2018 reading challenge: A BOOK THAT INVOLVES A BOOKSTORE OR LIBRARY

[baronessekat]

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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There is no real easy way to describe this book. A couple friends recommended it and it fit a category for a reading challenge so, I figured what the hell.

Clay needs a job and while wandering around San Francisco stumbles upon a 24 hour book store that needs help. It's not as flashy a job as his last office based computer job, but he's desperate. He goes in and the little old man who owns the store hires him on as the overnight clerk. He quickly learns that the front of the store is just that.. a rather small book store. The back is a lending library for an exclusive membership that consists of some rather quirky and eccentric clientele.

In an attempt to alleviate some of the boredom from working the overnight shift in a 24 hour bookstore, Clay takes it upon himself to modernize things a bit and through a bit of computer programing to to track borrowing patterns and the like, he ends up solving a puzzle put in place by a very secret society. This causes him, and then by extension, some of his friends to become involved in completely solving the mystery that this secret society has been trying to figure out for over 500 years.

This was a quick and entertaining read and I would not dissuade anyone who expressed an interest in it. though I can't say I'm 100% content with the ending... but that's my issue, not the book's.



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