I read and enjoyed Robin Sloan’s debut novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, when it first came out a couple of years ago. I thought it was a fun concept that didn’t quite hit all the right notes, but was so short and fast to read that I forgave it a lot. This one was also a fast, short read, but it hit me emotionally in a way that Sloan’s first novel didn’t. Some of the storylines and themes didn’t come together perfectly, which is why […]
Is there anything more San Francisco than sourdough bread and tech start ups?
I wasn’t crazy about Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore when I read it along with what seemed like half of CBR6. My biggest complaint was the magical realism but the longer I stay in the Cannonball community the more open to new genres I become. Plus Yesknopemaybe read and reviewed Sourdough at the start of CBR10 and prefaced her review by stating she despised Penumbra so if I haven’t stretched my tastes as much as I thought what could it hurt? Sourdough is a quirky story about a software engineer named Lois […]
Hand the carbs over and no one gets hurt
I was a bit nervous renting this one from the library. Unlike what seems like every other reader on the planet, I reallllly despised Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. I didn’t like the plot, the incessant talking about boobs and Google, or the characters. And yes, I realize I’m a curmudgeon. However, it bothered me how the female character in that book was portrayed which meant that picking up Sourdough, featuring a female protagonist, was a bit of a gamble. Was I going to end up […]