I don't really read a whole lot of lighthearted, wholesome, easy flowing books. It's not that I prefer deep, reflective, contemplative books more, just that most of the time lighthearted books cause me to roll my eyes and get impatient. This book is another beast entirely, and it was an easy add to my favorites shelf for this year.

Without venturing into spoiler territory, the main character (Clay) takes a part time job at a 24-hour bookstore and meets Mr. Penumbra, the owner of the bookstore. Clay takes the overnight shift, and immediately starts meeting a strange cast of characters and set of rules he must abide by in his new position. Toss in liberal internal monologuing, a secret society, technology, visits to Google, obscure typography references to Geritszoon, and a wholesome message at the end, and this book managed to hit all the right notes for me.

It's not high literature, but I wasn't looking for high literature when I read it. This is a fun, geeky, quick read with a nice message that I really enjoyed. It's a charming book, not a lot of depth, but fun nonetheless. As a sidenote, I listened to the audiobook version of this and really appreciated the narrator's different voices, and the recorded bits from the audiobook the main character listened to near the end.