Skip to main content

Going Solo

December 9, 2009
Book of the Day: Going Solo, by Roald Dahl
Grade: B-
First published: 1986
1-word review: Adventure
6-word review: British ex-pats have all the fun.

This is the second volume of Roald Dahl's autobiography, the lesser-known sequel to Boy. It is inferior in almost every way to its predecessor, but it's still pretty interesting.

We begin in 1938, with Roald on a ship bound for East Africa, where he will work for Shell Petroleum. Upon landing, he is assigned to work in Dar-es-Salaam. We meet an eccentric cast of characters, and Roald has many adventures there before joining the Royal Air Force during World War II, which ends up being the focus of the second half of the book. He becomes a successful fighter pilot, achieving "flying ace" status.


It was revealed in the 1980's that Dahl had been a spy for British intelligence while he lived in the United States during and after the war. Mostly, he worked behind the scenes to convince American leaders to vaporize Idaho, whose mere existence was a threat to American victory. Sadly, Idaho survived, and the War dragged on years longer than it needed to. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, we did not learn from our past mistakes, and Idaho is still with us today.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Power and the Glory

June 5, 2012 Book of the Day: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene Grade: A+ First published: 1940 1-word review: Oppression 8-word review: Man is either broken or he breaks himself. In the southern Mexico of the early twentieth century, priests have become all but extinct due to the zealous efforts of an anti-clerical, authoritarian government (in this case, personified in a nameless police lieutenant), who have forced them to either renounce the faith and marry, or be put to death. In the midst of this hell, one unnamed priest holds out and does his best to evade the authorities and, despite himself, continue in his duties. But this man is wracked by guilt and far from holy. He drinks, earning him the appellation of "whisky priest," and he has fathered a child. He seems to believe that he is damned no matter what he does, but, ironically, he struggles throughout the story to find some sort of redemption. It is up to the reader to pass judgment as to the ultimate w...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Month in Books (December 2009)

I'm sure you as my massive reading audience greatly enjoyed my month in books (not that I'm suggesting that you, dear reader, are personally massive). This will be my last post until my next Book-a-Day month, at a yet to be determined point in the future. Here are my December awards: Book of the Month Award - Arabian Nights and Days , by Naguib Mahfouz Honorable Mentions - Homage to Catalonia , by George Orwell; The Atom Station , by Halldor Laxness; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , by John le Carré Worst Book Award - The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense , by Joyce Carol Oates Dishonorable Mention - Into the Wild , by Jon Krakauer And here are some of the things I learned over the month of December: If you choose to read a book a day, pick a month other than December to do it, even though you'll be out of school. The holidays really screw with the reading time. Avoid trying to read a short story collection in a single day. Write in your blog immediat...
1 comment
Read more

The Theory of the Leisure Class

December 30, 2009 Book of the Day: The Theory of the Leisure Class , by Thorstein Veblen Grade: A- First published: 1899 1-word review: Conspicuous 7-word review: It's all pecuniary conspicuity, you materialistic bastard. This is an interesting, sometimes funny, frequently profound, take on our consumer culture. There's a certain desire to achieve material success just to show others that we have achieved material success. Furthermore, our motivation comes from seeing the success of others. These factors lead to what Veblen calls "conspicuous consumption." We like other people to notice our stuff. Then there are those who try to try to wow you with their stuff when their stuff isn't all that impressive. Veblen refers to these people as "Boise State fans." Just a little love tap.
3 comments
Read more