Ronald Dahl or JK Rowling?

Thadius

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I still reckon Ronald Dahl was a better writier than JK Rowling :>
 

Bugz

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Thadius said:
I still reckon Ronald Dahl was a better writier than JK Rowling :>

I find JK Rowling's books easier to read but thats just me.
 

Pelinore

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Erm, Roald* ;D

I saw the title on the front page and just had to, sorry. :<

I think his style is much friendlier and more unique than Rowling; though her style is nice and simple. It depends how you define 'better.'
 

spanxx

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they wrote different styles.

jk rowling is doing a 7 part series following one character in stories involving magic and such.

roald dahl did nursery rhymes with more of an adult tint, there was always something slightly morbid about his work.

overall i prefer roald dahl but he wrote some crap too (james and the giant peach is horrible to read and the movie was even worse.) but some great stories (willy wonka=uber) do sort of make up for it. i grew up on roald dahl lol.
 

haarewin

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er... both in equal amounts.
i love roald dahl's books when i was a kid, and i love harry potter now.
 

cHodAX

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Ronald Dahl was prolific litterly writing 100's of storys, Rowling found one good marketable idea and milked it to death.
 

Bugz

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cHodAX said:
Ronald Dahl was prolific litterly writing 100's of storys, Rowling found one good marketable idea and milked it to death.

Who doesn't milk a marketable idea to death?
 

cHodAX

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Bugz said:
Who doesn't milk a marketable idea to death?

That is all she has ever done though and frankly she did it on a series of books that is highly overrated. Dahl produced dozens of classic books and short stories, all Rowling seems interested in doing is breaking her word and producing even more Harry Potter books, all to bleed the franchise dry rather than come up with something new. The two are not even in the same league as far as talent goes, Rowling just came up with the right idea at the right time. The test will be what she does after Harry Potter and personally after reading two of them I find her work very overrated, it wouldn't suprise me at all to see her just trade on her name and publish loads of generic crap.
 

Bugz

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cHodAX said:
That is all she has ever done though and frankly she did it on a series of books that is highly overrated. Dahl produced dozens of classic books and short stories, all Rowling seems interested in doing is breaking her word and producing even more Harry Potter books, all to bleed the franchise dry rather than come up with something new. The two are not even in the same league as far as talent goes, Rowling just came up with the right idea at the right time. The test will be what she does after Harry Potter and personally after reading two of them I find her work very overrated, it wouldn't suprise me at all to see her just trade on her name and publish loads of generic crap.

I guess this is when we go into the part of opinion-based.

I've read all the books so far, each generally within a week and i find them, to be blatant, addictive. Parts of it do lack and the suspense before they come out is a marketing tatic. The thing about coming up with something new is debateable. Millions of people read her books and they keep reading them so she might aswell make the most of this new found glory.
 

Thadius

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spanxx said:
they wrote different styles.

jk rowling is doing a 7 part series following one character in stories involving magic and such.

roald dahl did nursery rhymes with more of an adult tint, there was always something slightly morbid about his work.

overall i prefer roald dahl but he wrote some crap too (james and the giant peach is horrible to read and the movie was even worse.) but some great stories (willy wonka=uber) do sort of make up for it. i grew up on roald dahl lol.

James and giant peach is a classic, along with Charlie and the chocolate factory and the BFG

His autbiographys Boy and Going Solo are still a good read too
 

Raven

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one writes stories about a kid i would quite happily push into a blender, the other one wrote good stories that were funny, original and are still great to read.
 

bult

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How about reading books written for people above the age of ten instead?
 

Raven

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bult said:
How about reading books written for people above the age of ten instead?
is that the best you could come up with?
 

Conchabar

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bult said:
How about reading books written for people above the age of ten instead?
heartedly agree one should fill the mind of great philosophers and true pioneers
 

Overdriven

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Prefer JK to be honest, I've actually read all of the HP books and I think she got better in the later books, but I agree with one of the above posters in that "What's going to happen after HP?"
 

Kami

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Dahl's books were perhaps more original but I think JK Rowling deserves credit for making a ton of cash and getting some kids reading again. Lets face is between texting and playing games all day the obese morons can barely spell thier own names properly. Wonder if exam pass rates will be the same in 10 years or even continue to rise :-/
 

Cozak

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Rowling by far, always hate Dahls books as a kid for some reason.
 

katt!

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Kami said:
Dahl's books were perhaps more original but I think JK Rowling deserves credit for making a ton of cash and getting some kids reading again. Lets face is between texting and playing games all day the obese morons can barely spell thier own names properly. Wonder if exam pass rates will be the same in 10 years or even continue to rise :-/
thats where the death penalty for low grades/IQ come into play.. call it assisted natural selection or smth.
 

Fedaykin

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books like BFG, Danny the Champion of the World, The Witches and others mentioned are some of the finest bits of childrens literature ever

Harry Potter however has probably got more children reading than Roald Dahl did - but i saw a statistic (dont know if its true) that 98% of children who read Harry Potter - only read Harry Potter

i myself think Roald Dahl is far the better author, but Rowling has by far the better marketers
 

Fana

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Ive read all of the HP books so far and i do enjoy them (at an age of 26) since i enjoy a nice fantasy story. There is no doubt that Rowling can tell a story, but as an author she still has alot to learn. However the simplicity of the HP books can be nice - sometimes you have to read books that dont challenge you, just as sometimes its nice to watch popcorn movies. I think of Rowling more as an entertainer than an author, and yes there is no doubt she will try to milk HP for all its worth (wouldnt actually be surprised if there will be another series set in the HP world at a later point, or if she lets other authors use her universe etc).

I think people overestimate the impact she has on childrens reading though. If you love to read you will read Harry Potter, but if you only love Harry Potter (or all your friends do or say they do) you will only read Harry Potter. Perhaps a few children will discover they love to read because of Rowling, but they would have done this at some point anyway.

Dahl, for me, is clearly more skilled at his trade than Rowling, but likely also harder to read and enjoy for young people. I cant really compare them from a childrens perspective though, as i read Dahl books when i was a child and Rowling as an adult.
 

Marc

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That silly bint aint fit to lace Dahls preverbial boot laces
 

Thadius

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Marc said:
That silly bint aint fit to lace Dahls preverbial boot laces

Dahl's dad only had one arm and he could tie his own shoes ;)
 

Ezteq

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personally i prefer dahl, im not saying he's better than jk i read 1st 4 hp books and cba with the last 2, i think the films ruined the books for me and they were getting a bit similar saying this isnt saying that i thought they were bad i just went off them.

i dont likeall of dahls work but so much of it appeals to my darker sence of humour i.e the twits he didnt shy away from the utter grossenss that some kids adore also reasd a lot of his "tales of the unexpected" (most of u probably 2 young 2 recall the tv show with the wierd dancing lay-deee's in opening sequence) which were unsettling and very origional.

so for me dahl is the better writer because he did the origionality thing, JK has done the magic and monsters thing and done it very well but its hardly a new idea.

oh and tbh if i was her id be milking it for all i could get too, buger integrity tbh you gotta make sure your set up for when the magic fades.
 

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