Books, books and more books

While I wasn’t blogging much in November and December, I was reading a lot. Partly because reading was a great escape from the stresses of work and a great way to unwind and clear my mind at the end of the day.  I found a few great books and I’ll be sharing my thoughts about them over the next few weeks.

This week, I thought I’d share this book with you – it’s one that I stumbled across (I can’t really remember how I did) and thoroughly enjoyed.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore was a really good read. It starts off innocuous enough and then before I knew it, I was sucked in and couldn’t put it down.

The story starts out with a former tech industry employee who is downsized out of his marketing job stumbling into a job at a 24 hour bookstore.  Clay is not really sure how the bookstore stays in business as his night-shift hours have relatively few customers and those that do come in ask only for the “special” books on the shelves in the rear of the store – and these they do not purchase, but return when they’re done.

Fascinated with the mysterious books and yet afraid of stumbling across what this bookstore may be a front for, Clay is irreversibly drawn into finding out what is going on.

What follows is a great story that weaves ancient mysteries with modern technology and keeps you enthralled until the very end. Clay’s quirky friends (new and old) as well as the totally unique Mr. Penumbra and a few of his cohorts are charming and entertaining and make a great ensemble of characters.

I have to say, once I finished it, I was online searching to see if Robin Sloan had any more books to offer – or even a sequel to this book. I hated to say goodbye to the characters and am really looking forward to whatever the next adventure Mr. Sloan has to share.

Final Verdict: Read it