** spoiler alert ** After so many years, finally I read another work from Roald Dahl. When I was in junior high, I read The Witches and it gave me a so so impression plus I was fined by the book rental for late return. I know, I know, an absurd reason not to read books from a particular author. :P

Even after Charlie and The Chocolate Factory movie came out (I love it!), I am not intrigued to read Roald Dahl's other books. Not until I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox movie. I can still hum the song from the movie.

Boggis and Bunce and Bean..
One fat, one short, one lean.
These horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean!

The Umbrella Man and Other Stories has 12 horror short stories and a story about planes.

The plane story is placed as the 8th story in the book and at first I was surprised. I was expecting another horror story and when I read and waited for the darkness part to come, it never came. Then I remember that Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot and he wrote article about war. Soon after I realized this, I skipped the story. :D

The horror stories in this book are all adult stories. Some of them are bloody scary to imagine (or is it me who easily get scared..).

Don't be fooled by my short appreciation for each of the story below. Roald Dahl is an awesome story teller and even when I found some stories similar, I still got engaged in the way Mr. Dahl magically conducts the characters and the events. Thumbs up!

The Great Automatic Grammatizator
The idea presented in the story is scary. You know that in cooking, there might be an ingredient that's lastly added and the dish's fragant or taste becomes stronger after that? This story is like that kind of dish.

Mrs. Bixby and The Colonel's Coat
One word comes to mind: deceit.

The Buttler
This story reminds me of the famous children tale, The Emperor's New Clothes. Yes, it's definitely same story, different set.

Man From The South
With proper imagination, there would be blood involved. One bloody scary story indeed.

The LandLady
If it were a song, the title would be Hotel California.

Parson's Pleasure
Another deceit.

The Umbrella Man
Witnessing a deceit.

Katina
The air plane story. Didn't finish reading.

The Way Up To Heaven
This is a warning to always keep not just ourselves sane, but for the sake of our life, keep other around us sane, too. Because you never know what a mental person could do.

Royal Jelly
It reveals the horror of being obsessed. That's what I thought.

Vengeance Is Mine Inc
Cool company name, bad bad business.

Taste
A story of a jerk.

Neck
I need a second opinion for this story, really. I read and read the last few paragraphs and would really like to confirm what happen at the end. Did he really do that? Did he not? Did he? Did he??