Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
Metadata
Highlights
- An independent bookstore is really a nexus of portals that can take readers into all these different experiences of worlds and of language. As booksellers, we can direct readers to doors that, without us, they never would have known existed. Through our own reading experience and our conversations and connections with a vast array of other booksellers, with publishers and editors, with writers, we’re like preindustrial navigators. We don’t really have a language for this, but bookselling is not just pure subjectivity; it’s a series of very pointillistic, empirical observations that guide our explorations, and allow us to guide our readers’ explorations. (Location 32)
New highlights added February 24, 2023 at 11:40 AM
- At first I had insisted I would only work at a company with a mission I believed in. Then I thought maybe it would be fine as long as I was learning something new. After that I decided it just couldn’t be evil. Now I was carefully delineating my personal definition of evil. (Location 123)
- Now: I was pretty sure “24-hour bookstore” was a euphemism for something. It was on Broadway, in a euphemistic part of town. (Location 144)
- He nodded at me and gave a weak wave. “What do you seek in these shelves?” That was a good line, and for some reason, it made me feel comfortable. (Location 163)
- “Tell me,” Penumbra said, “about a book you love.” I knew my answer immediately. No competition. I told him, “Mr. Penumbra, it’s not one book, but a series. It’s not the best writing and it’s probably too long and the ending is terrible, but I’ve read it three times, and I met my best friend because we were both obsessed with it back in sixth grade.” I took a breath. “I love The Dragon-Song Chronicles.” (Location 176)
- This is Mat’s secret weapon, his passport, his get-out-of-jail-free card: Mat makes things that are beautiful. (Location 427)
- So I guess you could say Neel owes me a few favors, except that so many favors have passed between us now that they are no longer distinguishable as individual acts, just a bright haze of loyalty. Our friendship is a nebula. (Location 524)
- History hinges on such small things. A difference of thirty degrees, and this story would end here. But my laptop is angled just so, and on my screen, the 3-D bookstore is spinning wildly on two axes, like a spaceship tumbling through a blank cosmos, and the girl glances down, and— (Location 775)
- This girl has the spark of life. This is my primary filter for new friends (girl- and otherwise) and the highest compliment I can pay. I’ve tried many times to figure out exactly what ignites it—what cocktail of characteristics comes together in the cold, dark cosmos to form a star. I know it’s mostly in the face—not just the eyes but the brow, the cheeks, the mouth, and the micromuscles that connect them all. (Location 807)
- But Ruby, my language of choice since NewBagel, was invented by a cheerful Japanese programmer, and it reads like friendly, accessible poetry. Billy Collins by way of Bill Gates. (Location 838)
- Imagine that you’re cooking. But instead of following the recipe step-by-step and hoping for the best, you can actually take ingredients in and out of the pot whenever you want. You can add salt, taste it, shake your head, and pull the salt back out. You can take a perfectly crisp crust, isolate it, and then add whatever you want to the inside. It’s no longer just a linear process ending in success or (mostly, for me) frustrating failure. Instead, it’s a loop or a curlicue or a little scribble. It’s play. (Location 841)
- I hadn’t noticed the pattern because it’s so spread out in space and time, like a piece of music with three hours between each note, all played in different octaves. But here, condensed and accelerated on my screen, it’s obvious. They’re all playing the same song, or dancing the same dance, or—yes—solving the same puzzle. (Location 849)
New highlights added February 28, 2023 at 11:42 AM
- There’s encrypted graffiti: 6HV8SQ was here (Location 1937)
- The staff here inhabits a whiskerless in-between space; they probably go to art school. (Location 2479)
title: “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore”
author: “Robin Sloan”
url: ""
date: 2023-12-19
source: kindle
tags: media/books
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
Metadata
Highlights
- An independent bookstore is really a nexus of portals that can take readers into all these different experiences of worlds and of language. As booksellers, we can direct readers to doors that, without us, they never would have known existed. Through our own reading experience and our conversations and connections with a vast array of other booksellers, with publishers and editors, with writers, we’re like preindustrial navigators. We don’t really have a language for this, but bookselling is not just pure subjectivity; it’s a series of very pointillistic, empirical observations that guide our explorations, and allow us to guide our readers’ explorations. (Location 32)
- At first I had insisted I would only work at a company with a mission I believed in. Then I thought maybe it would be fine as long as I was learning something new. After that I decided it just couldn’t be evil. Now I was carefully delineating my personal definition of evil. (Location 123)
- Now: I was pretty sure “24-hour bookstore” was a euphemism for something. It was on Broadway, in a euphemistic part of town. (Location 144)
- He nodded at me and gave a weak wave. “What do you seek in these shelves?” That was a good line, and for some reason, it made me feel comfortable. (Location 163)
- “Tell me,” Penumbra said, “about a book you love.” I knew my answer immediately. No competition. I told him, “Mr. Penumbra, it’s not one book, but a series. It’s not the best writing and it’s probably too long and the ending is terrible, but I’ve read it three times, and I met my best friend because we were both obsessed with it back in sixth grade.” I took a breath. “I love The Dragon-Song Chronicles.” (Location 176)
- This is Mat’s secret weapon, his passport, his get-out-of-jail-free card: Mat makes things that are beautiful. (Location 427)
- So I guess you could say Neel owes me a few favors, except that so many favors have passed between us now that they are no longer distinguishable as individual acts, just a bright haze of loyalty. Our friendship is a nebula. (Location 524)
- History hinges on such small things. A difference of thirty degrees, and this story would end here. But my laptop is angled just so, and on my screen, the 3-D bookstore is spinning wildly on two axes, like a spaceship tumbling through a blank cosmos, and the girl glances down, and— (Location 775)
- This girl has the spark of life. This is my primary filter for new friends (girl- and otherwise) and the highest compliment I can pay. I’ve tried many times to figure out exactly what ignites it—what cocktail of characteristics comes together in the cold, dark cosmos to form a star. I know it’s mostly in the face—not just the eyes but the brow, the cheeks, the mouth, and the micromuscles that connect them all. (Location 807)
- But Ruby, my language of choice since NewBagel, was invented by a cheerful Japanese programmer, and it reads like friendly, accessible poetry. Billy Collins by way of Bill Gates. (Location 838)
- Imagine that you’re cooking. But instead of following the recipe step-by-step and hoping for the best, you can actually take ingredients in and out of the pot whenever you want. You can add salt, taste it, shake your head, and pull the salt back out. You can take a perfectly crisp crust, isolate it, and then add whatever you want to the inside. It’s no longer just a linear process ending in success or (mostly, for me) frustrating failure. Instead, it’s a loop or a curlicue or a little scribble. It’s play. (Location 841)
- I hadn’t noticed the pattern because it’s so spread out in space and time, like a piece of music with three hours between each note, all played in different octaves. But here, condensed and accelerated on my screen, it’s obvious. They’re all playing the same song, or dancing the same dance, or—yes—solving the same puzzle. (Location 849)
- There’s encrypted graffiti: 6HV8SQ was here (Location 1937)
- The staff here inhabits a whiskerless in-between space; they probably go to art school. (Location 2479)