Book Lair discussion

I'm happy to introduce my new book, Before the Ripcord Broke, a collection of literary fiction stories with a pop sensibility.

I'll give a copy to anyone who would like to review it. Mobi and epub formats available. Direct message me or comment on this topic.

Happy reading.

Charlie Close


Book description:

In his new collection of short stories, Charlie Close gives us people who try, succeed, and sometimes fail to connect with others.

He gives us a poor family celebrating its first Halloween in a rich neighborhood, a waitress trying to get the attention of the silent new man in town, teachers talking about their students’ crushes, a boy stuck in a car with the kid he beat up, a roadie who finally busts loose during sound check, a business consultant who assassinates her client, and a disgraced accountant who frames his wife for his own murder.

The stories are told with Charlie Close’s unique insight, compassion, and biting sense of humor. They are dark, comic, sweet, ironic, and…weird.

Read Before the Ripcord Broke and discover that, however different we may feel, we are not so different after all.

Thank you very much for your offer, Charlie!

Welcome. Happy to make the offer. Add a comment here if you or anyone you know would like to take me up on it.

Happy reading.

Hi, I'm interested in your book, but have already far too many books to read, and not enough time.

Would you be ready to wait until the end of this summer? Early August at the soonest, but since I'm always late on what I have planned, I'd rather not promise anything.

Hi, Melaslithos,

Pleased to meet you. I will keep the offer open until the end of summer. You are welcome to contact me when ready.

I see you like Terry Pratchett. Me too. Have you read the Tiffany Aching books, like Wee Free Men and Hat Full of Sky? (Not trying to add to your already tall stack of books to read...)

Charlie

No worries, Aaron. Happy reading.

Hi!

Thanks for keeping the offer until the end of summer. I will contact you again once my schedule will clear up a little.

And of course I've read all the Tiffany Achings. I love them, they are really great. Actually, the only Discworld novel I haven't read yet is the last one. Each time I pick it up, I have a "OMG this is going to be the last one" moment, and can't seem to decide myself to read it.

Funny, Melaslithos, I know what you mean. So sad to see Terry Pratchett go. I'll be here at the end of summer.

Have fun.

Charlie

Sorry to interrupt, but could you advise me a Discworld starter!? I will be reading Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witchby Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I heard a lot of good things about those two and when I got an offer from a book by both of them my eyes sparkled and my mouth salivated with joy, as you can imagine. I saw a lot of Discworld books selling at my booshop but I can't decide which one to pick up first as I don't know if this is a continous series or single story books. Could you help with this!? Thanks

Except for the first two, all Discworld novels can be read as stand-alones.

But I would recommend you to at least read the "sub-series" in order.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4065...

I am myself pretty fond of the witches and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, but they are all so great, I have a hard time picking up a favorite.

I am really new to this, where should I start!?

In the link I sent, in the description, you'll find the list of all sub-series.

Start with any of the first book of those.

Or just start from the really beginning, The Color of Magic. That's actually a good idea I think, because even though all his books are really fun, the plots of his books gets more and more complex as he matures as a reader, with more subtext. So if you read a later novel then come back to the beginning, you might find them too "simple" (as far as Pratchett can be simple).

But buy The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic. These are the only two books that can't be read as standalones, and should absolutely be read one after the other.

But frankly, except for these two, you could randomly pick one and be fine. You might not get all the intricacies of the story, but you'll still have great fun. And anyway, if you become a hardcore fan like most people who start reading Pratchett, you just read and re-read and re-re-read his books, so that's not an issue.

I haven

BTW, read at least one Witches book before reading one Tiffany Aching, because Tiffany is a witch in training and you might not get everything if you don't know who are the witches, especially Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax.

I have read the Tiffany Aching series. Lots of fun. If you listen to audiobooks, that's the way to do it. The Scottish accents of the Wee Free Men are great.

Ah, yes. Granny Weatherwax is much fun. I should read more of the Wiches books.

The Wee Free Men are great! I'll have to try the audiobook, but even in writting, you can feel and hear their delicious accent.

Thanks for your advise. I am not sure if I will like it since I don't like too much fantasy. I like to keep it real, but I should at least try. For now I will try Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witchsoon, when I have finnished my current reading. My pile is stocking up and I have little time...
Anyway, thanks for giving me a start where to beggin!

by the way I like to read mostly and don't use audiobooks. Only used audio before to listen to the TTC courses. They are really great!

Happy reading, Sorobai. Hope you enjoy Good Omens.

Thank you Charlie. I bet I will enjoy it very much!

