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Louise (64 KP) rated Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
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
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated The Self-Working Trick (and Other Stories) in Books

Feb 2, 2022  
The Self-Working Trick (and Other Stories)
The Self-Working Trick (and Other Stories)
John Gaspard | 2022 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Eli Faces Crime in This Short Story Collection
For the eighth book in the Eli Marks series, author John Gaspard decided to present a short story collection. While two have been previously released, the rest of the twelve stories here are new. Over the course of this collection, Eli must help his ex-wife and her new husband figure out what happened in a bizarre murder/suicide case. Eli finds himself being questioned by the police when someone who gave him a one-star review is found dead. Eli finds himself being sent in by the police to perform magic for a man who refuses to come out of his house. And Eli and his uncle Harry figure out what happened to a man shot in front of a crowd on Halloween night.

While a couple of the stories don’t feature a crime, they still give us a great chance to see Eli in action and let us get some insight into his character. The rest of the stories feature a crime, often with a perfect puzzle that only makes sense when Eli uses his knowledge of the principles of magic to solve it. If you want to be fooled by magic, you’ll be happy to know that these principles are discussed in such a way that the solution to the mystery makes sense, but the specifics of how a trick works aren’t ruined. I love that. Fans will love getting these small glimpses of what else Eli has been up to between the big cases we’ve already read about. If you are new to the character, you’ll find the information you need to follow these cases with nothing from the regular novels spoiled. Most importantly, these stories are fun, with a few laughs along the way as well. This is a completely enjoyable short story collection.