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

When Jeff and I were in Buenos Aires in December, we went to a bookstore called El Ateneo Grand Splendid. Set inside an old theatre, the array of books is stunning, and on multiple levels with floor to ceiling books everywhere. I loved this store so much it almost made me cry. I didn’t want to leave, and I wish I had something like it in San Francisco. It was like my beloved Green Apple Books on steroids. In 2019, El Ateneo Grand Splendid was named the “world’s most beautiful bookstore” by National Geographic. I fall hard for a good bookstore, and even more for a novel set in a bookstore. “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore” was written by one of my favorite authors, Robin Sloan. He wrote the book “Sourdough,” set in San Francisco, but before that he wrote this book also set in our city. His hero Clay gets a job at a hole-in-the-wall bookstore, where he sees customers enter, but leave without buying anything. He notices some of them check out books from mysterious corners of the store. Clay begins to track the patterns of the customers, and the mysterious happenings within Mr. Penumbra’s shop. Part mystery and part fantasy, this is a wonderful read. My only wish is that Robin Sloan would write more frequently. I love his books and cannot wait to read more of them. To buy this book on Amazon click here.