“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan

This adult novel won an Alex Award in 2014 (best adult titles for the YA market) and, like all good librarians, I have been intrigued with the title.  A popular pick this Spring with Juniors reading “Millennial Fiction” I decided to check it out over the long days of summer.  Quirky, fun and an excellent example of “modern” literature, this is one of those rare stories that celebrates both books and technology.  Meet Clay, an unemployed graphic designer looking for work after the dot.com meltdown in 2009.  Wandering the streets of San Francisco, he discovers the oddest of bookstores – and is able to get a graveyard shift there.  Mysteries combine with gentle adventure in a tale that takes more turns than you would ever expect.  Think “a less bloody Da Vinci code” for the nerdy, geeky set.  This is not to say that the book is without a creep factor – I almost jumped out of bed one night when I turned off the lights and discovered that the pale yellow bookstacks on the cover glow in the dark.  What makes it “modern”?  Clay personifies the Millennial generation – he loves his MacBook, falls for a girl who works at Google, has a roommate who designs for ILM and has the staccato, Starbucks-fueled energy typical of a generation more interested in solving puzzles and living in the moment than, you know, eating regular meals or settling down.  Every character in the book is fully filled out, with rich descriptions that don’t drag down the narrative.  Names are unique and clearly carefully selected (or created).  There is Ajax, Kat, Deckle, Igor, Lapin, Imbert, Grone, Neel, Federov and more.  Many of the names of the characters refer back to Claude Garamont and Jean Jannon, whose sixteenth century work brought us the Garamont typeface (fictionalized as “Gerritszoon” here).  The essential questions are eventually answered, but it is very much the journey that counts.  For all of you who read the ending first … don’t.  This is a story about discovery as a process, not an end-point.  There is also a hysterical epilogue.  It’s an engaging book that is not particularly literary, a complex plot that is not overly deep.  Bottom line is that it is hard to describe a story with a fairly fresh twist without giving anything away – but I say, take the plunge and give it a shot.  Chances are you will like it … geek or not.