Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel by Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

This was definitely a cool book! It takes the reader from a little bookstore in San Francisco to the Google campus in Palo Alto to a subterranean library in New York City to a knitting museum and a conservatory of artifacts. 

Clay Jannon had a job designing a web site for a bagel company but unfortunately it folded and now he has to look for a job. One day as he was walking around San Francisco he sees a sign offering a job in the window of a really small bookstore. He walks in and finds that what the bookstore lacks in floor space makes up for it in wall space. Shelves full of books go up for three stories and are accessed by ladders on wheels. However, he has to agree to some very strange rules before he can have the job. He agrees to the conditions and gets the shift that runs from 10 pm to 6 am. Not surprisingly, there are not so many customers that come into the store, just a few who exchange one book for another. Clay records these visits in a log that is the newest in a set that dates back for decades. Curiosity overcomes Clay who feels that there is much more to this store than meets the eye.

I highly recommend this book to readers who love mysteries, adventure, and, of course, books!

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