The letter I can only mean one thing to a writer of fiction. If you’re inferring that I, today, is all about imagination, then you are correct! And before we get on with I, you’re not imagining it: my cozy mystery, Her Cousin, Much Removed is still free today, April 10. Snag a copy and solve a murder.
This morning’s post features one of the most imaginative books from one of the most imaginative authors who ever graced us with his presence. As the song in the original movie adaptation says, “Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination.” It all sprang from the brain of Roald Dahl, an entire universe too fantastic to forget, giving us the concept of a “golden ticket.” And If you haven’t read his short stories for adults, you should. They’re really creepy.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
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A Bit to Read 
Oh, man, the song started playing in my head. 😛
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So sorry! I’d thought about linking to it, and didn’t for that specific reason. Does it help that it’s been stuck in my head since I wrote it?
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Good. You deserve it. 😛 But, no, I haven’t heard that song since the last time I watched the movie. Which probably wasn’t that long ago, to be honest, considering how frequently it’s on TV.
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I totally love it. Gene Wilder is so perfectly creepy as Willy Wonka. (And yes, I did kinda deserve it 😉 )
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I’ve read Matilda and Boy by Roald Dahl and always been meaning to bite into his chocolate classic but never got round to it- maybe I finally will?
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I really, really recommend it. Though I think my favorite of his has always been The BFG. It’s such a wonderful story about kindness and being different.
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I recall the Hitchhiker series and enjoyed them long ago. I wonder what I would think of them now? (Never made it through the movie!) Though I am much more partial to: “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah” by Richard Bach. Probably my fave.
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My guess? That they’re hilarious. Mostly because they’re hilarious.
I actually enjoyed the relatively recent British adaptation with Martin Freeman, I find him very funny. I’ve never read Richard Bach, he’s one of those authors perpetually on my to-be-read pile.
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Love it, but not as much as ‘James and the Giant Peach’. And ‘ The BFG’. And ‘The Twits’. Mr Dahl wrote some of the most wonderful ‘horrids’ didn’t he?
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He really, really did. The BFG is my favorite as well, I read that book over and over…I think my fascination with Charlie is, really, all about the chocolate 🙂
Have you read his short stories for grown-ups? They are so perfectly creepy.
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