From the Bookshelf of 2013 Hub Reading Challenge…
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What Members Thought
Sloan's story is a fantastic mashup of OK (Old Knowledge) and the fast-paced, super-innovative world of the internet, and google, and all things modern and shiny. Any book lover who loves the feel of a book in their hands can understand how one feels when they are confronted with all of the digital knowledge available these days. I personally feel the constant tug from my laptop while I'm reading a book on the couch, and the other way around. The story brings together characters who revere the p
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Still one of my favorite books because it explores the tension between bookstores and technology in a modern society.
This book is charming, and designed to appeal to book lovers who also love tech. Since working with kids and teens, I've been very anti calling books "boy" and "girl" books, but this book did feel like a dude book to me. (That's not to say women wouldn't like it. I did, and I know quite a few other women who did as well. It just was the kind of book that I could see recommending to a bunch of guys I know, and less to most of the women I know.) The audience for it actually reminded quite a bit of
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When Clay Jannon walks into Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, he is an unemployed web designer looking for a job. Clay questions the legitimacy of the Help Wanted sign in Mr. Penumbra's window. What is a 24-hour bookstore anyway? Especially a 24-hour bookstore next door to a place called Booty's that had a "sign with neon legs that crossed and uncrossed."
Mr. Penumbra is looking for a clerk to work the late shift (from 10 p.m. to six a.m.). Again, you have to question the legitimacy of such a sto ...more
Mr. Penumbra is looking for a clerk to work the late shift (from 10 p.m. to six a.m.). Again, you have to question the legitimacy of such a sto ...more
"There is no immortality that is not built on friendship and work done with care." What a delightful novel! One of the most enjoyable I've read in awhile.
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I thought I would like this book. I want to say I would've enjoyed it but for the circumstances under which I read it, but I can't really say. I was definitely reading this under deadline, and I think I missed some of the nuances in its development because I was on such a time crunch. It definitely had aspects that I enjoyed - the quirky old bookstore, the Googlers, the element of mystery that made it feel like a better-written Dan Brown novel... but I just kept thinking that it felt like such a
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"A man walking fast down a dark lonely street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all wonder and need. A bell above a door and tinkle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time." p. 288
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The four star rating is for the audio book, which was brilliantly narrated by Ari Fliakos. I would have probably given the print book a 3-star rating, as the story was entertaining (think: the DaVinci code for Googlers and Gen-Xers) and the characters very real and likeable, but Fliakos's narration totally brought it to joyous life.
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Not what I expected at all - reminded me a bit of a National Treasure, with computers and bookstores thrown in. It started out a little slow, but really picked up the pace. And I was happy how it ended, and thought it was quite clever and fit the story.
If you like puzzles, a little mystery,
For computer nerds everywhere
Book lovers
For computer nerds everywhere
Book lovers
I really liked this
Jan 11, 2013
Allison
marked it as to-read
4.5
