The best $10 I’ve spent in quite some time was buying The Roald Dahl Omnibus from the bargain aisle at Barnes & Noble. I’m not really sure what an “omnibus” is, some all-knowing public transit vehicle I guess, but the book is a huge collection of Dahl’s non-children’s short stories.

And it’s really, really good.

I’ve been trying for some time to figure out how to write like Dahl, how he’s able to weave together these simple words and themes into wonderfully detailed but concise stories that stick to you long after you’ve finished them. After reading the stories in this collection, though, I discovered the man really did know how to write in a mature, complex fashion.

Go fig. The only way to revolutionize the basics is to progress as far into the complicated stuff as you can.