Mr. Penumbra and Lord Valentine

Just finished reading "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore," Robin Sloan and "Lord Valentine's Castle," Robert Silverberg. 

Someone compared Pegasus Books to Mr. Penumbra's bookstore, so of course, I had to read it. 

Yes, there is a love of books there, though the emphasis in the plot is over antiquarian books, which we don't really do. Certainly, lots of nerd references. In fact, it really reminded me of "Ready Player One," to the point that I looked up the dates. Sure enough, it came out in 2013, or two years after RPO. 

It's hipster tone was a little annoying, as was the Magic Pixie Dream Girl, but what was most noticeable about it was how optimistic it all was about nerd culture, and the social media future, embodied by a glorified Google.

How things have changed since 2013!

I enjoyed the book quite a bit, including the post-script about a young Mr. Penumbra in 1969. That was my era, and he got it right, if in the most benign sense. (Pre drugs ruining everything?)

 

I'd read "Lord Valentine's Castle" when it came out and remembered it being one of my favorites. This time, I still enjoyed the first half of the book, when Valentine doesn't know who he is and compensates by turning all his attention to the act of juggling.

I think this resonated with me back in 1984 because I'd felt that I'd come out of my ten-year depression by the act of writing a book. Writing took me out of the endless loop of depression, took me out of my head and my troubles. It was therapy. 

The second half of the book falls more into the general fantasy turf, which is fine. Unfortunately, I think I've read so much fantasy that it isn't as interesting anymore. 

 

I'm kind of excited by my next book. A long, long time ago, I read the strangest science-fiction book I'd ever encountered. It was by Lawrence Durrell; who was a major mainstream author, though I didn't know it at the time. (Later, I tried reading his Alexandria Quartet, but my teenage brain couldn't cotton to it.) 

The book I read was either "Tunc" or "Nunquam." At the time, I didn't realize it was a duology, "The Revolt of Aphrodite."

You can tell from the titles alone that it was a weird book, totally unlike anything I'd read before. I'm not sure why, but I remember loving it. Or rather, once I'd struggled through it, I'd appreciated it. 

Then...damn if I could find the book again. Years went by, and I think I stumbled across the other book in the duology, and it was incomprehensible. 

Anyway, I finally found the entire "The Revolt of Aphrodite" on Amazon and I'm going to give it another try. 

I think I'll probably either love it or hate it. 

UPDATE: Oh, boy. Incomprehensible, impossible to read. I was either a lot smarter or a lot dumber when I read these as a teenager. I gave up this time: life is too short.