Book Review: Mr.Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore

One of my goals for this year is to get back to reading more fiction. Over the past few years, I have been doing a lot more non-fiction and magazine type content that fiction. This year, I have targeted atleast 5 works of fiction. I am doing pretty well with the goal. I just wrapped up my third book for the year- one that I enjoyed quite a bit. Here is my brief review of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.My Amazon books page flashed this book for quite a while since its release in Fall of 2012. Reviews were gushing to say the least. I meant to read it but never got to it until very recently. I started the book with absolutely no expectations. I did not know if it was going to be an adventure or a homage to books or a really funny poignant story. By the end I realised, it was all of it. The book is an adventure at one level and a gorgeously crafted love story to books in another. At the same time, it is at times nerdy and funny and hits a bunch of really good notes about the Silicon Valley techie lifestyle.The joy of reading works of fiction is that it transports you to a different world. A good book can be that door to a remarkable experience that at once affects and changes the reader. The world of books is in an age of transformation. Ebooks are starting to significantly outsell print books and our attention spans are getting shorter as we consume more byte size content and not as much of long form and books. Mr.Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore feels immediate in that context. It talks of an era of printed works and the coming generation of electronic content and consumption. Without belittling either, it makes a case for harmonious coexistence. As someone who reads in print and digital, it resonated greatly with me.The book is by no means perfect. There are definitely things that could have been better. There is a sense of adventure that never culminates in the big reveal. The protagonist is well flushed out. The rest of them weave in and out and would merit more of character development. And yes, I would love to know a lot more about Mr.Penumbra which the author smartly realized and followed up with a Kindle Single.All that said and done, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I could not bear the thought of the book ending and would love to read up a sequel if the author ever chooses to write one. If you live in South Bay, the San Jose Public Library system featured this book in their reading list and flooded their member libraries with copies. Or you could always choose to pick up a copy for the Kindle here.