Review/ Interview: Peter Bakowski Beneath Our Armour

Comfortably one of the best and most accessible poets in Australia.

#14 Book Review/ Interview: Scott-Patrick Mitchell Songs of an Ordinary Mass

 An extremely clever micro-book of poetry by the West Australian.

#13 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Ham On Rye

  This is the most auto-biographical of Bukowski's novels.

#12 New Release: David Spiteri The Prez

 This promo wet the vein of many bikies.

#11 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Pleasures of the Damned

This was an early review of one of ECCO's many abominations.

#10 Book Review: Guy de Maupassant Bel-Ami

 This short review surprisingly struck the cord within many pants.

#9 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Post Office

 This is Buk's first novel and set him off to financial independence.

#8 Book Review: David Spiteri The Prez

A highly graphic, no-holds barred account of a motorcycle club in Australia.

#7 Essay: J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye

 I wrote this essay for high school students studying the novel.

#6 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Factotum

This is easily Bukowski's best novel. Buk says of Factotum in a letter to his publisher John Martin (from Living On Luck: Selected Letter Volume 2): 'I reread the fucking novel and get depressed; it doesn't quite have the spring and mox I wanted it to have. but as an easy whorehouse journal of madness I do think it scores'. Three weeks later he writes Martin: 'I don't think it's a great novel, but I think it's an odd one, a curious one, and it reads easy. well, we'll see'. To Hank Malone he writes: 'It's a little rough and maybe a little corny but think it has some saving graces in the halfass mad desperateness of ye central charcoal'.

 #5 Book Review: John Steinbeck Travels With Charley

This is one of my best reviews. I'd love to review Grapes of Wrath if I had more time.

#4 Review of a TV Series: The Bikie Wars

As this TV series unfolded over six episodes I reviewed each episode.

#3 Book Review: What is Bukowski's Best Novel? 

This entry may one day be this blog's most popular page. I include links to four previous reviews.

#2 Book Review: Charles Bukowski Come On In!

This is probably his best posthumous collection of poetry.

#1 Book Review/ Best Quotes: Charles Bukowski Women

Although this is not a Bukowski blog his wide popularity means Bold Monkey will be targeted by his fans.

See also: BOLD MONEY TOP 50 HITS OF ALL TIME: http://georgedanderson.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/bold-monkey-greatest-50-hits.html