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Time Bandits (1981)
Time Bandits (1981)
1981 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

"Terry Gilliam is a living treasure, and we are squandering him foolishly with every film of his that remains unmade. Proof that our world is the poorer for this can be found in two of his masterpieces. Gilliam is a fabulist pregnant with images—exploding with them, actually—and fierce, untamed imagination. He understands that “bad taste” is the ultimate declaration of independence from the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie. He jumps with no safety net and drags us with him into a world made coherent only by his undying faith in the tale he is telling. Brazil remains one of the most important films of my life, and Time Bandits is a Roald Dahl–ian landmark to all fantasy films. Seeing Time Bandits with my youngest daughter just two weeks ago, I was delighted when she laughed and rejoiced at the moment when Kevin’s parents explode into a cloud of smoke."

Source
  
RD
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
Roald Dahl | 1985
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I picked this up around Halloween time wanting some scary reads to get me in the mood. When I saw they were by Roald Dahl himself, I thought I was in for a treat. I was sadly disappointed, reading the introduction I found that this was not the case, however I continued on as I thought it would be interesting to read some different authors.

The book consisted of 14 short stories, some longer than others and some quiet spooky whilst the others were just a bit dark.

Here is a list of the stories in the book:

    W.S by L.P.Hartley
    Harry by Rosemary Timperley
    The Corner shop by Cynthia Asquith
    In the Tube by E.F.Benson
    Christmas meeting by Rosemary Timperley
    Elias and the Draug by Jonas Lie
    Playmates by A.M. Burrage
    Ringing the changes by Robert Aickman
    The Telephone by Mary Treadgold
    The Ghost of a Hand by J.Sheridan Le Fanu
    The Sweeper by A.M Burrage
    On the Brighton Road by Richard Middleton
    Afterward by Edith Warton
    The Upper Berth by Marion Crawford

The scariest one for me was the Ghost of a hand, that could be because I was reading it at 1am in the morning with everyone asleep, the sounds of the house creaking and the wind outside added to the spookiness.

My top three are The Ghost of a Hand, Harry and Ringing the Changes,however they weren't great. I felt really let down by this selection of short stories, they didn't seem to have very satisfying ends and they were somewhat predictable.

Also there is an introduction from Roald Dahl himself stating that he read over 700 short stories trying to find the best, I seriously can't believe these were the best ones he found and then he was rambling on about women being better at writing ghost stories and men being better at general fiction which I felt was irrelevant but I suppose he had a certain amount of words to fulfil.

Maybe I am being a little harsh, seeing as the book is 30 years old and the stories are even older than that.

Let me know if you have read this book, and what you thought.

Overall I gave this 3 out of 5 stars
  
The Witches
The Witches
Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl | 1983 | Children
10
8.5 (19 Ratings)
Book Rating
Awesome book. Will reread it to my children multiple times.
The Witches by Roald Dahl, like all of his books is a classic. While some children may find it a bit on the scary side depending on their age and mentality I read it to my toddlers recently and they did just fine.

 This is a story of a young boy who goes to live with his grandmother after his parents sadly die. He was already close to his grandmother so the transition was not too hard on him. She always told him stories of witches, how they hate children and want to destroy them and also how to identify them, but he doesn't believe they are real.

 One day he goes on a vacation with his grandmother to a hotel and discovered it is also the location of the secret yearly meeting of witches. Upon this accidental discovery the boy spies on them and learns of their evil plan. Now it is up to him with the help of his grandmother to put a stop to the evil witches.

 I would rate this book 4 out of 4 or 5 out of 5 and highly recommend it.
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated Matilda in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
Matilda
Matilda
Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl | 2016 | Children
8
9.2 (31 Ratings)
Book Rating
You will never be too old to read a Roald Dahl book!

I really enjoyed this book, it was funny but also sad at times.

Matilda is a young girl of 5 who is ignored and not really wanted by her family, she is very different from them, her father a used car salesman and a dodgy one at that, a mum who plays bingo, self obsessed and dishes up microwavable meals. Matilda has a thirst for knowledge and unknown to her parents she takes herself to the local library and teaches herself to read. Once she has devoured the children’s section she starts on adult books. At 5 years old Matilda has read probably more fiction than most adults.

She is finally sent to school and befriends Lavender and also captivates the heart of her teacher Miss Honey, however school is not all rosy as Matilda was hoping, there is a nasty headteacher called Miss Trunchball, an ex-olympian for the hammer throw, she has a low tolerance for children and practices with some of them.

Me and my daughter both thoroughly enjoyed this book and the favorite scene has to be with Bruce Bogtrotter and the chocolate cake. I love with Roald Dahl books is that the horrible characters i.e Miss Truchball get their comeuppence. The relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda is so lovely, they have such great outlooks on life even though they have been treated fairly poorly as children. Miss Honey is a very gentle character with a lot of love to give, as soon as she realises that Matilda is a gifted child she wants to help her with her studies and get her the level of education that she requires.

The only thing that let this book down was near the end when she is able to use her powers and the fact that her parents are leaving, it didn’t explain why they were leaving and her use of powers was very rushed.

I would have to say on this instance that I do find the movie adaptation to be better than the book, I think it is explained better and not as rushed, however saying that, in the book I found it interesting to read how she felt when using her powers. My Daughter who is 8 really enjoyed this book, she really enjoyed Miss Trunchball and as there is a lot of dialogue in the book, she was reading aloud with a nasty voice.