Scan barcode
A review by dembury
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
5.0
SEPT 2020, 2nd read
Honestly just as enjoyable the second time around. Always a new detail to notice or appreciate, and listening to this on audio is such a pleasant experience. I wish the Dragon Song Chronicles were real because I badly want to read them!
SEPT/OCT 2019, 1st read
This is book that has been hovering around by TBR for at least 5 years since a customer at a bookstore I was working at raved about it and told me it was unlike anything they had read. I just didn't get around to it until now; I needed something engaging to listen to on my college commute and this was sitting there so I figured I'd finally try it. And I get what that customer meant. "Mr. Penumbra" is truly a unique book, and at no point was this novel what I thought it was going to be.
Goodreads has a solid synopsis, but what it doesn't hint at are the wonderful, sometimes bizarre conversations that take place in the story. There is a lot of discourse around printed books and bookstores VS digital spaces and reading technology, but NOT in a "which is better?" way. This book could have been disastrous in that respect, painting those who read print books as "superior", but Sloan does such a beautiful job of highlight the constraints and affordances of each medium and putting them in conversation with one another. It made my little bibliophile heart swell seeing characters embrace reading as a whole, as an enjoyable, immersive artform that doesn't favor a certain platform or person. I really think this book is a celebration of reading, of curiosity for the sake of curiosity, of sharing knowledge, and the bonds formed between readers.
There were a few moments here and there that I think were a little out of place; for instance, I personally thought too much time was spent on the Google headquarters and describing people readers would never see again. Just from a plot perspective I would have like that trimmed down a bit. And I ALMOST didn't like the ending, but then I did? I think it's what I said before and it just wasn't what I was expecting, so it was a little jarring. But not in a bad way!
I just got a lot of delight out of this book. It's very transportive: it takes readers to new cities, pokes into crevices of thoughts that maybe you hadn't considered before, and paints a world that's both familiar and magical - and for me, that's a really special thing for a book to do. I can't wait to read more of Sloan's writing, and if we ever get a "Mr. Penumbra's" movie I'm gonna LOSE. MY. MIND.
Honestly just as enjoyable the second time around. Always a new detail to notice or appreciate, and listening to this on audio is such a pleasant experience. I wish the Dragon Song Chronicles were real because I badly want to read them!
SEPT/OCT 2019, 1st read
This is book that has been hovering around by TBR for at least 5 years since a customer at a bookstore I was working at raved about it and told me it was unlike anything they had read. I just didn't get around to it until now; I needed something engaging to listen to on my college commute and this was sitting there so I figured I'd finally try it. And I get what that customer meant. "Mr. Penumbra" is truly a unique book, and at no point was this novel what I thought it was going to be.
Goodreads has a solid synopsis, but what it doesn't hint at are the wonderful, sometimes bizarre conversations that take place in the story. There is a lot of discourse around printed books and bookstores VS digital spaces and reading technology, but NOT in a "which is better?" way. This book could have been disastrous in that respect, painting those who read print books as "superior", but Sloan does such a beautiful job of highlight the constraints and affordances of each medium and putting them in conversation with one another. It made my little bibliophile heart swell seeing characters embrace reading as a whole, as an enjoyable, immersive artform that doesn't favor a certain platform or person. I really think this book is a celebration of reading, of curiosity for the sake of curiosity, of sharing knowledge, and the bonds formed between readers.
There were a few moments here and there that I think were a little out of place; for instance, I personally thought too much time was spent on the Google headquarters and describing people readers would never see again. Just from a plot perspective I would have like that trimmed down a bit. And I ALMOST didn't like the ending, but then I did? I think it's what I said before and it just wasn't what I was expecting, so it was a little jarring. But not in a bad way!
I just got a lot of delight out of this book. It's very transportive: it takes readers to new cities, pokes into crevices of thoughts that maybe you hadn't considered before, and paints a world that's both familiar and magical - and for me, that's a really special thing for a book to do. I can't wait to read more of Sloan's writing, and if we ever get a "Mr. Penumbra's" movie I'm gonna LOSE. MY. MIND.