Audio-Bibliophiles discussion

The discussions for this book will start April 1st.

Please be courteous to others and don't post too many "spoilers" without at least posting what chapter you are on so others know if you are further ahead than what they themselves are. You may even use spoiler tags if you wish.

Most of all...Enjoy the book & the discussions.

Still struggling to obtain an audio copy of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but audible don't sell it in UK and my library doesn't have a copy on CD. Going to email audible to see if it's on their radar!

I read this book earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it -- look forward to seeing your comments.

Can't get this on audio - not sure if I'll have time to read it in paper - the intrigue aspect doesn't appeal, either. I'll see what you-all say... :)

I got my audiobook from Audible.com when they had their last 25% off site wide sale for less than $9.00 and length was less than 8 hrs. and I've listened to it already in preparation to discussion it here. So whenever anyone wants to discuss it . . . let's DO IT!

I need to work on getting this one downloaded to my Nook via the library.

I still have about 4 hours on the book I'm listening to now. I probably won't get to start this one for a few more days.

Cool . . . I'll be waiting . . . I really liked the narrator on this one as well (Ari Fliakos) . . . I had never heard him before . . . but I'll be looking for him in the future.

I am several hours into this - I started it on Tuesday - and I am LOVING it. The narrator is fantastic and is making the book, most likely, more enjoyable for me as his intonations as he reads are very similar to how I talk so therefore I find myself laughing out loud all the time as I am listening.

As of right now, I say this is by far my favorite book I have read recently.

My friend said she was falling asleep and gave up after the first disc. I am halfway through disk 2, and am enjoying it. This book isn't my usual genre, I am accustomed to the author creating a "sense if urgency" early in a story. This is odd and quirky enough that I'm curious what will happen next. The story is just kind of flowing along a lazy river as opposed to the initial climb of roller coaster I'm accustomed to.

I love the quirkiness of it. Great word to discribe it John.

I am so glad you are joining us for this read. :)

I enjoyed it on audio, it's kind of a conversational style of narration and I thought the narrator did a good job. For something like this which is quirky and amusing but not great literature, the narrator makes all the difference. I think I would have enjoyed it less on paper.

I think I would have enjoyed it less on paper too. The narrator definitely made the difference. He was fabulous.

I just finished the story and loved it. I was a little disappointed in what Clay discovered - I felt a little like Cat did. But all in all it was a fun light read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I finished it over the weekend. It was a light and fun piece of fluff. It won't make my favorites list, but it was entertaining.

John, what didn't you like about the story? or what made it less enjoyable for you?

There was no urgency. If the puzzle never gets solved, so what? Neither I (the reader) nor Clay (the protagonist) believed solving the puzzle would do what they said it would do. So why make the effort in the first place? Sure, solving a puzzle can be fun, but that's it. Success or failure would make little difference in the long term lives of the characters.

I think that is why I felt let down - I was disappointed in the result of the problem solving.

I can see your point now that I look back at it, although that didn't cross my mind as I was reading it.

Ok, now I'm talked into trying it, even though I'll have to read it on paper. I'll be back next week after a trip to the library.... :)

lol yay Cheryl.

It will be interesting to get the perspective of someone reading it versus listening to it.

I would liked to have listened to this, it seems to get such mixed reviews, which makes me curious. Alas, it is not available in audio download format here in the UK. I will, however, do regular checks to see if it ever appears.

I'm about 3 hours into the story & I love the narrator but I really don't understand the whole point of the book. I mean, I realize there is some type of puzzle that the "group" must solve but why? Is Mr. Penumbra in real trouble because of how Clay solved the mystery? I don't know...maybe it will all make sense in time but so far, I'm just enjoying the narrator's style. He is fun to listen to.

Nikki I am so glad you are listening too. :)

I think your confusion goes back to why John didn't love the book. I think I was so caught up in the narrator and Clay's thoughts that the puzzle part didn't strike any chords with me.

I want to listen to the audio also, but it is only available as a downloadable audio and I haven't figured that out yet. I think I prefer to listen then read.

Well I enjoyed this book. It worked for me on several levels . . . it was a story about books, a little about their history, info about type fonts, and brought it altogether with the advent of eBooks and the future of books in general. I studied three semesters of calligraphy, have always had an interest in art . . . all forms . . . and worked part time as a page in my local library years ago when I was in college . . . and still love the public library and all the fantastic info available for FREE!! So I wasn't expecting a mystery thriller as such . . . so the puzzle was an interesting part of the story. And many codes and secret information have almost always involved some kind of manipulation of letter forms.

And because of all these parts . . I found the book interesting and quirky. Sort of a tribute to the old fashioned and rapidly disappearing small musty smelling bookstore . . .

Eugenia wrote: "Can you post a purchase link to audible? I can't find it when I searc"

Nor I, but that is because I live outside the USA, and thus not available to me.

Hi Eugenia . . . Try this

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...

Tome robber, I loved your description of the book. I completely agree with you.

Linda, I'm a little worried you won't enjoy it as much in print as in audio but definitely check it out anyway you can. I found it to be a very enjoyable read.

I'm thinking the same thing Jennifer. It is available as a downloadable audio from my library to my Nook, I think I will go to the library this weekend and figure out how to do it.

