Last Friday (January 10th), the GrepBeat Book Club reunited for a third in-person meeting. At this point it’s safe to say a regular crowd is developing (which we love), and we enjoyed welcoming some new members (whom we also love) as well. We hope to see you all back at HQ when we meet again on February 21st (details on that fourthcoming (see what I did there?) meeting below).
In the meantime, here’s a recap of our third book (and second novel): “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan.
The Book in 150 Words
When the last of his web design work dries up, Clay Jannon stumbles into a new job as the overnight clerk at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. This bizarre shop sells virtually no modern books, but its eponymous and eccentric owner caters to a mysterious club of visitors who cycle through cryptic tomes that populate a cavernous back area.
In time, Clay and his circle of friends (each of whom possesses a distinct talent) fall into the mystery of the bookstore—deciphering not the individual books withdrawn by visitors but the greater purpose behind the store. While Mr. Penumbra and his regulars pursue that purpose through scholarship and code-breaking, however, Clay and his friends begin to apply cutting-edge technology.
What unfolds is a humans-versus-machines race to uncover the solution to an age-old secret society’s chain of codes and clues—and, along the way, the true meaning of the society’s quest.
What Book Club Thought
For a second meeting in a row, reviews were largely positive! By and large, Book Club found this story compelling. The tug-of-war between what we might call “old tech” (in this context, books and hands-on study) and “new tech” (computer-driven searching and data visualization/analysis) proved to be thought-provoking, and most seemed to feel that the author pulled off the juxtaposition without showing too heavy-handed a preference for the old or the new. If there was a prevailing gripe, it was perhaps that the pay-off didn’t quite live up to the promise of a centuries-old society seeking immortality.
4/5 stars.
Notable Quotes
- “People want things to be real. If you give them an excuse, they’ll believe you.”
- Editor’s take: This is the kind of thing that sounds good when you say it, whether or not it’s actually true… which means it kind of proves itself.
- “I have waited my whole life to walk through a secret passage built into a bookshelf.”
- Editor’s take: I mean. Yeah.
- “Immortality in a book-lined catacomb down beneath the surface of the earth, or death up here, with all this? I’ll take death and a kebab.”
- Editor’s take: Trying pretty hard with this one, but it’s a fun quote. What’s interesting is that one could read this book as ultimately indicating that the people doing the underground reading are in a way “living” more than the people who aren’t…. But then, they don’t have kebabs.
- “It’s not easy to imagine the year 3012, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.”
- Editor’s take: We still won’t have flying cars.
What’s Next For Book Club
Next Book: “Player Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut
Next Meeting: Friday, February 21st at GrepBeat HQ. Let us know you’re coming!
Some Comments: Time to get weird. Kurt Vonnegut is always thought-provoking, equal parts looney and prescient, and, I suspect, ideal for sparking Book Club conversation.
The synopsis, per Bookshop.org: Vonnegut’s spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines.
That’s all they gave us on this one. But hey… sounds pretty relevant!
