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77th out of 474 books
—
575 voters
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
by
Roald Dahl ,
F. Marion Crawford , L.P. Hartley , Richard Middleton , Rosemary Timperley , Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu , Mary Treadgold , Edith Wharton
,
more…
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was a prickly, colorful character who wrote maliciously funny short stories for adults (The Best of Roald Dahl) as well as better-known works for children (James and the Giant Peach). As he relates in the introduction, he started the research for this book by making a call to the celebrated ghost-story anthologist/writer, Lady Cynthia Asquith. He the...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
by Penguin Books, Limited (UK)
(first published 1983)
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1990 Aug 18
2000 Apr 18
2008 November 11
2011 August 09
I've read the introduction, which has an interesting digression into authors and other kinds of artists and gender, as well as a further digression on writing for children. Good stuff. The first story, "W.S." by L.P. Hartley is all kinds of creepy good.
The second story, "Harry" deals with a mother creeped out by her daughter's imaginary friend.
A firm grounding in the mundane and the familiar so far mark Dahl's choices. And he stated up front th...more
2000 Apr 18
2008 November 11
2011 August 09
I've read the introduction, which has an interesting digression into authors and other kinds of artists and gender, as well as a further digression on writing for children. Good stuff. The first story, "W.S." by L.P. Hartley is all kinds of creepy good.
The second story, "Harry" deals with a mother creeped out by her daughter's imaginary friend.
A firm grounding in the mundane and the familiar so far mark Dahl's choices. And he stated up front th...more
Oct 30, 2010
Kathryn McCary
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ghost-and-horror-stories
Funny, although ten out of the 14 stories in this book are ones I like, at least to some degree, I'd really rather read them in some other collection. I think it may be Dahl's rambling, discursive and inconclusive introduction. He rides an utterly irrelevant hobby horse (children's writers don't get no respect) and indulges in a peculiar--and not well supported--comparison of the merit of men and women both as writers in general (men are better) and as ghost story writers (women are better). His...more
There are some fine ghost stories here, all well written, but I expected this to be a collection of stories written by Dahl himself, and for children. It's not that at all. It is rather a curated collection of ghost stories for adults by multiple authors spanning a wide time frame. Dahl wastes most of the introduction being mystified at how so many of the best ghost stories seem to be written by women since they have not achieved top status in any other fine art or in any other sub-genre of writ...more
To be honest, I thought this book was going to be all ghost stories written BY Roald Dahl. Sadly, I was mistaken. (It was my own fault for not reading the blurb properly)
But as I read the introduction, I got more excited. Dahl explains that he was supposed to adapt some of the stories in the book for TV show. Unfortunately, the pilot wasn't approved. But he still kept all the short stories and compiled into this book.
Now onto the stories themselves. I was promised stories that would "give you th...more
But as I read the introduction, I got more excited. Dahl explains that he was supposed to adapt some of the stories in the book for TV show. Unfortunately, the pilot wasn't approved. But he still kept all the short stories and compiled into this book.
Now onto the stories themselves. I was promised stories that would "give you th...more
This collection, like traditional ghost stories in general, probably has a very narrow audience these days. And that isn’t helped by the fact that Dahl originally collected the stories with an eye to making them part of a television program--that is, focusing on their potential as screen drama rather than choosing the very best literary examples of the ghost story. For many of the authors represented here, one could probably find a handful of much better ghostly tales.
Contents:
“W.S.” by L.P. Har...more
Contents:
“W.S.” by L.P. Har...more
Although Roald Dahl is most famous for his children's books, he was also a master of the short story, especially that which dealt with some supernatural element. In 1958, he set out to create a television series based on classic ghost stories, and to this end, read hundreds of them. As a writer and ravenous reader of ghost stories, when Dahl presents these 14 stories as some of the very best, he does so with authority.
Since I've always enjoyed his writing, I had high expectations for this colle...more
Since I've always enjoyed his writing, I had high expectations for this colle...more
A disappointing read. I grabbed the book at a book trade thinking it had been written by Dahl, which it hadn't. Rather, it was a compilation of 20-some "horror" stories which he considered the best of the best.
Unfortunately, in this case I'm inclined to respectfully disagree with Mr. Dahl. Only a small handful of the short stories were of any interest, and not one left me with the disturbed or off feeling a really good spooky story brings. Most were happily and fully resolved without any need t...more
Unfortunately, in this case I'm inclined to respectfully disagree with Mr. Dahl. Only a small handful of the short stories were of any interest, and not one left me with the disturbed or off feeling a really good spooky story brings. Most were happily and fully resolved without any need t...more
Found in a used book-shop, and was disappointed when I got it home and realized that Roald Dahl was the editor, and didn't in fact write any of the stories. But then, I only picked it up because I was so surprised that he *did* write ghost stories.
