Questions About Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, please sign up.

Answered Questions (1)

I loved the collection of stories in here. RoaldDahl's analysis that women are better Ghost story writers is however not proved through his own selection of stories as they are predominantly male writers, which left me a little confused?! Is he saying more women should write Ghost stories as their stories are better than the ghost stories written by men (which unfortunately is dominant?).

▫️Ron S. You might want to reread the introduction. It's only a few pages, and should clear up your question easily.

He was choosing 24 stories (out of 749 even…moreYou might want to reread the introduction. It's only a few pages, and should clear up your question easily.

He was choosing 24 stories (out of 749 eventually read) for a TV series, and he noticed a trend that most of the stories he liked were written by women. By "most" this meant - most of his early reading on the subject. Then he comments that male authors had as many good stories - and as the reading progressed, more of the stories he favored (11F/13M).
He was limited to 14 stories for this collection - and of the 24 he preferred, most of them were written by men.

The commentary was initially intended to point out that women are the most widely read children's book writers - and that if you look a little closer, they are often not given enough credit for being among the most read ghost story writers as well. (less)

flag

Unanswered Questions

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more