Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)

I grew up with Roald Dahl in my house, and one of my High School teachers absolutely loved Dahl short stories. In my mind at least, a Roald Dahl short story is everything a short story should be. I was very surprised to find that most Americans only seem to know about Dahl because of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, and they are quite unaware of his spectacular short stories.I got this collection for my boyfriend at the time, husband now, for his birthday because he absolutely loves short stories (mostly science fiction like Bradbury, Asimov, Sturgeon, Le Guin, Clarke) and is a huge Lovecraft fan as well. Dahl short stories are strange, humorous (sometimes in a slightly twisted kind of way), tinged with varying degrees of creepy, and ends with the epitome of "the plot twist". I was sure that Roald Dahl would be right up his alley. I was right. He absolutely loved it! He read the whole collection back-to-back in less than a month and has re-read it since at least once or twice that I know of. I feel like many Americans miss out on these spectacular short stories, which is a pity. I would highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys a good short story, and some black humour.

Roald Dahl may be known for children's books, but his passion and his mastery was in the short story. I'm so grateful to have a single collection of all of his adult short stories in one collection. I had five or six different Roald Dahl short story collection books. I'm able to give those to people as gifts now and continue his legacy. Love love love...

British writer Roald Dahl is best known for his children's stories, although his adult fiction have also achieved great acclaim and popularity among the mass public, in particular, the short story collections, Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss - that has won recognition and is recommended by Stephen King in his study of the horror genre, Danse Macabre, and while I was searching for those two anthologies, they were not available for purchase from Amazon internationally and, as such, had to settle for Everyman's Library's Collected Stories of the author.Like other horror writers of British descent who have achieved international acclaim among both the literary community and critics, such as Ramsey Campbell and Peter Straub, Dahl's short stories are well written, infused with a sense of the ironic and elements of horror, and end with a slightly discomfitting twist and will leave you deeply disturbed.A fine read.

I grew up on Roald Dahl stories, not just his classic children's stories, but dark tales like "The Skin" and "The Taste" and "Lamb to the Slaughter." Dahl was a master storyteller, able to get under the skin in the most unconventional ways. It is real treat to have all his "adult stories" gathered here in one volume. Dahl's stories always had a sinister element, exposing the anxiety and frustration that lied beneath mundane middle class life. While ostensibly these stories qualify as "British humor," they have long transcended the bounds of Great Britain and become part of the world's collective imagination, inspiring everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Tim Burton with his tales of the macabre and the fantastical.

Fun stories from a bizarre and fascinating mind.

Great reading for those late nights alone…

From hilarious to heartbreaking, Roald Dahl is a master writer. I wasn't familiar with his stories from his time as an ace pilot in WWII and so glad to "meet" this side of RD, in my opinion the best stories in the whole collection.

Good collection of short stories that are fast-paced. Perfect to read just before going to sleep or to quickly pass less than an hour's time. The stories will make you think on them the rest of the day.