Wednesday 12 March 2014

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store

Everyone in the bookclub either finished the book or couldn't wait to finish the book which is a bit of a success.

As can be expected from a book like this we did come away with some question. Such as why did they all have to write everything down in the books about the various people who came in to borrow the books? We wanted to know the reason behind this although we did come up with some reasons of our own. In fact as we discussed the book we discovered that there were a lot of threads that were left loose at the end of the book. We thought that as we were reading the book we were following one thread, but then another more interesting thread was presented to us which we then followed and dropped the first thread. As we were reading we didn't notice the different threads being dropped but when we were discussing the book they were suddenly brough to our attention again. We also noticed that some elements of the book seemed just to be dropped in rather randomly like the various different tasks that had to be done.

As we were discussing the book we came to realise that it really is written in many different styles including that of the epic fantasy where a hero travels round trying to find and recruit a group of people all with special talents.But overall we didn't feel that there was a particular formula to the books as we read it, it felt really unique.

Along with the interesting plot we also liked the different characters in the book. We enjoyed following them as they went through the various different tasks and each went on a bit of a personal journey. Kat especially changed a great deal through the book as she came to realise the limits of her beloved Google.

We also had some discussion as to what the ending of the book means. Does it mean that immortality is created for us by the things we write down and create rather than our actual physical bodies carrying on? Is this still true today when the written word is much more transient than the written word as they are now written onto the internet and things like twitter rather than in a physical book?

The names of all the characters amused us, and we felt we needed to look further into them as we could understand the reasoning behind some like Lapin as she seemed to live in a rabbit warren and has rabbit like personal qualities. Clay we felt was like his name because he's very down to earth, however he is also very maleable as he changes himself depending on where he is and what he needs to do. Penumbra's name covers such a variety of different meanings that it's perfect for him.

This book also triggered a lot of conversation around how we all prefer to read/listen to our books. We decided that we all like to read paper versions of books and also electronic versions. It depends on the book as to what format we would prefer to read it in. We also thought that having books on a shelf in your room or house triggers conversation and often friendships.

Overall we gave this book 8 out of 10. We all really enjoyed the book but can't really explain why, it's just one of the books you have to read and you'll find out!

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