Book Recommendation

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan, follows the adventures of Clay, an unemployed twenty-something web designer who works the third shift at, what he comes to realize, is anything but a normal bookstore.

Strange customers arrive at all hours and it's Clay's job to document what each customer looks like, down to the tiniest detail, in a handwritten ledger that Mr. Penumbra keeps under the register.

Soon enough, things get interesting and Clay starts trying to figure out exactly what kind of bookstore he works at.

Part mystery-adventure, part social commentary, part fable, Mr. Sloan succeeds in mashing together more than one genre without coming off as gimmicky.

My one complaint, if you could call it that, is that reading this book makes me feel old. 

Consider the following passage where Clay decides to build a virtual model of the store to help with "data visualization". Here he describes the process of writing the code to power the software that creates his simulated store:

"I'm building my model of the store. It's crude - just a bunch of gray blocks slotted together like virtual LEGOs - but it's starting to look familiar. The space is appropriately shoe-boxy and all the shelves are there. I've set them up with a coordinate system, so my program can find aisle 3, shelf 13 all by itself. Simulated light from the simulated windows cast sharp-edged shadows through the simulated store. If this sounds impressive to you, you're over thirty."

I have to admit that this line bothered me precisely because it did sound impressive to me.

A few pages later, Clay encounters a girl named Kat and they make plans to meet up the following morning. When he sees her again the next day, she is wearing the same red and yellow T-shirt from the day before, which leads Clay to this thought:

"She's wearing the same red and yellow BAM T-shirt from before, which means (a) she slept in it, (b) she owns several identical T-shirts, or (c) she's a cartoon character - all of which are appealing alternatives."

I liked this book. You probably will, too.