Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore – Robin Sloan

  Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore was quite an entertaining read.  The hero of the tale is Clay, a young techie out of a job who winds up accepting a job as a night clerk at an odd little bookstore, Mr. Penumbra’s.  Tall multi-storied bookcases rise into the air and the job is his when he mounts the ladder and retrieves the book asked for. There’s a secret society of mysterious people that arrive at odd hours asking for special books and returning the ones they had borrowed.  His job includes keeping a log of who, time, what they look like and what they are asking for in a log book.    The only technology (aside from what he carries with him) is an old Apple computer that holds the database for the towers of shelves. Enter Clay’s friends, who begin by convincing him to look at these mysterious books (which he was forbidden from doing when he took the job).  The books are as mysterious as the readers.  Including the entrance of technology and Google’s mind brain and book reader.  Its a fascinating tradition meet technology.  A view into the mind of many of those in the tech field, some of which was quite fascinating to me.  The idea that everything is just as good digitized and will eventually replace all the older forms like printed materials, the seeming lack of appreciation for individuality and willingness to be sucked into the Borg kind of floored me. I think one of the things I like the most about it was expressed by another review I read about this book.  Its a love story to books.  Its technology versus tradition and in the battle to find the truth, I believe the greatest truth they find is that each has an equally important place. Oh, and the book jacket glows in the dark.  I found that out when I took it to bed to read and turned out the light!  This was a charming read that I would recommend to anyone that loves books, mysteries and dusty old bookstores.