Book Giveaway 3: Katherine

I have always liked Roald Dahl books - both the children's books (Matilda, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and his adult stories (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar).  They are witty and amusing with wonderful characters (although there is often a slightly macarbre twist.

Roald Dahl's life itself is also very interesting and perhaps some of the reason that he writes such imaginative books.  He was the son of Norwegian parents who had emigrated to England.  His father dies when he was very young (possibly affected by grief at the death of one of Roald Dahl's sisters a few days earlier), but his mother stayed in England to ensure that Roald Dahl went to a "proper" English school.  Boy (about his life until he left school) and Going Solo are two halves of his autobiography.

Going Solo covers the time from Roald Dahl leaving school to work for the Shell Company in Africa, joining the RAF, flying in the second world war defended Greece (just as it was taken over by the Germans) until he was invalided in about 1942.  It includes stories of encouters with lions in africa, stopping all the Germans escaping Dar Es Saleem (with himself as as the only officer over a troop of askaris) and crashing a plane in the middle of no-man's land in Eygpt.  It is every bit as exciting and bizaare as his stories.

I have one copy of Going Solo to giveaway to someone in Australia.

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Extract From Chapter Flying Training

When flying a military aeroplane, you sit on your parachute, which adds another six inches to your height. (Roald Dahl was 6'6")  When I got into the open cockpit of a Tiger Moth for the first time and sat down on my parachute, my entire head stuck up in the open air.  The engine was running and I was gettting a rush of wind full in the face from the slipstream.

'You are too tall," the insructer whose name was Flying Officer Parkinson said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes Please," I said.

"Wait till we rev her up for take-off," Parkinson said. "You'll have a job to breathe.  And keep those goggles down or you'll be blinded by watering eyes."

Parkinson was right.  On the first flight I was almost asphyxiated by the slipstream and survived only by ducking down into the cockpit for deep breaths every few second.  After that, I tied a thin cotton scarf around my nose and mouth and this made breathing possible.