Kiss Kiss

"Roald Dahl is best known for his children’s fiction, but he also wrote many (extremely dark) short stories for an adult audience. They have the same simplicity of voice and form as his other writing, but are more macabre in tone. One of his best known is the story ‘Pig,’ in which a young orphan is brainwashed by his vegetarian aunt into believing that meat is disgusting and harmful to eat; ultimately—spoiler alert—he tastes pork by accident, and, fascinated, goes to an abattoir where he gets lethally caught up in the slaughtering machinery. This is the same mind that produced Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , but with the handbrake off. You’ll either love them or hate them—so why not give Dahl’s short stories a go. Also recommended: Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl I also think that Samantha Irby’s humorous collections Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life deserve honourable mentions; technically these are personal essays, but I suspect they will scratch the same itch and they genuinely made me laugh out loud in public places."