@Sorobai OK, if you are not a big fan of fantasy, then I would actually recommend you the opposite of what I previously said, and maybe to start by with a later books, where there is more social criticism. For example, you can start with one of the following, depending on what themes you are interested in (I tried to pick those really unrelated to others, except for the world):

- Small Gods, about religion
- Moving Pictures, about Hollywood and the fim industry
- Monstrous Regiment, about army and the place of woman and all "different people" in it.

Small Gods for example is really really really great.

Thanks @Melaslithos it looks interesting, I think I will enjoy Small Gods better. I will try to find it out in my bookshop.

by the way Melaslithos can I know your age? I wonder if this kind of books is something I will appreciate, even if I think I will. Since I like most adventure books with some content. I liked As Aventuras de Pinóquioand Alice.

I'm going on my thirties this year.
I think all ages can appreciate Discworld books, since there are several levels of understanding, especially in later books.

Some are for children though, such as all the Tiffany Achings and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. But frankly, I loved them as much, and the only difference I actually see, is that the book is slightly shorter, and cut into chapters (other Discworld books don't have chapters. It's very dangerous, because you can never stop reading them. They're really addictive).

There's plenty of content in Discworld, maybe even too much. The only reason I see for not liking these books is being allergic to invented worlds (I know one person for who it's the case). And not liking his type of humour (I haven't met any yet, but most of my friends have the same type of humour as me, so we are not very representative of the whole range of tastes in this matter).

Thanks again for your advise Melaslithos. It will be useful when I go to the bookshop. I found some very nice hardcover books of Discworld recently and those really catched my eyes. I will surly try one of those at least. I mean after I read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.
I am not allergic to invented worlds, but I'm a little allergic to too much fantasy, specially the magic ones. If it is related to the plot it's fine with me, but sometimes it's not. I mean something like this Across The Nightingale Floor. It is a trilogy. I read the first one because I bought it thinking it was something else. It is a retold of japanese history and legend by way of magic and invention! I was liking it till the moment when some people had superpowers that permited them to simply disapear in middle air and fly and flee as fast as a formula 1. I mean it was a little too much for my wide imagination. I really appreciate a criative mind but not a retolding of factual history in a fancy way. Maybe that's why I don't appreciate historical novels too much either.
Anyway, I was thinking I would not like Game of Thrones and I'm enjoying the tv series so far. I wonder if I will like the books since I liked LOTR.
Forgive me to ask you about your age. But I think we have similar tastes in some regards. Maybe a big age difference would change our likes and dislikes.
I really appreciate books with several levels of understanding and I like a book which makes me dig it's different stracta of meaning!

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a great book. It's one of my favorites! I hope you'll like it! You find a lot of the very "Pratchettien" humor in it, but darker because of Gaiman's influence.

I understand what you say about fantasy, I don't like it either when there's no point to it.

A lot of people compare LotR and GoT, because they are two sagas of epic proportions, but I don't they are comparable at all.
LotR is about the world building more than the story, and a good vs bad battle.
GoT is about the politics and characters more than the world. Actually, the world is nice, but not as detailed as original and well thought of as Middle Earth, but the relations between characters is fascinating to read.

So they are very different and both are great. But I really don't understand people comparing them.

If you like LotR, I wouldn't be able to say if you will like the books, but if you liked the series, apparently, it's quite faithful to the book, so you will probably like it (I have never seen the series, so I can't confirm).

Sorobai, George R.R. Martin, whose books are the basis for Game of Thrones, is a great writer. He's done lots of things besides Game of Thrones. Some of his books that I've read and liked a lot:

- Sandkings (Story collection. Title story is awesomely chilling.)
- Dying of the Light
- Windhaven
- Fevre Dream
- Tuf Voyaging (Collection of stories featuring a very fun character, Haviland Tuf. Kind of like Dr. Evil, but not evil.)

Thanks both of you for your great advises.
Melaslithos I noted the difference you said about LoTR and GoT. I watched LoTR movies, they are really great! GoT tv series are very interesting though there is too much unnecessary violence and sex. They have nice actors and costums though. I think you will enjoy it.
I also think Gaiman's is a little dark. I found a book from him to children Coraline. I was surprised it seems really dark and scary for children!
Anyway, I will read Good Omens sooner!

Charlie thanks for your sugestions. I heard about R.R. Martin way before but never got much interested about him since GoT. Many friends said good things of him but I think he's most famous because of GoT than something else. I know he even produced some TV shows in the past.
Anyway it's always interesting to know and maybe some of his other books are good too.

