Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

A Novel

    • 4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
    • $11.99
    • $11.99

Publisher Description

A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead "checking out" impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he's embarked on a complex analysis of the customers' behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what's going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.

With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that's rare to the world of literary fiction. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2012
October 2
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
304
Pages
PUBLISHER
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SELLER
Macmillan
SIZE
4.7
MB

Customer Reviews

Sukayhar ,

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore

Pulls you in and takes you on a great journey..

CMYKate ,

What a blast!

Very fresh, smart and timely. A must read.

As someone who despairs at the thought of a digital world without tangible books, I appreciated the themes of his novel. (Yet, I read the whole book on my iPhone).

He cleverly juxtaposed old and new in an interwoven story with characters who equally represented the concept of old/new. Ancient books are enjoyed with new technology and a young generation finds ways to enjoy antiquity. The result is fun and positive.

You can never thank an author enough for the experience of a great read, but Thank You, R. Sloan.

Beautyislikeyeah ,

Near-perfect.

If you care about books, technology, mystery, wonder, secret societies, mysticism, immortality, or stories that treat you like a friend instead of an enemy– please read this book.

You'll be better after than you were before.

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