Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is a bookseller’s dream, even ending in the mantra “the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.” The novel is a bookish mystery involving a literary cult, Google hackers, and code breaking – what’s not to love?

This is the story of Clay Jannon, a jobless postgrad who happens into a night clerk position at Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore. He never sells anything (is chastised for even attempting to make the store profitable), but is encouraged to take extremely detailed notes of the members of a secret club who come to the bookstore in order to borrow centuries old encrypted tomes. Out of sheer boredom, Clay creates a model of the store and stumbles upon a method to what he supposed was the madness of Penumbra’s customers. That discovery sends him spiraling down a rabbit hole of mysteries with a hunt for immortality at its core.

The plot may sound more silly than charming, but this is a great novel full of wit and charm. There is also a lot here to think about as Sloan takes turns skewering both the old guard and the new of literature and technology. People have been bemoaning the death of literature as we know it for as long as they have been decrying the end of the world. It was nice to read a novel that poked fun at the overblown idea, especially as it merged past and future. Not only is a physical bookstore (that supposed relic of the 20th century) literally recreated in the virtual realm, but the creators, Clay’s friends Kat and Mat, are each ensconced on one end of this spectrum. Mat creates effects for the movies the old fashioned way; he uses real materials instead of computer generated images. Kat works at Google and longs for a time wherein man is one with machine –
the ultimate dream of the technological age.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a comic literary adventure, but if you can take a breath and think about what Sloan is attempting to convey, it becomes obvious that this is more than a “high brow beach read.” Sloan has written a novel that deals with the cultural schizophrenia of our fast moving technological age with a wink and a smile at both stalwarts of old and new knowledge. Great read with a wonderful tone; definitely recommended.

Review: Keeping Safe the Stars by Sheila O'Connor

Sheila O'Connor's Keeping Safe the Stars feels destined to become a classic on par with Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia. It is the story of three orphan children who must fend for themselves when their grandfather (their only caretaker) is taken to a hospital far from their home. Pride, Nightingale, and Baby have been raised to be fiercely independent and loyal to each other above all else, so when things get tough, Pride, the oldest, starts coming up with ideas to keep her siblings safe. This is not the easiest thing to do, especially when neighbors, a traveling journalist, and a truly loathsome tourist begin asking questions.

Keeping Safe the Stars is really a perfect middle grade novel. It takes place in 1974, a time that will seem like ancient history to kids, but will be remembered by their parents and grandparents. The material is rife for family and classroom discussion. All of the actions in the story take place against the backdrop of that colorful era: long haired hippies, Nixon's resignation, and a fearful and angry political climate. Yet O'Connor handles these heady topics with aplomb. The children, even without iphones and a wifi connection, can be related to by modern kids. They are real people who are frightened and curious and sometimes a little desperate.

The three Stars are the type of children that stand out in children's fiction - they are different than their readers only in as much as their story demands it; at their core the Stars are the kind of kids readers want to really know. The best childrens’ books serve as friends and companions of their young readers. I feel that my battered, old copies of some of the classics can really atest to that. Sheila O'Connor's Keeping Safe the Stars seems ready for that type of relationship. It is a book that is ready to be read, reread, carried around and shared, discussed, and loved.

Review: Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull

If you followed my advice and read Cathrynne Valente's Fairyland books (and I know you did) or if you are a fan of Neil Gaiman's fantasies, I mus impress upon you the importance of reading Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull. It is a perfect sort of fantasy filled with adventure, love, and danger.

Summer and Bird is the story of two sisters whose parents have gone missing overnight. Summer, the older sister, is very like their father. She is practical both in life and the way she interacts with nature. The much younger Bird favors their mother. She lives with the spirit of nature, spending her time becoming a part of the natural world around her rather than observing and attempting to understand it. The relationship between the sisters is so wonderful; they are so different and so similar - they are real sisters.

As the girls travel through the forest looking for their parents, they begin to discover the magic that has been hidden from them their whole lives. Their mother is the queen of birds, but her mantle was stolen by an evil puppeteer who longed to be a bird herself. Now, their mother is trapped and Summer and Bird must work to free her before the false queen destroys all of the birds of the forest.

What sets this novel apart from any other middle grade fantasy is the writing. The author has a way of taking the norm and making it otherworldly, as in the description of falling asleep that has stayed with me: "sleep opened its dark mouth and swallowed her." Haven't you felt that same way when falling asleep into a nightmare? Catmull's voice is pitch perfect for the genre - it is a blend of magic, fairytale, and authentic young characters. Summer and Bird is a wonderful novel that has been beautifully illustrated, and I want to hand it out to every twelve year old I know - and their sister.

Review: All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

All the King's Men is definitely one of "those books." The books you always find on best of lists and must read lists, especially if you are from Louisiana (the state that brought you both Robert Penn Warren and Huey Long). I've heard about this book practically my entire reading life and while I never fully dismissed it, I often judged it as being too Southern or too political for my tastes. I will admit to you now - I was way off base.

The story centers around Willie Stark (sometimes Talos) and his right hand man, narrator, Jack Burden. Everyone knows that Stark is a depiction of Louisiana governor Huey Long, but that fact becomes irrelevant once you enter the story. Personally, I know little about Long's career, but I think this served to enhance my appreciation of the novel. I wasn't constantly questioning which actions were historical and which were fictional. I was absorbed in the world of the characters, which is exactly what a good novel should do for you.

