Charles Bukowski is a Jack Kerouac, Jackson Pollock kind of guy. Run With the Hunted: a Charles Bukowski Reader provides a good summary of his work.

The general Bukowski message, as I read it, is that it is better to live and to sin than to waste away in a meaningless, bland life.

His late writings about being 70+ make for good reading in the old age section of the lifespan psychology course.

Several of his books (not this one) are illustrated by another favorite, the artist Robert Crumb.