How many copies of Catcher in the Rye in there?
Just kidding. Came here to say Roald Dahl's one of my favourite authors. I have warm memories of listening to a teacher reading James and the Giant Peach. Loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the movies couldn't do it justice.

Then, as a teen, I discovered his short stories. The one with the nervous wife and the husband who seemed to enjoy torturing her with his deliberate slowness? Delicious!

I once read an anthology (various authors) with a short story about a chef who yearned for Michelin stars (or the fictitious equivalent), and recognised a diner as the food critic, and spent the evening in one catastrophe after another. Including stepping on his cat's tail. He was making a special dish and added something just for her, and then ... Torched the critic's meal or something, in desperation served the critic a dish "a la Minette" I think, which was the cat's name. I've never been able to find it again, fairly sure it was Dahl. If you've got that one, I'd love to know the title. And your hoarding will have been useful once again!
( kila is reading clocks upside-down as usual, Sat 5 May 2012, 18:01, 1 reply)

Oh god, that sounds so familiar!
Is it one of his Tales of the Unexpected? (Sorry, I know that's a really obvious answer but I can't think off the top of my head of any others...)
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Sat 5 May 2012, 23:48, closed)

I've never been able to find it again, so I can't confirm!
I believe it was in a special anthology for subscribers, multiple authors, one of those big books that is sent as a gift-with-subscription, and people keep in their libraries to look educated. So unlikely to be in a bookstore or even listed as a usual publication.

But if I recall correctly, it was a Dahl and so characteristic of his short stories!
( kila is reading clocks upside-down as usual, Mon 7 May 2012, 8:44, closed)

Any of these?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roald_Dahl_short_stories
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Mon 7 May 2012, 20:25, closed)

Not on the list. Perhaps I'll realise I've hallucinated the whole thing.
Or it was another author. *sigh*
Dahl wrote the short story about the nervous wife whose husband got stuck in their elevator, didn't he?

I'm going to be searching for this one for ages!
( kila is reading clocks upside-down as usual, Tue 8 May 2012, 9:30, closed)