Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

A quick read, with a nice plot and interesting characters. If you like books, libraries, and puzzles, you'll like this one.

As a graphic designer by profession and a book lover on the side, this book definitely had a lot going for it before I even really got into it. Add to that a mystery surrounding an obscure book cult hiding in the recesses of an old bookstore, some history about typography and the early production of books and printing presses and I was hooked. Perhaps it isn't the best written book out there and maybe the mystery is no DaVinci Code, but the elements it did have spoke to me on a personal level and I really enjoyed the ride. It also showcases the rarely explored topic of technology and the physical written word and the polarizing opinions on how or if they should mix. The story definitely piqued my interest to look more into the history of book printing and typography and I think that's a win, when a fictional book can get you to look beyond it to the ‘real' story beyond the fictional one. Overall it was just an enjoyable read for those who love books, technology and a light mystery.

I recently read Sourdough, the latest book by this author, and loved it!! So I immediately started Mr. Penumbra. And then... This book completely lost me about half way through. I was digging the old quirky bookstore with the also quirky owner and strange visitors.. then the story started revealing what was actually going on with this bookstore and it's just way too outlandish for me. I found myself rolling my eyes several times and just had to put it down. I used to consider it a sin to not finish a book, but I figure you shouldn't waste your time on something you aren't actually enjoying. Life is too short.

A really fun read, combining history and technology together to solve a wordy mystery. Makes me want to alternately work in an independent bookstore like Penumbra's, and Google!

I'd give it three and a half if I could. There were things I liked about it and I can appreciate an original idea for a book, but it was a little too far fetched for me and by the time I finished, I was disappointed.

This was a great tech/geek mixed with a love for classic fantasy book. If that isn't your genre you might not care for it I suppose but it was a really fun read for me. My only disappointment was that the book could have easily been made into a duology or even a trilogy. There are obviously two parts, possibly 3 if you count NYC. These could have been expanded upon and made for some interesting plot lines and cliff hangers. But I guess one book will just have to do. I wholeheartedly disagree with the comments that say the ending wasn't good. The ending is exactly as it should be. It's good writing. It might not be mystical or magical but it's where the flow of the book leads. Still I wish the whole story was longer.

Delightful! Whimsical and clever, this is a must read for anyone who loves books, big cities, and magic.

I've been meaning to read this book since we bought it shortly after it came out in paperback. Instead, I kept finding other things to read. However, while on my vacation to Nashville, I was able to finally just lock out all the distractions and dive into the world of Mr. Penumbra's store. And, boy, I should have done this a long time ago. A very interesting, if quirky, story that I was a fan of from cover to cover. The ending was a bit odd, so it lost a star there, but I liked it pretty well anyway.

This book ticked so many of my nerd boxes (FONT TALK???) and I had a blast reading it.

A fun, easy read. Sloan has a lot of wacky, entertaining ideas and a enjoyable plot that kept me going with this. But the writing is really nothing special — so much ‘meh' description, and so much of it feels like a repeat (I swear, everyone “raises an eyebrow” or “narrows their eyes” as their primary form of emoting, one character always “totters” around, etc). The characters are fine, but not deep — some are quite fun despite this, but are total caricatures. And then the fun ideas I mentioned — about technology, typography, coding, and museum archives — they are so outlandish and absurd that I question if Sloan knew that they had no resemblance to reality or not. Even knowing a good deal about these subjects (why the book was recommended to me), I can get past them to enjoy them for what they are: pure, fantastical fun.

Delightful. Sorry I hadn't read this earlier.

I began reading this book using the font AndikaInk but, after a few pages, I changed to ClearSans font. Nothing else of interest happened.

This is a cute book wrapped up perfect and topped with a bow. Unfortunately, that's not really my style. Good for those who enjoy a little mystery in life and contemporary works (maybe?), but not for those who need a strong dose of action or suspense.

Executive Summary: This makes for a great summer read. It's light and fun, and a really quick read. As both a book and computer nerd, this hit a lot of my buttons.

Full Review
So I have something like 100 books on my “owned and unread” pile. I tend to read a mix of book club reads, just released books, and spur of the moment picks depending on my mood. I'm really bad about working off my backlog. I got this one as a Christmas gift from my sister a few years ago, and it's just been sitting unread on my bookshelf.

I took finally doing this as a group read with my side reads group to finally get me to pick it up. I'm really glad I did. It was a lot of fun.

It's a fairly short book, and I don't have a lot to say about it. The main character is fine, but I never really clicked with him. I liked most of the supporting characters better. For me what really hit home was the idea of this strange little bookshop that was really more of a library than a story.