Anyway.
The book has a few really good stories, but a few were not all that chilling or scary. One actually gave me goosebumps. All were very vivid, and have that special twist. None of them were gruesome or terrifying, which is good for me; they were...more
Anyway.
The book has a few really good stories, but a few were not all that chilling or scary. One actually gave me goosebumps. All were very vivid, and have that special twist. None of them were gruesome or terrifying, which is good for me; they were...more
I am sad to give such a low rating to a Roald Dahl book, it seriously pains me people! I love Roald Dahl and I love me a good ghost story so I thought this would be a great mix. Alas, it's almost a disaster. I should have read something about the book before I cracked it open. When I figured out he didn't actually write the stories I was bummed but thought that if he hand selected these out of 749 that he read, there had to be something good. As he explains he was trying to find stories for a sh...more
This is a collection of 14 ghost stories written by different authors. It is a scary book for people who like the horror genre.
While some people may find it scary, I found it boring and it made me want to fall asleep. The stories aren't scary in my opinion, mainly because I had hardly any idea of what was happening. For example, in the last story, for some reason a man supposedly winds up in the alps and ends up in a ship. However, this book is probably for adults and maybe they would find them...more
While some people may find it scary, I found it boring and it made me want to fall asleep. The stories aren't scary in my opinion, mainly because I had hardly any idea of what was happening. For example, in the last story, for some reason a man supposedly winds up in the alps and ends up in a ship. However, this book is probably for adults and maybe they would find them...more
A fairly creepy, extra-British bit of horror, collated by one of the people you'd least expect to do so, Mr. Roald Dahl. The stories by and large are quite excellent, an exercise in witty, often dense and circuitous prose, and exemplary specimens of the ghost story - I particularly recommend "W.S.," by L.P. Hartley, "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, and "The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford, but all the stories are nice, top-shelf, textbook ghost stories.
My only complaint with the book is that it...more
My only complaint with the book is that it...more
I ordered this book from the library and honestly, I was a bit dissapointed. I don't know if it's because I've seen so many horror films before or what, but none of these stories freaked me out. It was a good read, don't get me wrong! But I just thought that the stories lacked, well, scariness.
If I had to choose my favourite out of the whole bundle of stories, it would have to be "The Sweeper" by A. M. Burrage. It just has all the things in that I expect a ghost story should have! A rich but lon...more
If I had to choose my favourite out of the whole bundle of stories, it would have to be "The Sweeper" by A. M. Burrage. It just has all the things in that I expect a ghost story should have! A rich but lon...more
This book does not feature any stories from Roald Dahl. These are his personal favorites. These ghost stories offer much thinking to do. They are also very long. Roald Dahl explains why he loves these stories so much in the beginning. These stories are recommended by him.
I can relate to the book. Both me and Dahl love ghost stories. They are very complex and offer a lot of thinking. Roald Dahl and I love the fact that it offers such deep thinking. It seems to show a similarity between our inter...more
I can relate to the book. Both me and Dahl love ghost stories. They are very complex and offer a lot of thinking. Roald Dahl and I love the fact that it offers such deep thinking. It seems to show a similarity between our inter...more
This was probably 3.5 stars. I checked this out at the library thinking it was a book of ghost stories for children that Roald Dahl had written. It turned out to be a collection of ghost stories Roald Dahl gathered together, but didn't author. I considered returning it unread, but decided to read the introduction by Roald Dahl and it intrigued me enough to read it.
I am the type of person who gets freaked out by little noises in my house, thinking there is a burglar or murderer trying to break in...more
I am the type of person who gets freaked out by little noises in my house, thinking there is a burglar or murderer trying to break in...more
This is a wonderful collection of creepy haunting stories. My absolute favorites were "Ringing the Changes" by Robert Aickman, "On the Brighton Road" by Richard Middleton, and "The Upper Berth" by F. Mairion Crawford. This book is worth picking up, even if you only read those three stories.