I live outside the USA, and outside the UK, and I get those publishing rights restrictions all the time. Here's what I do. I write to audible about it, because they do put pressure on the publishers. Then I write to the author, saying "Your publisher will not allow me to buy this book." I make the point that I WILL NOT buy a physical book, nor borrow one from the library, as I want an audiobook. I always mention the library, as the red tape that surrounds DRM to protect books from piracy forget that one can read books entirely free if you belong to a library. I feel if we all complain when we can't get the books, eventually they will get the distribution rights working properly.

Janet wrote: "I live outside the USA, and outside the UK, and I get those publishing rights restrictions all the time. Here's what I do. I write to audible about it, because they do put pressure on the publisher..."

I agree with you Janet, I find it ridiculous when the goal is to sell product (in this case books) that there is so much red tape involved in achieving that goal. I send emails to publishers and make complaints about issues . . . but have yet to see any response from any of them. One wonders just what their objectives really are?

I finished this yesterday. I absolutely loved the narrator. I think he did an excellent job. The story itself...by the end, I enjoyed it. I still think it was a wild, goose chase but it was a fun, quirky read. Clay realized (view spoiler)[ from the beginning that there was no way to immortal life. Still, he kept searching for the answers to The Unbroken Spine's legacy. It was more realistic to find it wasn't anything spectacular at all. (hide spoiler)] I ended up giving it 3 stars. I almost did 4 but it wasn't quite that great for me.

The author has a fun, flair about him. I may try another of his books sometime.

Well I read the paper version. And it seems to have made all the difference. It's a wonderful book, stimulating, thought-provoking, complex, full of a variety of ideas. It's not a mystery, it's not fluff.

I've lots of notes and haven't been able to organize a review yet. I'll probably give it four stars, maybe even five.

I loved the primary theme about the interplay of 'old school' and 'cutting-edge.' Not just bookstores vs book-scanners, or Google vs scholars, or paper books vs e-readers. Details like the hip hotel, Northbridge, vs the ancient tavern, The Dolphin and Anchor reinforce the theme unobtrusively but effectively.

I lost several hours of sleep last night because I could neither read this swiftly like a page-turner, nor put it down and go to sleep, because I found it so stimulating I had to finish it.

I'm glad the majority of you enjoyed this book so much. It's always disappointing to read as a group and many not care for the book. It wasn't one of my top reads but overall it was entertaining.

Cheryl you found some great points to talk about in regards to this book. I also like how neither one came out as the superior way to do things. Perhaps that is why some feel let down by the result of the "mystery". The book was about the pieces that went into it.

Thanks Cheryl for making me like the book even more :)

I keep googling (yes, using Google, which plays such a big role in the book) different bits to see if they're real. I can't figure out if Grumble is - I see something, but since I'm not geeky I can't find if it's connected to the secretive stuff in the book.

The game Maximum Happy Imagination was apparently made up for the book, but that's ok. What a cool idea, to push our imaginations to figure out what a utopian far future would include. Did any of you try it? Remember our hero got stuck on No Cancer, Spaceships, and 'Star Trek' Transporters.

After reading the comments I got the book and began it yesterday as I had a pile of ironing to do. Our hero is currently standing outside a bookstore in New York, that's as far as I've got. It is certainly a quirky book, and I am wondering where the plot will take me. I don't think Grumble is real; certainly the computer mechanics are way advanced of what we have now. And the only person I know who writes middleware is nowhere near a millionaire! So while Google figures a lot, the computer world is certainly fiction for the majority of it.

Lol Cheryl, there is a lot of it that I wonder if its real or not. I especially like the line that Clay says relatively close to the beginning - around the time that he is making the model of the bookstore I think - about if you don't think this is possible (or maybe its if you are impressed by this) then you are definitely over 30... lol, I loved that line. Perhaps its not true to what he is working on in the book but the meaning behind it really struck home. Computers can do so much today and I think the younger generations have a better grip on it. I am 38 and I fell into the impressed category.

I don't think there is a Grumble using the name grumble but I bet you there is a real life equivilant out there. I would love to do a book chat with this author to get some of these answers.

I loved that line, too. I'm 50, but my son is very into computers and is taking AP-style courses in Web Design etc. while still in high school. He talks about this kind of stuff a lot and so the tech parts of book felt very familiar. I should run the geek questions that we have by him.

Particularly apt for this group:

"When you read a book, the story definitely happens inside your head. When you listen, it seems to happen in a little cloud all around it, like a fuzzy knit cap pulled down over your eyes."

Do you agree?

I do think that this book, more than any fiction examples I've thought about before, is a very different experience reading or listening. As I was reading* I was also thinking about what it would have been like to listen to it. I was also thinking about what it would be like to read it on my Sony. And because the story was so much about communication, and codes, and different media for story-telling, I could easily see that if I reread it in a different format I'd get even more ideas and pleasure from it.

*well, not at the same time exactly, as I was absorbed in the story - but during breaks

Great quote Cheryl. I do agree with that. When I listen to a story I feel more a part of it, like I'm being submerged into the story, when I read it its only in my head.

Great point about getting a different experience from the different formats. This is a book that is an example how our lives also shape how we read/understand/interpret a story.

I'm glad you were absorbed in it. I like when we read books that are enjoyed :)

I liked the first half of the book more than the second half. I was hooked in the beginning with the ominous tone of a mystery but was let down when it turned out not to really be a mystery at all. I was hoping to be taken on a ride finding clues in the old books, ala Da Vinci Code style.

I was hoping for the same thing. If I didn't enjoy the humor in the book so much I wouldn't have rated it so high for that same reason.