One of the books I read during my vacation is Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. I have been waiting a couple months for my turn to come up at the library and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. I was expecting cozy bookish goodness — 24-hour bookstore! But I got so much more.
I don’t want to give out too many details because part of the fun of this book is all the little surprising bits and pieces, jokes and puzzles. Still, I can give you something to pique your interest.
Clay, twenty-something and recently unemployed when the San Francisco bagel company he did graphic design work for went belly-up, is looking for a job. In a moment of depression he stumbles upon the help wanted sign in the window of Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore. In he goes and is astonished to find a store that is “absurdly narrow and dizzingly tall” with shelves that go up three stories high. The on the spot interview consists of Mr. Penumbra asking Clay to tell him about a book he loves and then asking if Clay can climb a ladder. He gets the job.
Clay works the overnight shift and quickly learns that Mr. Penumbra’s is no ordinary bookstore. There are people who come in that present membership cards, ask for a certain book, and then are given it without having to pay. When they are done with the book they bring it back and ask for another. Clay is required to fill in a log book describing everyone who comes into the store, no names, but member numbers, what book s/he requested, what the person was wearing, how the person acted and anything interesting or unusual the person might have said. Most nights no one comes into the store so Clay decides to occupy himself by building a visualization of the store. He then enters in some of the books that have recently been asked for and notices what appears to be a pattern. He thinks it would be cool to be able to predict what book each customer will ask for next so, with the help of a roommate who works as a movie special effect and prop guy he has a replica of one of the log books made. Then, with the help of Kat, a woman who works at Google and who had come into the store because of advertising Clay had created, the log book is taken to Google and scanned. Clay and Kat upload the information to Clay’s bookstore visualization and are surprised by what it reveals: a face.
Thus begins a rollicking good ride that involves code breaking, Aldus Manutius, a secret society, old guard versus new guard, print versus digital, and a quest for immortality. There is lots of humor, Google gets made fun of, and people have bookish names like “Edgar Deckle.” Along the way we visit the home of one of Mr. Penumbra’s member readers, Ms. Lapin. Her home is described by Clay (did I mention Clay is the narrator?) as “the burrow of a bibliophile hobbit — low-ceilinged, close-walled, and brimming over with books.” Sounds like my own Hobbit hole!
We also get to visit a bibliophile bar in New York City where you find a stack of books and a cup of pencils on a table. Bar patrons are encouraged to choose a book and add to the marginalia of other patrons. How fun is that? Wouldn’t it be cool if there were really a bar like that?
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a great fun read. Even though the ending is a smidge predictable it did not take away from my pleasure of the whole book. It is a marvelous summer read that you can manage over a lazy weekend. And now Bookman is reading it and almost done. He is enjoying it too. I am looking forward to being able to talk with him about it so he had better hurry up and finish!
So glad you finally got to read this! I really enjoyed it for all the reasons you mentioned. So bookish, so geeky 🙂 I used this book as the basis for a reading map as well, when I was playing with a new online tool a while back
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Melwyk, I’m glad too. Bookish and geeky are a great combo 🙂 Your reading map reminds me I want to read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe 🙂
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I recently read this too and loved it. Just a very enjoyable and very bookish read.
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Elisabeth, it seems quite a few people have enjoyed it but you know, I’ve not seen a whole bunch of buzz around about it. Weird.
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“Wouldn’t it be cool if there were really a bar like that? ”
Oh yes!
I would not mind rereading Sloan’s novel–I really enjoyed it the first time. Happy you and Bookman like it too.
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Vanessa, I’d be happy with a cafe. Should I ever win the lottery jackpot and open my own bookstore and cafe, there will be a pile of classics and a pencil cup in the cafe.
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Where have I heard of this? Was it turned into a movie? It sounds like so much fun.
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Grad, it was published in fall of 2012. Maybe you saw it on another blog? No movie, but it would be fun if it was.
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Have heard about this and now it definitely goes into my reading list!
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Mystica, hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
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Wow, never heard of it but suddenly it seems that I need to read it!!
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As the print culture slowly but horribly surely goes belly up it seems book geeks will want to celebrate their passion with books like this – it sounds fun.
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Ian, it is a fun book. And while there is lots of tech in it I think it does a nice balancing act between the advantages of print and what computers can do.
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smithereens, my work is done here 😉 Hope you can get a copy and enjoy it!
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Yes, I want to go to a bar like that! A friend of mine recommended this book to me a few months ago, and I’ve been looking for it at the library but no luck yet.
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Jeanne, I hope you can find a copy! If it doesn’t turn up at your library maybe you could as them to buy it? I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one in your area who would enjoy it.
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I wish there was a Mr.Penumbra in real life. I would have loved to work for him, in fact Clay has got my dream job 🙂
This has zoomed to the top of my reading list. Thanks for the pointer 🙂
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Greedy Reader, I know, wouldn’t a real life Mr. Penumbra’s, sans secret society, be awesome? I’m not sure I’d be very keen on climbing such tall ladders, but otherwise, definitely a dream job! Enjoy the book when you get to it!
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I put this on my tbr list when it first came out but couldn’t easily get hold of a copy and consequently forgot about it. Thank you so much for reminding me. I’m looking for books for my summer break and this is going straight to the top of the list.
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Alex, you are more than welcome for the reminder! 🙂 Hopefully it will be easier to come by now. It will be perfect for your summer break.
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How fun (and perfect vacation reading). How ever did I manage not to hear about this before? I am off to request it from the library now. It reminds me of the Thursday Next books in a way!
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Danielle, yup, perfect bookish vacation reading! I’ve come across the book a few times in my wanderings on the interwebs but it doesn’t seem to be as popular and known about as you’d expect it to be among bookish folk. Kind of odd. And yeah, it does fall into that slightly off Thursday Next category.
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Oh this sounds super fun. I don’t remember hearing about this one before either so I’m off to see if my library has it 🙂
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Iliana, I thought is was super fun. A great summer read. I hope your library has it!
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This sounds a delight! Books about bookstores, I mean, what is there not to like? I’ll definitely keep an eye out for this one. Lovely review, Stef.
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Litlove, it’s not quite a cozy bookstore book, but it is lots of bookish fun.
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