Roald Dahl - Jezebel

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Happy Roald Dahl Day!
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
The Wonderful Story Of Roald Dahl...
Roald And The Tiny Hut

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Tee for Ten
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
This makes me want to re-read James and the Giant Peach again. It was a staple of my childhood, and I haven't read it in years.
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willwriteforfood
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel were the only Dahl books I'd read for years, until my brother made me pick up Danny the Champion of the World as an adult. It is a work of art. And it still makes me laugh like an idiot at the end, when the great pheasant caper comes unraveled in a particularly spectacular way.
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LuvEwan
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
Matilda and The Witches made my childhood.
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MizJenkins
09/13/09

@LuvEwan: I spent the better half of fourth grade convinced that I could become telekinetic if I just....tried... a little...harder...
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stoprobbers
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
Favorite Roald Dahl book: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

THE BEST. THE. BEST.
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Seeräuber Jenny
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
I came to Dahl as an adult, so Switch Bitch and My Uncle Oswald are my favorites. Wickedly funny.

Not a very nice man, by many accounts, but a great writer.
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Edited by Seeräuber Jenny at 09/13/09 1:24 PM Seeräuber Jenny was starred Seeräuber Jenny was unstarred

MizJenkins
09/13/09

@Seeräuber Jenny: You should read his collection of short stories, entitled Omnibus. I dislike short stories as a genre, but they are incredible.
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etcerica
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
I have a Roald Dahl inspired cookbook...it has recipes for Candy Wallpaper, Mr. Twit's Beard Food, and so on...basically the best thing ever.
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Isi
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
I was about 13 when the big public flare-up over his anti-Semitic views occurred. It killed much of my fondness for his books.
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stoprobbers
09/13/09

@Isi: I'm even Jewish and I can't even bring myself to care. I read Matilda 61 times before my copy split in half. I was 9 at that time. I'm now 24 and am on my 5th paperback. I can't put him down, to this day.
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Edited by stoprobbers at 09/13/09 1:32 PM stoprobbers was starred stoprobbers was unstarred

lucystrawberry: Tier 2 is the new black
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
He really did kind of change my life when I was a kid. His work was more respectful of children and their intelligence than anything else I had ever read. He is truly responsible to a large degree for why I became a reader. I'll never forget when the news of his death came out...the school librarian came and took me out of class to break the news.
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rah29
09/13/09

In reply to Happy Roald Dahl Day!
Or, set up a business venture seducing and then collecting the sperm of famous/accomplished men, selling it on to ladies for impregnation purposes.

Roald Dahl's work: not all for the kiddies!
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Edited by rah29 at 09/13/09 11:54 AM rah29 was starred rah29 was unstarred

hortense
09/13/09

@rah29: Or make yourself a leg of lamb!
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gherkinfiend
09/13/09

@rah29: Or smoke some goat's dropping tobacco. Definitely not for the little 'uns!
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notheretomakefriends
09/13/09

@rah29: I won't wager my pinky over that.
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Snowbunny
08/15/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
I feel like I should reread that book, I seem to have missed out on major themes from when I was a child.
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saintestella
08/14/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
this entry made me cry. i love henry sugar that much. to know there was a possibility of escaping the world with a turtle...Roald Dahl was a very large part of my childhood. A few years ago i read the entire book out loud to my best friend, rediscovering the awesomeness for myself as we went along. then i created this cocktail:

The Henry Sugar:

2 parts Bombay Sapphire
1 part lime-flavored authentic wormwood absinthe (to see without your eyes)
generous portions of club soda and lime grenadine
serve in a teardrop tumbler with a sugar-lined rim

PS: I am saving up to buy your book! for the moment i need to eat and re-read Henry Sugar, but soon my hard earned dollars will be flowing your way. i think i'll order it from my local bookstore, and hopefully they'll order more copies!
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laughingacademy
08/14/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
I adored "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" when I read it as a 10-year-old. My favorite moment was the morning after he’d broken the bank at his first casino — and realized that having mastered this power to cheat at cards, he no longer had any interest in doing so. So he starts throwing his winnings off his balcony...
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Hana Maru
08/14/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
I wish I hadn't read this, or his other adult stories as a child. Things like The Swan, and a story in another book about the guy murdered for his skin, haunt me to this day.

As an adult I might have more perspective and less sensitivity to that stuff--Oh, who am I kidding. I still don't watch horror movies.
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Edited by Hana Maru at 08/14/09 6:02 PM Hana Maru was starred Hana Maru was unstarred

squirrelcop
08/14/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You
Do any of these stories involve a boy, at some point in the story, collecting discarded cigarette butts from the side of the road to create a giant cigarette for the Statue of Liberty to smoke?

Hmm, how much more insane could that sound? I could swear it was in a Dahl story that I read pre-10yo, but I've yet to come across it again. Help?
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happysquid
08/14/09

In reply to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You

Suggestion suggestion for next FINE LINES: can we look at Eva Ibbotson? I sort of think of her as the mirror image of Roald Dahl - her books are magical, delightful and positive almost in the opposite ways that Dahl's are magical, subversive and oftentimes twisted.
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