It's hard to write a review for a collection of stories by so many different authors, but I'll give it a go. These stories do not contain much gore. (Ghost stories are supposed to creep you out, not gross you...more
It's hard to write a review for a collection of stories by so many different authors, but I'll give it a go. These stories do not contain much gore. (Ghost stories are supposed to creep you out, not gross you...more
This was an interesting little collection, given to me by my grandad. I have some fond, vivid memories of visiting my grandparents as a kid, and sneaking off to read from the upstairs closet - Roald Dahl, Stephen King, stuff that scared me stiff in the best sort of way, while my grandad turned a blind eye approvingly. So, I had fairly high expectations when he gave me Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, and I think the compendium largely met them. It's hard to be sure, because more than a decade...more
I was excited to buy this book because I loved Roald Dahl's children books. I was slightly disappointed by the lack of scariness the stories contained. The stories seemed to be The only short story I was intrigued in was "Harry". The story was easy to follow and it gave a little creepy feeling that you should get from a ghost story. The other stories however were sometimes harder to follow, which for me it was hard to make sense of the ghostly part of the story. Both "Harry" and "Ringing the Cha...more
• WS (L.P. Hartley) ★★★
段々と投函場所が近づいて来る謎のハガキに怯えるベテラン作家。
• Harry (Rosemary Timperley) ★★★★★
幼い娘に見えない友だちができたことに不安を感じ始める母親...。
• The Corner Shop (Cynthia Asquith) ★★
物悲しい話。陰気な男から安く買った物が大金に化け、謝礼のために再来店すると...。
• In the Tube (E. F. Benson) ★★
ある日、地下鉄で霊を見かけた語り手は、後日生きている本人と出会ったという...。
• Christmas Meeting (Rosemary Timperley) ★★★★★
切れ味の良いショート。クリスマスの晩、初老の女教師の所に青年が部屋を間違えて入って来る。
• Elias and the Draug (Jonas Lie) ★★★★★
海に棲む魔物ドラウグに出会ってしまった漁師。
"Weird Tales from Northern Seas" に収録されていて0$で読める。
• Playmates (A. M. Burrage) ★★★★...more
段々と投函場所が近づいて来る謎のハガキに怯えるベテラン作家。
• Harry (Rosemary Timperley) ★★★★★
幼い娘に見えない友だちができたことに不安を感じ始める母親...。
• The Corner Shop (Cynthia Asquith) ★★
物悲しい話。陰気な男から安く買った物が大金に化け、謝礼のために再来店すると...。
• In the Tube (E. F. Benson) ★★
ある日、地下鉄で霊を見かけた語り手は、後日生きている本人と出会ったという...。
• Christmas Meeting (Rosemary Timperley) ★★★★★
切れ味の良いショート。クリスマスの晩、初老の女教師の所に青年が部屋を間違えて入って来る。
• Elias and the Draug (Jonas Lie) ★★★★★
海に棲む魔物ドラウグに出会ってしまった漁師。
"Weird Tales from Northern Seas" に収録されていて0$で読める。
• Playmates (A. M. Burrage) ★★★★...more
A spooky batch of ghost stories that will leave you in the dark no matter how many candlesticks or light bulbs you have. The dark will find you! *Evil laugh* Roald Dahl dug through hundreds of ghost stories to put this anthology together, and it's pretty awesome; And, naturally, very British (no complaint there). These stories are particularly great because they are so vivid and yet so very subtle. The imagery will stay with you. Originally Dahl wanted these fourteen stories to be apart of a tel...more
Horror/supernatural fiction anthologies are my favorite kind of book, and the only kind that I actively collect. I was excited to dive into this one, especially after reading Dahl's intro, in which he boasts of making these selections from the thousands he had read while searching for source material for a failed TV series. While his choices feature excellent writing, and I don't mind reading dated material (M.R. James is still a favorite), I found that most of these tales skewed too "Victorian"...more
This was okay but the title is very misleading - I bought the book (like many others before me) thinking these were written by Roald Dahl but they're not - they're merely a collection of his personal favourite ghost stories.
