What: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (novel)
Who: written by Robin Sloan
Where: purchase from an independent bookstore
Why: Like many English majors, I dream of owning a bookstore. However, not even my wackiest designs compare to the mysterious goings on of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore— a shadowy back section filled with encoded volumes; peculiar clients with peacock feathers, jade buttons, and a shared Latin greeting; and 500 years of slightly spooky book history, for starters. Robin Sloan’s bibliophile/tech nerd mash up novel follows Clay Jannon on his journey from out of work graphic designer to newest employee in this skinny San Francisco bookstore and finally, book detective. Sloan’s writing is fast-paced and funny, even when Clay is working the graveyard shift with no customers. The female characters fall a little flat, and there are sections that, unintentionally or not, seem to rely on the tired trope that nerds are always Nice Guys™, and so can’t be criticized for their obsession with boobs, for example. However, these passages don’t overshadow the overarching adventure, which pulls you in with its rich detail and plot twists. This book manages to be chock full of technical coding terms, book binding methods, and words like “lignin,” while still being a book you fall head over heels into, and read in a day. If you’re looking for a book about books, puzzles, or the great might of Google failing to compare to human ingenuity, then this is the book for you.