Ginny Frost
Mr. Penumbra’s
24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Shadow of the Wind by Carlos
Ruiz Zafón fulfilled the category “Two Books Set in
Sister Cities” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. Mr. Penumbra
takes place in San Francisco while Shadow of the Wind is set in Barcelona,
Spain.
Again, like last
week, I’m posting these with two works because I read four for the prompt. I
didn’t care for two of them. This time it was Shadow of the Wind.
Here are my
thoughts.
I read the novel
on audio. We all know I don’t love literary fiction. I’m a genre girl through
and through. I like plot and characters rather than high concepts. I spent most
of my college career reading pretentious junk that was supposed to be
enlightening. Okay, sure, I’m educated now. Sigh.
Shadow of the
Wind felt like English 101 homework. The story went nowhere, and the
characters were interesting and compelling. But no one did anything. The audio even
played lyrical music between some chapters. OMG, really?
I chose these two
books initially because they both had a library at the center. What fun to have
both sister city books about the same topic—secret libraries. I failed, big
time. Shadow of the Wind has a brilliant concept for a secret library
with out-of-print books that are covertly stored away. Each person who enters
can take one book, and they must keep it safe and secret. That doesn’t happen,
and the idea of this amazing library is dropped in favor of a boy’s infatuation
for an author. So much so that the kid lives almost the same life as the author.
Anyway, it was
too high concept for me. Most of it when over my head, and I no longer have an
English professor to tell me what I missed.
On the other
hand, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore hit the mark better. But not that
much better. The story involves Clay Jannon getting a job at a little bookstore
where he works nights. The store is open 24 hours, and sometimes, strange
customers come in late at night looking for very specific books. The store is
quirky and packed with little-known titles. They hardly seem to do any
business. So, bored Clay looks into his odd customers. He’s a computer
programmer, and he decides to map the store with a program. What he discovers
opens up new worlds for him and unravels the secret of the bookstore.
The story was
cute and fun. In the end, though, it was totally Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Fun adventure, but nothing mattered in the end. The kid with his program broke
the fun.
Anyway, I’m
blogging them all here. Sorry to be negative two weeks in a row.
I give Mr.
Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore Four Obscure Volumes from the Top Shelf.
I give Shadow
of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Three Old Novels No One Has Read.