Inspired by Reading: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore

September just flew by for me... I can hardly believe that it's already October 1st!  I had to skip several of my favorite challenges (even though I had some perfect beads) since I was so busy getting ready for the big show I had last weekend.  Thank goodness Andrew Thornton decided to push back the date for this reveal or I would have missed the Inspired by Reading Book Club too!  Hopefully October will be a bit more calm and I will get back into the swing of things.  Ok, let's be honest, that's probably wishful thinking!

Anyway, onto the business at hand... the September selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club was Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.  I picked this one up in paperback at a library conference a while back on the recommendation of my friend Dena... and now I finally had an excuse to read it!

I'm going to apologize for not having super deep or coherent thoughts about the book... it's been more than a month since I finished reading it and all my brain power has been siphoned off in other directions.  This was a super fast and fun read for me and I plowed through it to find out what was going to happen.  This is totally goofy, but I also loved the fact that the paperback edition that I have glows in the dark... so fun!

Our main character, Clay, finds himself working the overnight shift in a very strange 24-hour bookstore where actual sales are few and far between.  The story ends up being part mystery and part adventure as Clay seeks to unravel the mysteries of the bookstore and it's odd owner and discovers that something much bigger is going on behind the scenes.  I don't want to give too much away, and also I have mush-brain, so I'll leave it at that.

Blame it on all my pre and post show craziness, but I went fairly literal again this month.  I had gotten the cutest little ceramic book bead from fellow book club member Mary Harding and I decided that this was the perfect time to finally use it.  I knew from the moment I saw that little book bead that it was for me and me alone, so this challenge was perfect timing for me to actually make something for myself.  We'll consider it a reward for a successful show!

There are some great colors in that little book (and if you know Mary's work you aren't surprised to hear that) so I had a good starting point for pulling together a design.  Feeling in a mostly gemstone mood, I grabbed some agate, petrified green opal in a great diamond shape, carnelian, and a yellow gemstone of some sort.  (Any guess on that one?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!)  For an extra pop of orange I also pulled in one Czech glass rondelle... I had two different ones pulled out and I'm not 100% sure if I'm happy with this one, but I was past out of time!

I added some little charms dangling off the bottom of the book including a little brass key that symbolizes the unlocking of the mysteries of the bookstore and ancient order behind it.  I would normally just use chain at the back of a necklace like this but, on a whim, I went digging through my ribbon stash and found the perfect piece.  I keep trying to get myself to do more with various fibers, so this was good for me.  I like the soft feel of the ribbon on my neck, so, who knows, maybe I'll try this more often.

Head on over to Andrew's blog HERE to see what everyone else created for this month's challenge.  My sweet husband is playing along again this month with his photography and you can find his post HERE.