One of my Favorite Authors

Roald Dahl

(1916-1990)

Roald Dahl had an amazing life. Don't believe me? Read Boy and Going Solo:

He was a little trouble maker. I love the cover of Boy: him holding a dead rat. Read the book, you won't be disappointed. Once you read his two autobiographies then you can pick up so many themes in his books that he draws right from his childhood and life.

 Did you know he lived in Africa while working for Shell Oil? He saw a tiger pick up a woman and walk off with here, but then he let her go, completely unscathed.

Did you know he served as a fighter pilot in WW2? He crashed on his very first flight because he ran out of fuel and was in the middle of the desert; his face was so swollen that he couldn't see for 6 weeks.

A boy with a Norwegian grandmother goes to England on holiday. Sound familiar?

Recently reread this and then watched the movie. Angelica Houston much?

But my favorite has to be:

So many great stories. They have the interesting, intriguing feeling of a Dahl story, just condensed.  They are all so great but I think I'd have to say that "The Hitchhiker" is my favorite. The ending is perfect.

And this last one:

I remember reading this story with my mom when I was a kid. What could be better than a father-son duo that add sleeping potion to raisins and feed them to pheasants so as to capture them.

There are so many other wonderful Dahl books including, but not limited to:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Matilda

The Twits

James and the Giant Peach

The BFG

The Enormous Crocodile

The Magic Finger

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(do you think it's a coincidence that many were made into movies?)

He was rather prolific. I'm very into his stories right now. I'll probably read them all. And I think everyone should too.

(just cause it's sweet)