Some of the stories are pretty good and there's a particular short story that I really liked purely because it was simple yet effective and thought-provoking called "On The Brighton Road" - however there were also some stories I wasn't keen on at all and thought boring and a...more
Some of the stories are pretty good and there's a particular short story that I really liked purely because it was simple yet effective and thought-provoking called "On The Brighton Road" - however there were also some stories I wasn't keen on at all and thought boring and a...more
Like a few reviewers here, I thought this was all by Roald Dahl...but alas it is an interesting mix of ghost stories from the past century...some dating back to the early 1900s (1902!)...it was interesting to read, but it being a book of "ghost stories" and all... it was hard not to read with anticipation of who the ghost was or where it's presence was in each story, which kind of lost a bit of the drama for me. Had I read a few of these stories on their own, not knowing in advance they were gho...more
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories' Table of Contents:
1. "W.S" by L.P. Hartley ★★★★☆
2. "Harry" by Rosemary Timperley ★★★★☆
3. "The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith ★★★☆☆
4. "In the Tube" by E.F. Benson ★★★☆☆
5. "Christmas Meeting" by Rosemary Timperley ★★☆☆☆
6. "Elias and the Draug" by Jonas Lie ★★★★★
7. "Playmates" - A.M. Burrage ★★★☆☆
8. "Ringing the Changes" - Robert Aickman ★★☆☆☆
9. "The Telephone" - Mary Treadgold ★★★☆☆
10. "The Ghost of a Hand" - J. Sheridan Le Fanu ★★★☆☆
11. "The Sweeper" - A.M. Bu...more
1. "W.S" by L.P. Hartley ★★★★☆
2. "Harry" by Rosemary Timperley ★★★★☆
3. "The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith ★★★☆☆
4. "In the Tube" by E.F. Benson ★★★☆☆
5. "Christmas Meeting" by Rosemary Timperley ★★☆☆☆
6. "Elias and the Draug" by Jonas Lie ★★★★★
7. "Playmates" - A.M. Burrage ★★★☆☆
8. "Ringing the Changes" - Robert Aickman ★★☆☆☆
9. "The Telephone" - Mary Treadgold ★★★☆☆
10. "The Ghost of a Hand" - J. Sheridan Le Fanu ★★★☆☆
11. "The Sweeper" - A.M. Bu...more
Good. That's all I have to say about it. I'd rather comment on Dahl's introduction: interesting as it was all about how, in his research, Dahl found that all the best ghost stories (and most of them are god awful, he informs, which I believe), most of the best ones are by women. He's fascinated by this discovery, which is fine, but what was irksome was how he then went on to comment on how women do not excell in any other fields (except children's literature) either without realizing or simply w...more
Aug 14, 2008
Werner
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of supernatural fiction/ghost stories
Shelves:
supernatural-fiction
To elaborate on the background given in the description above, Dahl's extensive reading of ghost stories in the late 1950s and early 60s was originally undertaken to select quality specimens for adaptation in a projected TV series (which was never made). He was previously unread in this type of literature, and found that most of it failed to deliver the genuinely scary quality he expected; but some stories made the grade with him, and here he collects 14 of the best of these. Despite his avowed...more
2 likes · like · see review
The book begins with an introduction from Roald Dahl, the master of macabre stories and dark humor. He felt the need to compile a handful of good ghost (short) stories and so began the search.
I am definitely not a fan of anything related to ghost, spirits and other superstitious blah. I was simply tired of Davies' "Fifth Business" and was looking for a "quick fix" to branch out my reading material and so came this Dahl collection of ghost stories. Mind you, the stories in this book was not writt...more
I am definitely not a fan of anything related to ghost, spirits and other superstitious blah. I was simply tired of Davies' "Fifth Business" and was looking for a "quick fix" to branch out my reading material and so came this Dahl collection of ghost stories. Mind you, the stories in this book was not writt...more
Roald Dahl compiled fourteen ghost stories--which he thought to be the best ghost stories he'd read, written by other authors.
I thought three to be scary, two just creepy, and the rest I was disappointed in the endings. I did enjoy reading every single one of them though, for they are all well written.
Even though Roald Dahl hasn't any published ghost stories, I find his short stories like the "Landlady" and "Pig" to be much more frightening and disturbing than any in this book.
I thought three to be scary, two just creepy, and the rest I was disappointed in the endings. I did enjoy reading every single one of them though, for they are all well written.
Even though Roald Dahl hasn't any published ghost stories, I find his short stories like the "Landlady" and "Pig" to be much more frightening and disturbing than any in this book.
For anyone who loves a classic ghost story: this is an amazing anthologie of stories collected by Dahl. My favorite amongst them all is "Harry" by Rosemary Timperley a British author whose work is difficult to find due many short stories being out of print or uk based publishing.. Must must read if even just for "Harry". These are classic stories that will cognitively challenge any scary movie out there today ..please read with dimmed lights on stormy nights.
Is it terrible to say the best part of this book is the introduction? But then, I am a Roald Dahl fan. And, the stories within this compilation are not by Dahl. Rather they are the best of some 700+ ghost stories Roald Dahl read. There are several that are magnificent and a few that....well, could be shorter. For the reader looking for a selection of short stories to frighten and entertain, this is a good volume to pick up.
So, Roald Dahl apparently read through hundreds and hundreds of short stories to come up with the spookiest, best written ones he could find. I am a big fan of Roald Dahl. And of spooky stories. This was a little disappointing. There were some stories that were not bad, but none that really stayed with me and haunted my thoughts, like I was hoping for. Most of them were fairly predictable. Also, I thought Roald Dahl came off as a little misogynistic in his introduction (in comparing women writer...more
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Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Norwegian descent, who rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors.
Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester, was Shot Down Over Libya. Today the story is published as "A Piece of...more
More about Roald Dahl...
Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester, was Shot Down Over Libya. Today the story is published as "A Piece of...more
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Jan 04, 2013 12:12pm