Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan PLUS Festive Nibbles

Thanks to Caroline for hosting the November book club - great to get a chance to quiz the author along with discussing the book!

As it's Christmas next month we thought we'd have some festive nibbles so please do RSVP to the event and keep it up to date so that we know how many to cater for!

***** UPDATE ***** We've ordered some light bites for our xmas meetup from the S&G kitchen. No need to bring anything and it's the normal £2. This is not a substitute for dinner though!! *****

We can look forward to seeing you there :)

Before we meet, feel free to post questions in the group. We have lovely members who help the group run smoothly and will be happy to answer.

Meet by the bar at 7:30 for discussion start at 8pm and voting for our next book from a list of nominations from our members.

How to nominate a book:

For nominations for our read next month please come along to the meetup and suggest them in person at the meeting.

Here’s a guide to what makes a helpful nomination:

1. A brief overview and why you think it would make a good book for us to discuss.

2. Ideally suggestions should be available in paperback (for affordability)

3. Word count not too long or too short (300 pages seem to work best, those creeping towards 400 struggle to be read in a month) and

4. Of a decent standard of literature (make your own judgment about that one) :)

If you nominate the book you will then be invited to chair the meeting (informal) .... or provide some questions that we can use to get the discussion going.

This month's choice is: Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Paperback by Robin Sloan and nominated by Edward (who seems to like hosting a lot...!)

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/2/7/7/600_455917495.jpeg

Book Description

Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a Web-design drone and serendipity coupled with sheer curiosity has landed him a new job working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. And it doesn't take long for Clay to realize that the quiet, dusty book emporium is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few fanatically committed customers, but they never seem to actually buy anything, instead they simply borrow impossibly obscure volumes perched on dangerously high shelves, all according to some elaborate arrangement with the eccentric proprietor. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he has plugged in his laptop, roped in his friends (and a cute girl who works for Google) and embarked on a high-tech analysis of the customers' behaviour. What they discover is an ancient secret that can only be solved by modern means, and a global-conspiracy guarded by Mr. Penumbra himself...who has mysteriously disappeared.

About the Author

Robin Sloan grew up near Detroit and has worked at Poynter, Current TV and Twitter in jobs that have generally had 'something to do with figuring out the future of media'. He has previously published short fiction in Kindle-only editions (Mr Penumbra started out as a 6000-word ebook). He lives in San Francisco. http://www.robinsloan.com / @robinsloan

Reviews

'A rollicking neo-Borgesian tale... an ode to the beauty of dead-tree books' - New York Times

'Delightful... The protagonist is a tech nerd, but he's also a book nerd, so both those who crave shiny new technologies and those who relish the scent of paper will find room in these pages... Smart, hip and witty' - Washington Post

'Irresistible' - Newsweek

'The pages swell with Mr Sloan's nerdy affection and youthful enthusiasm for both tangible books and new media... [but] the ties that bind the story are friendship and vitality for life. This is a clever and whimsical tale with a big heart' - --The Economist