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21st out of 185 books
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Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
by
Roald Dahl
Who better to investigate the literary spirit world than that supreme connoisseur of the unexpected, Roald Dahl? Of the many permutations of the macabre or bizarre, Dahl was always especially fascinated by the classic ghost story. As he realtes in the erudite introduction to this volume, he read some 749 supernatural tales at the British Museum Library before selectin...more
Paperback, 235 pages
Published
October 1st 1984
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(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 mund...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 mund...more
Jessica
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
lovers of classical literature with a fiendish bent
This collection starts out dubiously. The first 2 stories are so disappointing and childish, I didn't know what to say. Roald Dahl's books written for children were more complex. But then things started to take flight and only improved as the book continued.
With ghost stories in an anthology of ghost stories, the only thing of any importance is the wordsmithing. The deviation in plot from story to story is frankly minimal and there's no real time to develop the characters, since yo...more
With ghost stories in an anthology of ghost stories, the only thing of any importance is the wordsmithing. The deviation in plot from story to story is frankly minimal and there's no real time to develop the characters, since yo...more
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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 i...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 i...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...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...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 betw...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 betw...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 try...more
I am the type of person who gets freaked out by little noises in my house, thinking there is a burglar or murderer try...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
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). ...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" ...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 th...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 ...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 ...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
Werner
rated it
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 avow...more
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 st...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 st...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 disturb...more
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 disturb...more
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 ...more
My 13 yr old granddaughter was coming to stay with me on the weekend recently and I thought she might like to read a couple of these short stories but, of course, I had to peek inside first. I was disappointed with the majority of the stories as I didn't think them "creepy" enough however there were two that I think were worthy: "Afterwards" and "The Upper Berth."
In the introduction, Dahl tells that these stories were chosen out of many hundreds read by him for a TV series he was hoping to produce with Edwin Knopf in the late '50s. Unfortunately the series wasn't picked up as the pilot episode was deemed too shocking for American audiences at that time owing to it's involving a Catholic priest. The pilot story was not included in Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories as even decades later he was too shocked by the unhappy rejection of the TV series. I had very hi...more
He read over 400 ghost stories and pulled out the one's he thought we worthy, so you have to be grateful. I thought they were just enough of a scare to give you a bit of base spine tingle without being too creepy or gory. I enjoyed it very much. I especially loved what he says in the preface about kids books, very interesting stuff. He is amazing.
After the introduction (where Dahl is shocked - shocked - to find that women write better ghost stories than men, and spends another page ruminating why would this be? when women fail at every other form of art (painting, sculpting, music) - after that charming introduction, the stories begin. (The title is misleading: Dahl is not the author.)
It's a mixed bag. Some are coldly shocking ("Elias and the Draug", "Ringing the Changes"), some predictable ("Playmate...more
It's a mixed bag. Some are coldly shocking ("Elias and the Draug", "Ringing the Changes"), some predictable ("Playmate...more
I though Dahl selected a good bunch of stories here, some of them were really creepy and made it a little difficult for me to get to sleep! Only 4 stars cause there were a few stories I was not very keen on. If you like Twilight Zone kind of creepy then you would probably enjoy this one.
I love Roald Dahl and ghost stories, so this one was perfect for me. Some of the ghost stories were chilling and gripping, others were boring and long. Overall I loved the book though, and Dahl's comments on why/how he picked the ghost stories were wonderful.
Good old fashioned ghost stories. The kind even your older children can read. Creepy but not gross. Roald Dahl didn't write them but complied them and read through over seven hundred stories to pick the few that are presented here.
Who better to select a collection of ghost stories that Roald Dahl. The stories vary in length and intensity, and some of the short stories are truly pitch perfect. Standouts include: Harry by Rosemary Timperley, Playmates by A.M Burrage, Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman, and The Telephone by Mary Treadgold. Even Edith Wharton makes an appearance.
Each story is structured elegantly, drawing our the strange events with slow tension and attention to detail. The Ringing Changes is ...more
Each story is structured elegantly, drawing our the strange events with slow tension and attention to detail. The Ringing Changes is ...more
Simply put, Roald Dahl is one of the greatest authors of children's literature of all time. I was excited to see that he had a book of ghost stories, but disappointed to find out that instead of the stories being written by Dahl himself, he had put together a collection of work from other writers he admired. Not a single story in the book was by him. He did write a nice introduction, in which I discovered how incredibly sexist he is (was) when it comes to women writers. Beyond that, it is a good...more
The first three stories that I've read so far are creepy and really quite good. It's hard to choose which is better between "The Corner Shop" by Cynthia Asquith or "Harry" by Rosemary Timperley! The next short story I'll read is In the Tube by E.F. Benson.
This is an excellent collection of creepy, eerie short stories. Almost every one of them is fantastic! There is just one or 2 that are only good. Plus, his introduction is worth the read.
Some really good stories ("Harry" especially, also "Ringing the Changes"), some that just never grabbed my attention, but overall a creepy little collection of stories.
I was really disappointed that Roald Dahl didn't write any of the ghost stories. None was especially spine-tingling, but some of the stories were pretty good.
I read this with my 9 year old son. He loved the story "Harry" the best and said it was "really creepy". A good mix of stories for young and old.
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