Sometime ago I fell in love with Russian authors like Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, and  Gorky and read several of their novels. There was a deep quality to them that I had not found in American authors. Perhaps it has something to do with the hardships that they endured daily (read Gorky's three book autobiography: My Childhood, My Apprenticeship, and My Universities) living in the oppression and poverty that is found in Russia, particularly in Dostoyevsky's time in the 1800's.  Maybe this is what is needed, to feel the pain of hunger and longing for any quality of life, to get to the core of our hearts and souls and allow that ache to show in our writing. True pain, not from a toothache or a bad cold, but from too many nights going to bed cold and hungry.

Another fun read by Roald Dahl, The Witches, although similar in plot to The BFG, stands on its own with its own surprises and story twists.

The main character, a boy who lives with this grandmamma, is told many stories about witches and their evil deeds, particularly concerning children. It seems that witches are not only not fond of children but are trying to get rid of all of them, one child at a time.