The other elements that resonated with me were the uses of technology and just the San Francisco setting. My sister lives there, and I've visited her a few times now. There are elements of the city wound throughout this book that I probably would have glossed over had I not experienced them myself. Those things aren't really important to the story's plot, but makes me itching for my next visit.

I thought this book had a nice message, and I was happy with how the mysteries of the book were resolved. It's always refreshing to pick up a book that stands alone, especially one this short and feel satisfied. It seems like everything is stretched out into monster tomes of no less than 3 books. Then again, maybe that's just the result of me reading so much fantasy.

I don't read much contemporary fiction, but this one worked really well for me. I think most book nerds will find some things to like here.

This book was an amazing blend of so many different elements that it felt almost perfect. It's a lot like Dan Brown's books except not as gripping, however, interesting. It's got some elements that go deep, while some you could just skim through. I liked the modern-day-relatable factor that it had as the narrator is like so many of us twenty-something people in the current day and age trying hard to find a place in the world.
All in all, a good read.

Everything felt too brief. While the premise of the plot is interesting and possesses lots of potential, there wasn't enough fleshing out of the storyline nor the characters. The main discovery and resolution happened in the last 10% of the book, which is really short. And at the end of it, rather than feeling like all questions have been answered, I still feel like it's all been a blur and some of that remains.

Really fun read! Loved it!

Sweet and fun but I was ultimately disappointed that there was not more of an adventure.

Pretty entertaining and engaging. The end was a little bit of a letdown, but otherwise enjoyed it a lot.

Fun, enjoyable read with a unique premise.

Thoroughly enjoyable. A light read, nothing world-changing, about a bookstore clerk's investigation into the unusual clientele of the unusual bookstore where he takes employment; I don't want to talk too much about the plot, since the enjoyment is in the protagonist's exploration.

The finest quality of the book is its prose. The author turns a phrase wonderfully. The writing is very modern, and here I want to highlight another excellent trait: it deals occasionally with very current technology, and in many other books this sort of thing is very forced, and sometimes makes me all but certain the writer hasn't the faintest idea what they're talking about. Not so here. Sloan writes about the technological aspects with facility, rendering them well for a technically-inclined audience and simultaneously accessible – I think – to those not so inclined. This is a rare feat. It's very genuine.

If I have any complaint it would be the rendering of Kat Potente, in that she feels a bit like nerd wish fulfillment: a brilliant, pretty girl who's into the protagonist. But she's also a very strong, smart female character, so there's that.

Quite liked this. A nice, well-written summer read.

Not quite sure how to rate this one. 2.5 stars? 2.75? Do I round up and make it 3? If I were basing it solely on most the first section, it'd be 3 stars or more. Lots of promise there. To start with, the story is set in a bookstore. What better place could there be? And there's mystery. And weird goings-on. And odd characters. Fun things that you know all link together and you want to know when and how and why. Granted the writing was a little simple and didn't always flow, but that could be hand waved away if the story is distracting enough. And it was. Until Google and the supposed love interest plopped themselves into the middle of the story and hung on for dear life. The story quickly dissolved into not much more than a love letter to the great search engine of the west with the occasional tangent to the Kindle. None of that added anything to the story and the longer they occupied good story real estate, the easier it was to set this book down. Not a good thing to happen in part 2 of a 3 part story. Part 3 picked up slightly for a moment or two, though I think more because of a couple of character introductions than anything story wise. Then, it fizzled out like a sparkler being stuck in a bucket of sand. What probably should have been an exciting, fast paced adventure to retrieve the font punches from the Warehouse 13-esque desert library felt like a walk out to your car to get the bag of chips that fell out of a grocery bag. The resolution to the great mystery was insubstantial, without any real depth or even a real Aha! moment. I really wish the last chapter had been more showing the reader what happened rather than a long tell me everything monologue. I think I just wanted more than was crammed into the short number of pages. For now - 3 stars. Because at it's heart, it's still about books.

This was a fun puzzle mystery but set in a modern age that was quite fun. I enjoyed Clay's voice as he narrated and the subtle tech jokes and slights that geeky people would get. It almost started to lose me in the second half but the pace kept me interested. Ultimately this was a fun read and quite enjoyable.

Ich mochte die Kombination aus geheimnissvolle Geschichte, Rätsel und Big Data á la Google.

Pretty disappointing, all in all. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and wasn't particularly interested in the plot either. So without emotional investment or quite frankly any emotional stakes at all, it just read like it was created by a computer program designed to drop the appropriate tech company names and archetypes in the right places.

I really WANTED to like the book, it just didn't deliver what I had hoped for.