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Jennifer Serrano
Journal Submission No.2
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Chapters 2-4, pages 11-38
Tiffany, Sylvia, Brianna and Graydon
Friday, October 18, 2013

I began to think of the consequences Clay Jannon might face if he were to break any of the rules Penumbra told him about, when Clay got the job at the bookstore. Especially because they came into an ACCORD, and in some ways throughout the book it almost seemed like he was about to. If it came down to me, and I had the job I probably wouldn't think about breaking the rules, but my curiosity would probably get to me. More characters came in after chapter one, and it was very interesting to read about their different personalities. Mathew Mittlebrand arrived and I got to see much of what the bookstore was like in his own point of view. I love/hate the way Penumbra comes across as. In much of the story he comes across as mysterious, and many vibes from the bookstore seem almost OMINOUS, or just plain evil. It gets me thinking about what they whole point of the bookstore is. It doesn't carry any bestsellers, many old editions in good conditions, gets many of the same customers but doesn't make any profits. To me it almost seems like a business in borrowing books and Penumbra is the ENTREPRENEUR, but isn't assuming the risks of business. In Penumbra's words, "Oh it's not a matter of purchase, but rather of intentions." as he says when he gets asked if one of Clay's friends may purchase a book. In other words, he lets Clay's friend Neel have the book but must read it "deeply". I got me thinking that money is a FRIVOLOUS matter. In other ways, such as the way the book was written and the way things are, makes me like the character of Mr. Penumbra. After reading these few chapters, I started to think about, what thoughts/opinions might Clay's friends have the moment they walked in and saw the whole bookstore; especially after they learned about it themselves. It hasn't been expressed just yet, so I really hope that gets found out throughout the rest of the book or the next couple of chapters. I feel like it makes a book more interesting when you know many points of views/opinions/thoughts of the other characters and not just the main one. You can see how a-like they may be and how they come in conflict if they're opposites. Even though they haven't been expressed yet in this book, you can sort of tell that they may not be opposites by their personalities and the dialogue.

Journal #2, part 2:
The time went quickly because I got really caught up with my book. I wasn't looking at any clocks or wondering what time it may have been. I usually read at night so to my guess, it must have been really late or close to really late. I really enjoy it more than I thought it would. As I was reading I had to CORROBORATE what I had read, make more certain that I had soaked up what was just mentioned in my mind. Usually when I read out of distractions, my mind will wander off as i'm reading. When I finally finish a paragraph, i'll notice that I didn't actually catch any of that information. After coming to that realization, I would stop at each paragraph and ask myself if I got any of it. If I hadn't, i'd go back and read it over and over until I felt confident enough to move on. I stopped reading because I felt like I was at a good spot that wouldn't make me curious to keep going on. The ending of chapter four felt like the perfect chapter to stop on because it was also CAPRICIOUS. I know that when I start reading my book again, i'll start off with new information that wasn't predictable when I stopped reading. Even though it's good to predict most of the time, I didn't felt the want to. Some of the reading was difficult to understand because there were a couple of words that seem ALIEN, words that were foreign to me. Luckily because of context clues, there were some words that gave a small definition hidden in the sentences. There were many vocab words in the book that got me thinking, yeah I know those words! It got me thinking that hopefully some of the foreign words somehow magically appear in our WW book. I figured out after not reading for a couple months and starting this book, that I really missed reading. It was more of a realization than figuring it out. After sort of figuring that out, I came to think that I was really glad I chose the book that I did. It's not the EPITOME of what I usually like to read, the best example, but it is something new and I enjoy it. I hope to read this book at a better pace than I used to read.

Please identify the type of context clue being used.