Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Roald Dahlwas a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Norwegian descent, who rose to prominence in the 1940's with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors.

His first children's book was The Gremlins, about mischievous little creatures that were part of RAF folklore. The book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made, and published in 1943. Dahl went on to create some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach.

He also had a successful parallel career as the writer of macabre adult short stories, usually with a dark sense of humour and a surprise ending. Many were originally written for American magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Harper's, Playboy and The New Yorker, then subsequently collected by Dahl into anthologies, gaining world-wide acclaim. Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories and they have appeared in numerous collections, some only being published in book form after his death. His stories also brought him three Edgar Awards: in 1954, for the collection Someone Like You; in 1959, for the story "The Landlady"; and in 1980, for the episode of Tales of the Unexpected based on "Skin".
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Roald Dahl wrote seventeen novels for children and one collection was published.
He wrote twelve story collection for adults and two novels.
This will be a year long reading challenge. We'll see who can read them all.


Kids
The Gremlins 1943
James and the Giant Peach 1961
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964
The Magic Finger 1966
Fantastic Mr Fox 1970
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator 1972
Danny, the Champion of the World 1975
The Enormous Crocodile 1978
The Twits 1980
George's Marvellous Medicine 1981
The BFG 1982
The Witches 1983
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me 1985
Matilda 1988
Esio Trot 1990
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke 1991
The Minpins 1991
The Roald Dahl Treasury (collection) 1997

Adults
Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying 1946
Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen (novel) 1948
Someone Like You 1953
Kiss Kiss 1960
Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl 1969
Switch Bitch 1974
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More 1977
The Best of Roald Dahl 1978
Tales of the Unexpected 1979
My Uncle Oswald (novel) 1979
More Tales of the Unexpected 1980
A Roald Dahl Selection: Nine Short Stories 1980
Two Fables 1986
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl 1989

James and the Giant Peach and The BFG
are two that I would love to read that I do own as well, another plus!

Yeah, I have most of the kids books but I'd like to read at least some of the adult stuff. It sounds so different.

I do not have any of the adult books so I will look into those too.
Thanks Book Nerd!

Roald Dahl was one of my favourite authors when I was a child, looking at the list I read 12 of his books for children (all of them several times). The Magic Finger was my first Dahl book and was actually read aloud to me by my teacher to the class when I was 6. Strangely enough Danny Champion of the World was a favourite of mine that I read over and over when I was about 7. The Witches was scary and it took me several attempts as I grew older to work up the courage to read the whole thing. I can't actually remember reading any Dahl books as a teen or adult so I will definitely try and take a trip down memory lane and re-read some in 2023 or try out his adult stories/novels.

I remember the movie The Witches. I definitely want to read the book.

I ordered this one The Umbrella Man and Other Stories seemed to be well liked.

✅ The Gremlins 1943
✅ James and the Giant Peach 1961
✅ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964
✅The Magic Finger 1966
✅Fantastic Mr Fox 1970
✅Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator 1972
✅Danny, the Champion of the World 1975
✅The Enormous Crocodile 1978
✅The Twits 1980
✅ George's Marvellous Medicine 1981
✅The BFG 1982
✅The Witches 1983
✅The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me 1985
✅Matilda 1988
✅Esio Trot 1990
✅The Vicar of Nibbleswicke 1991
✅The Minpins 1991
✅Boy
✅Going Solo
The Roald Dahl Treasury (collection) 1997

Adults
Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying 1946
Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen (novel) 1948
Someone Like You 1953
Kiss Kiss 1960
Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl 1969
Switch Bitch 1974
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More 1977
The Best of Roald Dahl 1978
Tales of the Unexpected 1979
My Uncle Oswald (novel) 1979
More Tales of the Unexpected 1980
A Roald Dahl Selection: Nine Short Stories 1980
Two Fables 1986
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl 1989

I read The Gremlins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMy_...

It was a cute little story. What I liked most was the art.
Also the part about how it was supposed to be turned into a Disney movie was interesting. It made Disney seem like an evil empire even back then.

Hello everyone …

I chose a collection of short stories written for adults, Skin and Other Stories … I really enjoyed these stories, all of them with quirky characters and fascinating twists …

Skin - what do you with a tattoo on your back now that it’s worth a million dollars?

