Book Review: Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

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

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has been a book that’s been kicking around my “to read” shelf for quite some time. It looked quirky and fun, but you never know with those sort of books if you’ll really like them or not. After all, what’s quirky and fun to one person can be confusing and lame to another. So it kept getting bumped back behind other books, until at last I was really in the mood for quirky and fun, and willing to take a chance on it.

I’m very glad I did.

I loved this book from beginning to end. Of course, I’m probably right in the middle of the book’s target audience, as well. It’s the story of a guy who loses his web design job and ends up working at a 24 hour bookstore in San Fran, instead. But it’s a bookstore with hardly any good books in it, and a slew of strange customers who come late at night.
Also, the owner has asked the guy not to open or look at any of the books . . .

It’s a cool, strange journey from there, involving everything from Google to codebreaking to historical facts about publishing. Also, long black robes. Pretty much any book plot could be improved with a few good long black robes, right?

In any case, it was a breeze to read, and fun from start to finish. It kept me turning pages while at the same time helped me think about things in a way I haven’t before. Not many books can do that for you.

If you’re looking for some good clean book-ish fun, look no further.

View all my reviews