The novel is driven by a cast of characters that evolve continually until all are virtually unrecognizable as the people encountered in the beginning of the story, and that is not to say that the changes are not believable. The absolute best thing about this book is how true it is to the characters and the pressures they have. You cannot say that these are black and white / good or bad people as most of the characters come in varying shades of grey.

Most fascinating is Stark himself, who begins as an idealistic young man that grew up on a small family farm and is virtually without vices. He moves from idealistic dupe to charismatic leader to political slime in short order. The beginning of this transformation, and one of my favorite parts of the novel, comes when Stark is being pushed to change his speeches. His staff has to explain that no one wants to hear about his plans for tax reform; they just want to feel something:

They don't give a damn about that. Hell, make 'em cry, or make 'em laugh, make 'em think you're their weak and erring pal, or make 'em think you're God-a-Mighty. Or make 'em mad. Even mad at you. Just stir 'em up.

And soon there after the Stark we know was born. I think it's poignant, especially in today's political climate, to note that politics has most assuredly always been theater. This is the theater of a well oiled machine that churns people out and eats them up and very often its leavings are dead or broken. In Warren's novel absolutely everyone is broken, either they were from the start or they fell prey to the machine.

All the King's Men is a great novel and it is not too Southern or too political. It is without place or time, a novel about people and humanity, our follies and foibles.

Review: Safekeeping by Karen Hesse

Karen Hesse’s new novel Safekeeping is called “a novel of tomorrow” and the future is bleak. Hesse imagines a world in which the suspicion and distrust roiling in the United States today boils over into a chaotic state of martial law and suppression. Her novel follows a young girl making her way to safety as she traverses this new world.

Radley Parker-Hughes has travelled to Haiti to volunteer in an orphanage in a disaster ridden area. Shortly after her arrival the president of the United States is assassinated. After days of worry and no communication with her parents, she makes it home to Vermont only to find that her parents are not there waiting for her. Radley quickly realizes that staying alone in her own home is no longer safe, as the government has authorized roving bands of looters as their muscle in a battle to terrify and subdue the populous. Radley makes the decision to head north to Canada so that she may live there in exile until peace and normalcy are restored and she can reach her parents.

Radley’s story is told in very short chapters, each with its own photograph to illustrate the bleakness that has become her life. The story is a sad one, but ultimately it is full of hope and will give its teenage audience plenty to think about. Even young people, who often tend to not be very politically aware, are feeling the dissent and divisiveness currently manifest in our nation. Books like Hesse’s can provide a way to work through those feelings and help the youth decide where they stand. This is an important type of story to tell in a disheartening time in the history of our nation. The ultimate message of Safekeeping is one that bears repeating: we need only to be good to one another and understanding, happiness, and prosperity will come.

Review: Red Thread Sisters by Carol Antoinette Peacock

I am not a crier, but I must tell you Red Thread Sisters by Carol Antoinette Peacock made me cry. I read this wonderful middle grade novel in one sitting, one late night actually, because no matter how late it got I could not put it down to go to sleep. This is a very sweet novel about adoption; it is never trite, often both sad and inspiring, and it tells the truth about adoption, especially adoption of older children.

Wen is an eleven year old girl who has spent most of her life in a Chinese orphanage. She has waited for years to be adopted and when it finally happens she is overcome with ambivalence. The idea of leaving her home, the younger children she provides care and much needed affection for, and most of all her best friend Shu Ling, terrifies her. Shu Ling is not only an unwanted daughter, she is crippled. It is a simple and terrible truth to both girls that Shu Ling will not be adopted due to her physical disabilities.

What makes this book so special is the devotion the girls have to one another. When Wen makes it to America, she vows to get Shu Ling a family. As Wen struggles for her friend, she and her family are working to understand each other. The awkwardness, confusion, and missteps on both sides is described wonderfully by Peacock. As a reader, you ache for this family, but you also believe in their ability to meld into a loving family unit.

This is a fantastic book for middle readers. It is honest about the difficulties of adoption and the problems people often have relating to and communicating with one another. Peacock has written a novel about resiliency and hope, but even more importantly, about the undying strength that comes from the bonds of friendship.

Books at the Movies

I am smack in the middle of Anna Karenina, which is the best novel of all time. It is wonderful, beautiful, so sad, and utterly timeless. Lemme tell ya, in the 100+ years since Tolstoy wrote the novel, people have not changed. Relationships and emotional depths have been as turbulent as they are today since the dawn of time. Couple that with all of the discussion of the difficulties amongst the lower classes and you have a modern drama to please the 99%.

All of this is to say that I am ready to talk about the books that I am looking forward to reading before seeing their cinematic versions this fall. I wrote a few weeks ago about some of my old favorites that are being released as movies, but now it’s time to talk about the TBR list of movie-books.

Wuthering Heights

Life of Pi

Anna Karenina

Les Miserables

Cloud Atlas (a bit of a cheat because I actually did read this one a few weeks ago. Spoiler: it’s amazing)