Lamb to the Slaughter - Turns out that an icicle is not the only perfect weapon …

The Sound Machine - Maybe there’s a good reason why humans are incapable of hearing sounds at all frequency levels …

An African Story - Don’t mess with my dog!

Galloping Foxley - Do I know you? Have we met before? My bad …

The Wish - I used to play games like this when I was a kid …

The Surgeon - so where in your house would you hide a perfect Diamond?

Dip in the Pool - Make sure to get your alibi witness before faking your suicide …

The Champion of the World - Don’t even think you can outsmart a pheasant …

Beware of the Dog - This soldier was well trained

My Lady Love, My Dove - So that’s why they’re so good at bridge!

Sounds really cool. Hopefully I'll read some of the adult stories later this year.

Abyssdancer wrote: "Hello everyone …
I chose a collection of short stories written for adults, Skin and Other Stories … I really enjoyed these stories, all of them with quirky characters and fascinating twists..."

I love your sentence descriptions! I will need to see if I can find this book. For sure adding to my wish list. Seems like fun reads!

Abyssdancer wrote: "An African Story - Don’t mess with my dog!"

Yep

I never read James and the Giant Peach when I was a kid. It was an amusing little story. It's light and funny but I like that old kids books aren't afraid of death and danger.

Next up is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have fond memories of that one.

I like the centipede, with all those shoes!
Those aunts are something else!

Yeah, the centipede's kind of a jerk. And the aunts are classic over the top kid's book villains.

I’m reading James and the Giant Peach for the first time. It’s fun and I’m enjoying it! I’ve got to watch the movie after I finish it. Our city library is doing a Roald Dahl movie series this month, showing his movies at different library branches. I love this idea for kids. Last year I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Glass Elevator sequel. I read Skin and Other Stories several years ago but don’t remember anything about it. And, I love Matilda - the book and the movie! I read that there is a film adaptation (Dec 2022) of Matilda the Musical. I’ll have to check that out! Has anyone seen it?

I remember seeing the movie Matilda a long time ago but I've never seen the musical. I also remember seeing The Witches in school. It'll be fun to read that one.

Matilda is my favourite Dahl book! I like his other books too, but Matikda the most.

I saw Matilda the Musical a few years ago. Tim Minchin who composed the music is a great favourite of mine. It was beautifully staged and lots of fun. I haven’t seen the film.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is as delicious as I remember.
It's funny that Willy Wonka makes all this stuff he doesn't approve of in his factory.

I just checked out The Minpins. This is one I’ve never heard of before.

Pam wrote: "I just checked out The Minpins. This is one I’ve never heard of before."
Cool. I'll read that one soon. I'm reading the kid's book in between other reads.

Book Nerd is the Gremlins like the movie?

Landen is grounded for two weeks and we have him reading.
Old Yeller he just finished and I was going to have him read James and the Giant Peach.

Maybe I will order Gremlins.

No, it's nothing like the movie. It's about the idea of gremlins in World War II. More like the Bugs Bunny cartoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJrwO...

When I was younger I had only read a few of his children's books so this is a good opportunity to reread those and read the others for the first time.
I hope to eventually read the collection for adults.

Read so far:
Kids
The Gremlins 1943
James and the Giant Peach 1961
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1964
The Magic Finger 1966
Fantastic Mr Fox 1970

Mikiko wrote: "When I was younger I had only read a few of his children's books so this is a good opportunity to reread those and read the others for the first time.
I hope to eventually read the collection for ..."
Sounds great.
I read the beginning of The Magic Finger. It's super short and it seems really young even compared to his other kids books but I'll finish it when I get a chance.

I am late to the discussion but Roald Dahl's children books are fantastic!
I remember picking up a copy of his book Someone Like You because I was intrigued by the cover

I did not like it as much as I did Matilda and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
I will be joining you in reading more of his children books

Hello Wijdan so happy to have you join in with us!

Hope you and the family are doing well :)

Wijdan wrote: "I am late to the discussion but Roald Dahl's children books are fantastic!
I remember picking up a copy of his book Someone Like You because I was intrigued by the cover
[bookcover:Someone Like You..."
There's still half a year to read. So far I've only started reading children's books but they're fun.

My Grandson Brayden and I decided on Thursday to start reading James and the Giant Peach what a fun read! At 176 pages we were in awe of the pictures and the silly things that happened. We both agree that the Aunts were mean and horribly wicked. Thank goodness the peach could take James away from the horrible and mean Aunts.

