Robin Sloan gives a head-fake to The Maltese Falcon early on in Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but the book has more in common with an Agatha Christie mystery. Clay Jannon, an out-of-work web site designer, desperate to pay his bills, takes a job as a clerk at the strange Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Clay discovers that the front of the store with regular books is just a cover for the bizarre books located high on the shelves. Those books are borrowed by a cult of readers who seek…well, that would be telling. Secret cults, codes, a cute GOOGLE genius girl, a friend who builds sets for Industrial Light & Magic, and another friend who owns a software company that specializes in graphical depictions of one specific body part are just some of the strange elements in this remarkable book. If you put Agatha Christie and Philip K. Dick in a blender, you’d get Robin Sloan. Check out Robin Sloan reading Chapter One below. GRADE: B+

I finally used my free ticket to TAKEN 2. For those of you not familiar with Liam Neeson’s retired CIA agent, Bryan Mills, he’s a dedicated agent who finds himself divorced from his beautiful wife (Famke Janssen) and estranged from his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). In TAKEN, Kim is kidnapped in Paris and Neeson uses his spy skills to track down her kidnappers. TAKEN 2 follows the same template. Neeson, his ex-wife, and Kim take a family vacation in Istanbul (yikes!). And, sure enough, the father of one of the Bad Guys Neeson killed in TAKEN, wants revenge so he and his gang kidnap Neeson and his ex-wife (Kim manages to avoid capture). Yes, Neeson escapes (shocking!) and goes on a killing spree. I imagine that TAKEN 3 will center around Kim and her husband getting kidnapped after their wedding. Mildly entertaining. GRADE: C+

Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction short story called “Franchise.” (Amazingly, it was published in the August 1955 issue of If: Worlds of Science Fiction). In “Franchise,” Asimov has a computer making Election decisions. It interviewed one representative voter, analyzed all the relevant information, and generated the same results that a real Election would have produced. Until that happens, we have Nate Silver to guide us through the election process. But for political junkies (like me), I highly recommend History of American Presidental Elections, 1789-2008 (I’m sure a new revised edition is being written right now). You don’t have to shell out the $219 to buy this set; your local public library should have it or should be able to acquire it for you through library inter-loan. I know of no other history of elections with this kind of scope and accessibility. In the wake of the 2012 Election, it was fun to go back and get an overview of our country’s entire Presidential Election history. GRADE: A

Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond movie making it one of the most successful franchises in cinema history. The McGuffin in Skyfall is a hard drive with a list of names of operatives who have infiltrated terrorist organizations. At the same time, M (Judi Dench) is being attacked by politicians and pressured to retire while Bond (David Craig) deals with his own mid-life crisis. Javier Bardem provides a menacing Bad Guy. Skyfall resembles a roller-coaster ride: scenes build up suspense and then we have a wild chase scene. My only minor quibble about this film is that it’s a tad too long at 143 minutes. I’m already looking forward to the next Bond movie. GRADE: A-

Storm Front and Fool Moon are the first two books in Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. Like the other younger Harry, this Harry is a wizard. He works out of Chicago. Like a private eye, he hires out his talents. His main source of income is working with the Chicago police on various crimes that involve magic. In Storm Front, Dresden investigates a disappearance that leads to supernatural attempts on his life. A gang selling a magical drug called ThirdEye also figures into the plot. Fool Moon concerns werewolves. Who knew there were many types of werewolves. Dresden takes on all the very different forms and flirts with death with each encounter. These early books aren’t great (the series gets better), but are entertaining, breezy reads. If you’re looking for some light reading, these books are fun.

Diane and I left Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical at the Intermission. The story, based on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel of a noble doctor who frees his Id, is a dark one. Once every decade or so, a dark play can survive and become commercial: The Phantom of the Opera and Sweeny Todd come to mind. But Jekyll & Hyde is nowhere in that class. The music was forgettable, the lyrics banal. Constantine Maroulis (from American Idol) sings his heart out as Dr. Jekyll and the creepy Mr. Hyde. Deborah Cox belts out her numbers, too. But none of the songs captured our interest. The local newspaper article on Jekyll & Hyde noted the producers were “tweaking” the play as they went along. They need to blow it up. GRADE: F

I spent many hours yesterday watching MSNBC as Americans voted in this super-close Election. One of the hosts who helped keep my blood pressure under control was Mika Brzezinski. She’s teamed up with Joe Scarborough on MORNING JOE, but to me she shines as the smart moderator of the diverse cast of political pundits who show up each weekday morning. Mika is a calming influence. But she’s firm in her resolve to keep the discussions civil and informative. Mika will “fact-check” a guest who spouts mis-information. What ever way the vote goes, I’m glad I have Mika to greet me in the morning after such a nerve-wracking day.

Go vote!

During this divisive Election season, there has been a voice of sanity. Diane and I consider The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC a beacon in the political darkness. Every weekday night, Rachel brings clarity to the political process (she has a PhD.) with good will and a savvy understanding of the dynamics of the electorate. Where other political commentators (Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity) traffic in fear and hate, Rachel interprets political news with wit and insight. Interviews on TRMS are civil conversations, not yelling matches. Reasonable discourse is the rule, not the exception. If you’re looking for an honest and intelligent voice in these Dark Times, I highly recommend The Rachel Maddow Show.