Gaiman is my favorite living author, so I'm not very objective when it comes to him. But yes, his writing is usually quite dark, a bit "gothic".
Coraline is a horror story for children, so it's normal for it to be scary.
I find his book usually quite melancholic, but in a good way. He is very good at infusing a great atmosphere through his story, although I wouldn't be able to describe it exactly. It's just what I call "gaimanien". Yes, I regularly invent adjectives made from authors names...

Sorry to say that about your favorite author Melaslithos, specially when I know so few about him... My bad... :(
Anyway, I was really suprised to ear there are horror books for children!!
Gaiman got my attention because there are a lot of people talking about him, I think specially in the usa. I need to find some books from him that I might like.
I found out that he is a good designer too. I found a BD called The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnesby him and it seems interesting. But it is so expensive that I got some doubts about buying it!
And "gamimanien" is a terrific word! Very funny!

Oh, don't worry, you didn't say any thing bad.

I remember, when I was a kid, there was an imprint "Chair de Poule", in France, specialized in horror stories for children, so yes, that's a thing.

I've been dreaming of the Sandman series for ages, but as you pointed out, they are super expensive, and so never got my hands on one. Maybe I could convince my family to offer me the whole series for my 30th birthday. I think that would be a nice occasion.

If you read Grimms or Hans Christian Andersen, they were ALL basically short horror stories for children, so Gaiman is nothing new!

Melas, I love that word "gaimanian"! I also adore him and don't think there is anything of his that I have found unworthy of numerous re-reads. He has such a particular feel about his work.

Wow That "Chair de Poule" is very interesting! There appeared similar books for young readers in my country too. But when I was a child the worst I watched was Tom Sawyer entering the indian cave. That made me have nightmares for ages! lol
There were no horror books for children at that time!
You can read all the Sandman in your country in the fnac bookshop. But if you want to have them in your shelves you must pay! lol

Have you read Sandman? I love that series. I don't know how many times I've read it, but a LOT! The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You is my favorite volume and The Sound of Her Wings is my favorite arc. When my brothers and I were reading it as teens I was so super excited when Death was introduced because it seemed to me that the Endless must get to choose their incarnations and Death chose to be female. I loved that!

No Kandice, I'm afraid I haven't read them yet. But I will soon. Maybe when I have some holidays. Since now I am too overhelmed with books and work. I was saying Melaslithos she can read those books at her bookshop in France. I found there are some at my library and I want to have a look at it, but I will not buy it for the time been. They are too expensive!!!

Kandice wrote: "If you read Grimms or Hans Christian Andersen, they were ALL basically short horror stories for children, so Gaiman is nothing new!

Melas, I love that word "gaimanian"! I also adore him and don't..."

Kandice Grimms and Hans Christian Andersen were not horror stories at the time I was a child, specially not Hans Christian Andersen. They made changes to the stories to made them more appelling to children. But yes, you are right, it's nothing new.

@Sorobai When I still lived in France, I checked the FNAC regularly (and I used to live next to a very big one) for the Sandman, I never saw it there...
And anyway, I'd rather not read a translation when I can perfectly read English, and the FNAC is very bad for English books.

funny thing Melas I found the sandman in english at my store! It is quite a big book!

Melaslithos wrote: "Hi!

Thanks for keeping the offer until the end of summer. I will contact you again once my schedule will clear up a little.

And of course I've read all the Tiffany Achings. I love them, they are ..."

Charlie wrote: "No worries, Aaron. Happy reading."

Hi, Melaslithos,

Following up. Schedule looking better? I'll still offer a free book if you'll consider reviewing it. Sad and funny stories.

BTW, you probably know by now that the last Discworld book is almost here, a Tiffany Aching book called The Shepherd's Crown. Already on my purchase-immediately list.

@Sorobai - take note. The Tiffany Aching series is, sadly, almost complete if you're still looking for a place to start with Terry Pratchett.

Happy reading.

Charlie

Hi, sorry for the lack of notice.

Actually, my schedule is getting worse and worse. I was hoping on some holidays to have some time for reading, but was too busy with work to take any. So I'm afraid I'll have to pass on this one.

Or, if you are not afraid of waiting, I'll gladly receive an epub version of your book. But all I can say is that I'll try to read it before the end of the year. Not very promising...

Hi, Melaslithos,

Thanks for getting back to me. In my own experience, schedules do have a way of getting worse, not better like we hope. :)

I leave it up to you. I'd be happy to send an epub if you think you might get to it by the end of the year. If you think it'll become just one more obligation in a busy life, I won't mind if you pass.

Something to consider: it's a book of short stories and many of them are quite short, a page or two. It wouldn't take long for you to figure out if it's something you'd like to finish.

Let me know what you'd like to do.

Happy reading.

Charlie