What a great read!

Those aunts truly deserve their fate!

So true Rosemarie and the bugs...what fun!

This is fun to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj_IU...

And wouldn't you know it. The censors are coming for Roald Dahi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_D...

Have you read Matilda yet, Lesle? It's my absolute favourite.

I had no idea that a children's book called The Gremlins exists. Crazy.

I think I read James and the Giant Peach in 3rd grade, but I don't remember liking it much at the time. (I should probably mark it as "read", because I do remember a good bit.) The movie bothered me as a child. I think the animation style scared me a little back then, which is weird considering my tastes. The same director, Henry Selick, did Coraline years later, which I watched a couple years ago after listening to the book and enjoyed the movie. His style reminds me of Tim Burton's, which I also enjoy. I wonder what it is about James and the Giant Peach that bothered me.

During lockdown of the spring of 2020 I read Matilda and The Witches. I loved the Matidla movie as a child, and the book was good, too. The Witches was darker than I expected! I haven't seen any movie adaptations of that one, but I've heard there are some good ones.

Rosemarie wrote: "Have you read Matilda yet, Lesle? It's my absolute favourite."

I have not read Matilda as of yet, but I love the movie with Mara Wilson. I can not tell you how many times I have seen it!

I haven't read Matilda or the Witches yet but I've seen both movies.

I finished listening to Fantastic Mr. Fox narrated by Chris O'dowd recently and I loved it!
I'm always amused by how Roald Dahl describes food in his books.

Yeah, kids love food. And I'm just an old kid. :)

I just read George's Marvelous Medicine. Roald Dahl really hated old ladies. I can't wait to see what happens in The Witches.

Tortise Esio Trot

Mr Hoppy and his love from afar of his neighbor and what he does to make her dream come true.
Backward spells and forward spells make things happen and takes care of things when they go wrong!

On my goodness this was such an enjoyable fun read.

Looks fun. I haven't read that yet and didn't get what the title meant at firdt.

It is enjoyable read for sure Book Nerd! I would say it is right up there with Matilda for me, but I have only seen the movie of Matilda. One day I hope to read it too!

Lesle wrote: "It is enjoyable read for sure Book Nerd! I would say it is right up there with Matilda for me, but I have only seen the movie of Matilda. One day I hope to read it too!"

A little off-topic, but what part of Appalachia are you from in Ohio, if that's not too intrusive a question? My mother was born there, in a little hamlet called South Perry, near Laurelville. I guess the largest city nearby is Logan. I have been all over the SE Ohio hills, love Washington County, love Caldwell and Woodsfield. Would like to buy 100 acres in Washington County and live in a huge cabin there. I am sort of a hermit and I love the woods and hills. I've lived in Switzerland and did not care for the high mountains as much as the green rolling hills of SE Ohio, and living in a large city (Zuerich) drives me nuts. I need to get out in nature. My apologies if the question is too personal. I just perk up when someone mentions the Appalachian foothills of Southeastern Ohio.

To get back on topic, I've only read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Kiki (Formerly TheGirlByTheSeaOfCortez) wrote: "A little off-topic, but what part of Appalachia are you from in Ohio, if that's not too intrusive a question?..."

Good morning Kiki!
I spent half my childhood on a 35 acre farm on Opossum Hollow Rd of Rockbridge. Just on the otherside of Clear Creek and close to Cantwell Cliffs. My family is from Pedro, Ironton and Coal Grove.

I now live on the last hill in Lancaster going towards Rockbridge and Logan. I am very familiar with Laurelville and Logan of course!!

There is nothing more beautiful than our Hocking Hills and Wayne National Forest.

I didn't really care for The BFG. The character just annoyed me for some reason.

Book Nerd wrote: "I didn't really care for The BFG. The character just annoyed me for some reason."

May I ask why? I was choosing between The BFG and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator but I went with the former because I wanted to explore new themes and characters ( I have read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory already)

Wijdan wrote: "Book Nerd wrote: "I didn't really care for The BFG. The character just annoyed me for some reason."

May I ask why? I was choosing between The BFG and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator but I wen..."
I don't know. He was just annoying to me. Let me know what you think.

I'm reading The Witches soon. Sounds like a great one and I vaguely remember enjoying the movie.

I plan on starting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today!