Saturday, March 16, 2013

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

There are a few reasons why "nerds" and "geeks" are now considered cool (or hot); this book is one of them.
I love how this book is a story about other books that tell different stories. It talks of the book's smell, even! And don't get me started with that! Lol! It puts books, words and letters in a pedestal and states the obvious and still makes me say wow! It's the kind of book that makes me feel good about everything for no reason at all. I was on the edge of my seat when I was almost halfway through the book and smiling when I finished.

I had so much fun reading it and although the climax may actually be anti-climactic (and also a bit predictable towards the end?) it's still so worth it. Are you a bibliophile? Then this book is definitely for you. But this is also for techie people who spends most of their lives in front of a computer trying to figure out how to make our lives easier. There's a connection there somehow. This is way more fun than Da Vinci's Code haha!

I've been seeing this book on the shelves and on Goodreads a lot but didn't add it to my pile of "un-reads" until a couple days ago. I was browsing Audible for a birthday present for a workaholic. I wanted something that's light and fun and one that might be an easy read after a long day of, well, being a workaholic. I found Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore under the gift suggestion pages of Amazon's audiobook store. Naturally, I wanted to know if it's worth giving a very particular person so I had to read it and I'm glad I did.

Will I buy the Audible version as a birthday present? Yes. And then I'll cross my fingers and hope that this time, the workaholic actually has the time to enjoy it.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

If The River Was Whiskey by T.C. Boyle


Four stars for a book that could easily be one of those from my dad's huge collection (before he gave them away, that is). This is the kind of prose I grew up reading. Books that were published in the 80's or well before I was born. I liked most of the stories. I think the only one I didn't appreciate much is the Miracle at Ballinspittle. But everything else was nice. Okay, not nice as in nice because some are depressing but kinda nice -- in a depressing way. You know what I mean. Lol.