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

from goodreads

2.5 stars

Yesterday I went to the chiropractor. I love him. I always feel great after he works his magic on me. He even worked magic on my toe. So I am not hobbling as much any more. There are still some painful spots on my toe, but on the whole it is a lot better. Definitely more range in motion.

It's always nice when magic occurs in the real world. Okay, I know that chiropractic practices and techniques don't constitute magic because there is a science behind them. But to me, with the immediacy of effect, it is magic. 'Cause I don't completely understand it. I just know it works and I am so grateful it does. 

Other things in life are like that. I don't completely understand computer coding etc. I just know it works and I am glad it does. Are there things like that in your life? You might not understand all the science behind it or reasoning behind it, it just works and you are grateful?

Synopsis

Clay Jannon has felt the hit from the recession. When he finds himself jobless he happens upon a advertisement for a 24-hour bookstore. He gets the job and starts on the graveyard shift. After a while he begins to suspect there is something more to this bookstore than meets the eye and he is determined to get to the bottom of it.

My Thoughts

This is a really hard book to rate. There were some parts of it that were really interesting and there were other parts of it that were so boring and seemed to just drag on.

This book is definitely a book for font geeks, google lovers and computer enthusiasts. I wonder if the author has a deal with google or works for google, with all his talk about google. Reading it definitely makes me want to work at the google campus. Free lunch that sounds delicious and I don't have to make it myself. Yes please! I think I would have enjoyed it better if I was one of the above as I found some parts confusing and other parts, well, I just didn't care about.

Most of the characters seemed a bit one dimensional to me, especially the google employee girl that I can't even remember the name of right now... I guess I should have written it down before I returned the book. Seriously girl, computers are not the end all and be all of life. (Living in the tech town of Waterloo, I guess I should keep that opinion quietly to myself. ;)

The plot always seemed to pique my interest right as I was about to give up, but as I said the mystery part of it seemed to drag on forever. I just wanted to get to the answer.

I like how it discussed the idea of a marriage between new technology and technology of the past. How innovation is great but it is not going to be the answer to everything. Sometimes you need to embrace your roots. It also helped show light on the debate of whether the printed hard copy book will become obsolete and everything will become digital. I for one like my hardcopies. I like the feel of paper.

I also liked getting an insight into the museum world and how artifacts can be verified. Very cool. I also liked learning about how lucrative fonts can be. I think I might have to develop one... or find someone who understands coding etc. to help me design one. I am willing to split profits.

All in all this book left me wishing for more depth. Depth in storyline and depth in characters. I would consider trying this author out again, but I would not be in a hurry to do so.