Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore
- Book: Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore
- Location: New York City (NYC), San Francisco
- Author: Robin Sloan
Clay Jannon, a bright young art school graduate who just lost his job as a web designer, finds himself working the nightshift in Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore in San Francisco. He is intrigued by the bookstore’s eccentric customers and by the books themselves, which are shelved three floors high and seem to contain only code. With a group of friends (including a very pretty, very intelligent girl who becomes his girlfriend and who also happens to be Google’s rising star) he sets about breaking the code and unravelling the puzzle.
It’s a pleasant story, revolving around books, technology, adventure, friendship, love, geekiness, the search for immortality and many more elements. Perhaps a bit too many elements to my taste. Some ideas and storylines seemed a little rushed and could have been developed better (or left out).
The book is set in San Francisco, and the goup even travels to New York in their quest to resolve the mystery. Especially San Francisco gets a very favourable description in the book.
To finish, a quote from the book:
“After that, the book will fade, the way all books fade in your mind. But I hope you will remember this:
A man walking fast down a dark lonely street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all wonder and need. A bell above a door and the tinkle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.”
? Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
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