'Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore' and Battenberg!

Dear Readers, 

The five day baking bonanza is over, and yet I find myself ineluctably drawn to tell you about the greatest combination of cake and books I have encountered to date... 

...but before this combination can be revealed I have to tell you a story - a story that travels in parallel lines between the World of the Bookshop and the World of Web 2.0.

On a recent visit to Bath to see the two bestest, coolest and most knowledgeable residents of the town made famous by spas and Austen, the SIBF and I were taken to Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights (please - click on the link and discover one of the best bookshop websites EVER). Our hosts described the shop as 'if you haven't got reason enough to fall in love with / move to Bath yet, then this bookshop will make you do so'. The SIBF and I had already been wooed by the architecture, endless cafes and super-cool indie boutiques (not least the proximity of our hosts) but were double-wooed on entry to Mr B's Emporium. I'm not going to try and describe this bookshop, just get on a train and go and visit Bath. Books line the walls floor to ceiling, but in a completely clean and pristine way. The ceilings are quite low and the invitation to sit in armchairs and browse to your heart's desire awaits you at every corner. There are nooks and crannies and endless places to hide. But also (and this is where the story begins) there is (naturellement) a staff recommends shelf. 'Twas on this shelf that I first set eyes upon 'Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore'. 

Whilst the adage goes 'don't judge a book by...' I'm afraid I frequently do, and I was drawn to 'Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore' by the geometric design, retro colour-scheme and the similarity the title held to the book shop in which I browsed. No sooner had I picked it up than one of the booksellers approached me - he had placed it on the staff recommends shelf! Before I could say 'Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights,' I had purchased aforementioned book. And that, Dear Readers, is where the story begins... 

I began reading the book on the train on the way home. After the first paragraph I was hooked. I couldn't put the magical book down! 'Twas the book I needed - a book about the bookshop of my dreams! Now, I don't want to give anything away about the plot because that would be wrong on so many levels, but the short review in the picture above tells you what I liked about it without giving too much away. About halfway through, I had to start googling (when you read the book you'll understand) and google took me on a journey to the very heart of Mr Penumbra - to the epicentre of The Society of the Unbroken Spine. What ensued can only be described as an Alice-esque adventure into the bookstore! Are you searching for some self-referential post-modernity? Then look no further and step this way! 

My communication with Mr Penumbra (oh yes - Mr Penumbra himself replied to my emails) culminated in myself and the SIBF attending a sort-of-secret book launch in the hip young thang's London destination of choice - 'Drink Shop Do'. Upon arrival (after delivering the secret door code, natch) we entered the world of Mr Penumbra and his clerks - his chief London clerk Sara was hosting the event and made us feel incredibly welcome! Reviews of the book were written on XL post-its and stuck on the wall (check out the amazing sharpie picture from a mystery artist in a bow tie with a briefcase who was also an attendee), bookmarks were there for the taking along with badges...

...and as the night progressed there were geek singers in ornamental sweaters, a singer who wrote songs devoted to all things superhero/horror, a ukulele player in a blue wig and a performance poet who delivered an extensive and hilarious ode to grammar with a heavy emphasis on parentheses! 

However, the event culminated in - and here the Reader currently thinking 'but how does this fit in with cake?' will find their answer - the arrival of a geometrically fitting bright blue and yellow Battenberg! 

The ceremonial cutting of the cake began and all attending were given a piece of the luridly-coloured, geometrical, squidgy cake. I do believe rather a lot of food colouring had been added to create such a bright blue (!) but the texture of the sponge was surprisingly pleasant given the extremity of the addition. 

Some pink popping candy had been scattered over the top of the marzipan icing to create a pleasingly child-like crackle on the tongue and the cake was served on vintage china. On receiving the cake, the SIBF jubilantly cried 'Now you've got an angle for your blog' and indeed he was right! Patisserie + Penumbra = PERFECTION.

Just when I was convinced the night could not get any better, Robin Sloan himself - San Franciscan author of 'Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore' - made a post-post-modern appearance at his own book's secret party through the medium of SKYPE! I promised I wouldn't give any of the plot away but, without doing that, I will say that once you have read the book you will truly understand just how extraordinarily brilliantly self-reflexive the act of bringing Robin Sloan to his own party via laptop truly was...

All that remains to be said is: STOP READING THIS AND START READING 'Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore'! And then let me know as soon as you're done so that we can talk about it!
Festina Lente,
Silver Whimsy x

PS don't buy it from the website-that-shall-not-be-named - go to your local indie bookshop instead. Some of my London favourites (North London mostly - sorry) are listed below with links:
West End Lane Books
London Review of Books Bookshop
Clerkenwell Tales

Owl Bookshop 

Primrose Hill Books 

Daunts