What Was The Last Book You Read

    • Mein Kampf
      With great power comes great responsibility. Rudyard Kipling called it the White Man's Burden. Myself, I just call it as I see it: the responsibility of the master to discipline the servant. The niggers, the spics, the chinks...It's our responsibility to civilize them. And if we can't? Then they shall dangle from the elm tree. The Day of the Rope is near. God bless the American Nazi Party!
    • The Complete Adventures of Charlie Bucket (that is 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' by Roald Dahl) because I wanted to see what Willy Wonka is like in case I see the new movie.



      Display Spoiler
      The first book (Chocolate Factory) is much better than the sequel (Great Glass Elevator). I felt like Roald Dahl wanted to write - or was told to write - a sequel but didn't get it to be as exciting or well thought out as the scenes in the chocolate factory. In the Great Glass Elevator, they go into space and chat with a President of the United States who is like a little baby - this was written in 1971 before some later president acted like that. But the scenes in space just seemed like 'let's write a space story' instead of 'let's see what can happen in a magical chocolate factory' which is a much more interesting place and better described. When they get back into the factory, it gets better, but the best scenes are in the first book when the naughty children get results based on their naughtiness. I like Mike Teavee best. The others were just greedy or wanting stuff, but Mike wanted to be a scientific experimenter. He should have listened to the warnings, though, like the others. But then, Wonka should never have allowed the children to tour such a terribly dangerous factory. And that's what Wonka is like - he has no idea about keeping other people safe, and he doesn't really care that other people get worried. If everybody does everything HIS way, then everything will be fine, and when they don't, well they deserve whatever accidents happen to them. He also doesn't really care about the town he is living in or letting people have good working conditions - otherwise he would have had employment for Charlie's dad (and mum). I hope the movie shows Wonka like this - a man who is so sure of himself and doesn't care about safety of other people, and not just some magical wonderman, because that is how Wonka is written
    • joannainthemiddle wrote:

      The Complete Adventures of Charlie Bucket (that is 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' by Roald Dahl) because I wanted to see what Willy Wonka is like in case I see the new movie.



      Display Spoiler
      The first book (Chocolate Factory) is much better than the sequel (Great Glass Elevator). I felt like Roald Dahl wanted to write - or was told to write - a sequel but didn't get it to be as exciting or well thought out as the scenes in the chocolate factory. In the Great Glass Elevator, they go into space and chat with a President of the United States who is like a little baby - this was written in 1971 before some later president acted like that. But the scenes in space just seemed like 'let's write a space story' instead of 'let's see what can happen in a magical chocolate factory' which is a much more interesting place and better described. When they get back into the factory, it gets better, but the best scenes are in the first book when the naughty children get results based on their naughtiness. I like Mike Teavee best. The others were just greedy or wanting stuff, but Mike wanted to be a scientific experimenter. He should have listened to the warnings, though, like the others. But then, Wonka should never have allowed the children to tour such a terribly dangerous factory. And that's what Wonka is like - he has no idea about keeping other people safe, and he doesn't really care that other people get worried. If everybody does everything HIS way, then everything will be fine, and when they don't, well they deserve whatever accidents happen to them. He also doesn't really care about the town he is living in or letting people have good working conditions - otherwise he would have had employment for Charlie's dad (and mum). I hope the movie shows Wonka like this - a man who is so sure of himself and doesn't care about safety of other people, and not just some magical wonderman, because that is how Wonka is written


      Interesting analysis, Joanna. I’ve never read either of the books and I don’t really like any of the Wonka films. As a character, he always seems a bit sinister to me. I’d like to see the new version, though, because it’s had good reviews (Hugh Grant is supposed to be really good in it :D ) but I don’t think Timothee Chalomet is going to be very much like Roald Dahl’s original character.