#Mr penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore

[trek-tracks]

Star Trek fans are everywhere

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[ask-theredcrown]

Hey Narinder, got any story suggestions?

(Same with mod? If that's okay?)

"The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is an interesting one, it's short, you can finish it in a day, but it's so worth it."

[escapeintothepages]

“Walking the stacks in a library, dragging your fingers across the spines - it's hard not to feel the presence of sleeping spirits.”

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

[verisimlitude]

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

[buttterflyboy]

i found this zine that i made as a book report back in 2020 and was super impressed with it. man i used to be so cool n creative !! neeee d to get back into zines. propelling this action by checking out another comic from the library to inspire me

[petrichorsmemory]

Books Read in August

Thanks to the Picker Wheel chosing few shorter books in the last part of the month I managed to read 8 books in August. Also, I think, Holly Black is the author the Wheel picked the most this year until now.

1. "The Girl and the Moon" by Mark Lawrence

2. "How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories" by Holly Black

3. "Bullet Train" by Isaka Kōtarō

4. "Fire with Fire" by Destiny Soria

5. "A River Enchanted" by Rebecca Ross

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

7. "Eight Days of Luke" by Diana Wynne Jones

8. "White Cat" by Holly Black

I also started listening to Psychology: The Basics by Rolf Reber as audiobook (I DNFed Filterworld)

[brucedinsman]

Book Review: The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman

  Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, #1) Kindle Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, #1) Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin SloanMy rating: 5 of 5 starsBooks! What a ride! I picked this one because I like books about books and bookstores, but all the history and intrigue wrapped in made it quite a good read.View all my…

[flourmelon]

You know when a book starts off really good, and then you get about halfway and realize it was all a lie?

(Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore)

[readingaccountability]

robin sloane books ive read so far - reviews

read all in mid dec 22

mr penumbras 24 hour book store

this book was warm, silly, and full of heart. fascinating themes surrounding tech and what we can do with it, mixed with a classic secret society type plot. i absolutely adored the way all the characters were described, and the way the main character stumbles into the mysterious.

sourdough

YES. just, yes. needed this. this book exudes passion, finding itself at home in the surprising mystery to be found in the mundane. i adored the main character, and the plot was so delightful from start to finish. it felt, and i mean this in the best possible way, like all the magic of a kids book, but written for adults. <3

the suitcase clone

short but sweet, a very fun tie in adventure between the previous books. the magic of the music being played live for the vines, and the added layer of lore, was absolutely lovely!

[littlemissinkdrinker]

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

This book has all the elements to be a favorite of mine....and yet it falls short. Way short. And it falls flat. The writing feels amateurish and Clay + Neel just come across, to me, as low-grade assholes. In fact, I didn't really like most of the main cast, only really cared about Mr. Penumbra but even then it wasn't enough to keep this book from being a slog to get through. Oh well.

Overall I was pretty disapointed and don't really understand the hype other than the idea of a 24-hour PHYSICAL bookstore is every bookworm's dream.

Read : Sep 15th - Sep 27th, 2022

Rating : 2 stars

[escapeintothepages]

“All the secrets of the world worth knowing are hiding in plain sight.”

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

[89words]

Walking the stacks in a library, dragging your fingers across the spines – it’s hard not to feel the presence of sleeping spirits.

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

[verisimlitude]

There is no immortality that is not built on friendship and work done with care. All the secrets in the world worth knowing are hiding in plain sight.

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

[agardenandlibrary]

Books Read in August 2024

August is already over?? I had a pretty good reading month! September is going to be wild, since we’re closing on our new house (!!!) this week and moving. We'll see how it goes...

Witch King by Martha Wells

I enjoyed this one a lot! Neat world & history. 

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (audiobook)

Finally trying more Nix, not just his Abhorsen books lol. Pretty good. I do love a “child of the ancient Powers discovers their heritage” story. I was pleased at how many people were excited about working in a magical bookshop (will I ever forgive Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore? Only time will tell). 

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart (for the podcast)

This was SO GOOD. I’ve heard the sequels ARE NOT. Full of hubris, I believe I will go on anyway, that’s how good this book was! 

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

The History of the quaddies! Overall, good! I really liked the decisions to take personal responsibility – Graf being like “someone should help these kids – fuck it, I’M someone”. Another line that stuck with me was Graf on the station being threatened by someone planetside, another person planetside saying “You have to stop him” and Graf saying “Hey, I’m out in space. You’re in the same room. You stop him.”

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

I do love a living city. Curious how it ends, since I know it was supposed to be a trilogy and then got turned into a duology instead.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (audiobook)

It’s a Kingfisher! Very good & interesting take on the Goose Girl story. That sure was a fucked up horse! I do love those geese!

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (for the podcast)

And the month ended with a whimper. Return to the world of your childhood portal fantasy! Be overall disappointed with how the story was told! The interjected “storyteller corners” could’ve been better if they’d been completely different. Oh well.

[quaranmine]

now you got me curious on on earth kinda book are you reading that uses the word google too much?

It's Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. A main character works for Google. But Google was already being referenced before she showed up. But anyway yes the book basically talks about how great Google is what feels like every page and plot points are being solved by using Google machinery and Google programming and Google features and--

I want main character girl to get laid off immediately following the book.

Also I'm over 50% in and it seems like they're setting up a main plot point for the second half of the book to be "let's steal a priceless totally-unique-to-the-world book from a (private) library so we can upload it to Google and basically give ownership of it to a megacorp!" I think the place they're stealing it from is weird too (I don't know enough about it yet to agree if they're all evil or not) and the desire to have knowledge accessible is a noble one but I am just kind of stunned that this is....a plot point? That an author was like "yes, let's heavily feature a real-world company as a core plot point"? I feel like the much easier way to do this would be to like, idk, take it to a museum?

I would love it if all this Google-talk came back around to bite the characters before the end but based on the reviews I have read, it doesn't seem like Google ever gets portrayed in any other light than hero worship.... Also, the author must specify every time that the main character guy owns a Macbook. And a kindle. They talk about Skype. The product placement bores me.

The book is from 2012 so I think a lot of things just didn't age well. There's a lot of oogling at technology that now feels ancient (like video calling) and mentions of apps that were popular at the time such as Fruit Ninja. There will always be things that don't age well in fiction but I feel like as an author it is not all that difficult to minimize your references to certain things in order to keep a story grounded so it doesn't feel horribly outdated after barely a decade.

But I am also just sour because I assumed going into it that this was a kind of magical realism story about an old bookshop and instead it seems like megacorp tech worship.