OK I am David Baldicci'd out. Motored through about fifteen of his books over the last fortnight and need to take a break. So time to look at a some books which have been lurking in a corner for a few weeks.
First up, the short stories of Roald Dahl which have just been reissued in a lovely new edition. I well remember my old battered orange Penguins which I had for years and which I only ditched a while back when moving. I knew the chances of re-reading them were slim with so much else to check out, the pages were badly spotted and foxed and, in some cases, loose pages were coming out so in the bin they went, although with a heavy heart as I hate chucking out books.
Anyway up pops an email from Penguin, would I like to receive this new edition and, natch, I said yes and they duly arrived. OK, I feel I need to give a warning here as on receipt it came back to me why I had got rid of my old copies. It was because I remembered reading all these stories way back in the sixties and seventies and finding them seriously disturbing. I cannot really put my finger on it but remember feeling a bit uncomfortable when I closed them up. There is a nasty core to nearly all of them, not hit you in the face nasty, but it is just there. They are brilliantly written which you would expect but having read various articles and reviews of Roald Dahl you do realise that really he was not a very nice man and this shows. Even in his children's books there is an underlying creepy feeling. I know children love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but come on the man is seriously weird and his punishment of the children who come to visit, while you might agree is justified as apart from Charlie they are all ghastly, is a tad over the top. Gene Wilder with his musical Oompah Loompahs just about made it passably fun but the later version with Johnny Depp…. let us just say I will not be watching that again.
OK so in my opinion he is not a nice guy, but let's face it, if we only read books by 'nice' people our reading would probably come to a grinding halt. The books are reissued in subjects Trickery, Fear, Innocence and War and that just about sums them up. I have started dipping into them and they are as brilliantly written as I remember. I just wonder if they will have the same effect on me this time?
And now for something completely different. Those lovely peeps at Hodder responded to my usual I want I want email and sent me two of their new editions of D L Sayers. Now wanting these is pure greed as I have a set of DLS already but honestly who would not grab these? Do check out the Hodder website here for all the lovely covers.
Gaudy Night, which I promptly sat down and read for the umpteenth time, has an introduction by Dame Harriet Walter who played Harriet Vane in the wonderful ITV adaptations with the divine Edward Petheridge as Lord Peter and these two actors are now firmly ensconced in my mind as the ONLY two who could possible play them. I do wonder if a new series was ever made who would now be cast and, if such a series was done, if they would stick with the story-lines. Doubtful.
I was rather surprised to see Dame Harriet had written the intro as in an interview she got quite sarcastic about being constantly asked about her role. Why do actors do this? A great opportunity arises and makes their careers and then they moan. Daniel Craig is another example. Said he would rather have pins in his eyes than play James Bond again, and belittles the role that gave him stardom and untold of riches. Now of course he is going to do it again, and is being paid millions to do so. Quelle surprise…
Sorry I am wittering as per. What I loved about this intro is the part when Dame Harriet says "we filmed for a month or so in Oxford, and when Edward Petheridge aka Lord Peter finally turned up for filming with us he had an instant energising effect on the lot of us women which paralleled that of Lord Peter on the University women. We clustered and clucked about him in an only slightly less embarrassing way than our dramatic counterparts, whose defences collapse under his spell"
I had a meeting, purely by chance, with Edward Petheridge which I posted about here, and I freely admit my reaction was the same. My dears, I gushed. I became positively skittish and girlish. He just had that effect.
I am currently reading The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley whose first book, The Watchmaker of Filigree Steet I read an enjoyed. More of than anon.
But in the meantime, as you can see I have enough to be getting on with.
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