Every good child takes some pleasure in being bad. It is the perversity of human inheritance that forbidden fruit is fascinating. Childhood courts devious delights while confronting the boundaries of manners and morals. The rewards of virtue have their appeal, but the thrill of crime is a strong contender for the awakening will. While innocence … Read more
I know next to nothing about Roald Dahl outside of his children’s books, but apparently his daughter Tessa is better known in England as a novelist, socialite, and drug addict with a checkered history. These days, though, she’s making headlines for a different kind of rebellion: as she puts it, “leaving the life of addiction … Read more
Several weeks ago, while wandering through my local library, I happened across an unusual autobiography: More About Boy: Tales of Childhood, by Roald Dahl. (As one might suspect from the name, there is an earlier book called Boy that deals with similar topics, but that one was not readily available. Nor was Going Solo, yet another … Read more