Sourdough | 
so-soI gave it 3 stars because it‘s well writing and compelling (oddly so). Here‘s the thing tho - it‘s weird. It‘s really, really weird. It‘s so weird that it sort of doesn‘t leave room for, “it was a great story” or “it fell flat in the middle.” It was just subsumed by weird.
so-soI think Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore enchanted me because of how it ended. I'm afraid Sourdough may have done the opposite. I loved the combo of baking and robot programming, the search for purpose, Beoreg's dispatches. I can see a lot of parallels, but the quirky mystery came out better in Penumbra, to my mind. This one also went a little more surreal with the long short story/novella included at the end. To each their own. 🤷🏼♂️
A gloriously refreshing approach to office shenanigans.
Okay, I officially want a whole book telling the story of Impeccable Lois and her girlfriend and her old Ford pickup truck.
A weird and charming book about a software developer who becomes a baker after immigrant restaurant owners leave her a very unusual sourdough starter.
#WinterReadathon @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#192025 #2017 @Librarybelle
pickIf you‘re still considering books for #Booked2023 for the #weirdreview prompt, maybe consider this book.
Lois is an AI programmer, and she gets a job working with robot arms. Her grandmother was also a Lois and they belonged to a club called “the Lois Club”, in which ALL the members are called Lois. She starts baking sourdough bread after being given a starter, and the loaves HAVE FACES!
Weird and wonderful, I loved it.
pickInteresting and easy-paced. No twists or turns but a fun following of Lois through her new found hobby turned business venture. Short chapters for my fellow ADHD readers. Good choice for an audio book. If you liked "Convenience Store Woman" you'll like this one, too. ?
pickThis was a delightful, light-hearted story. Lois works in IT but when she is unexpectedly gifted a sourdough starter with a strange personality, she falls in love with bread baking and enters the farmers market community.
I loved the magical realism and quirky characters.
pickA nice light listen with some interesting turns. A great escape in a more realistic setting.
bailedI just couldn‘t get through this: it engaged me at the beginning but I got disconnected from the main character and the plot: the weird workplace and the weird alternative market were too much! It was my #Booked2021 prompt for #BakedGoodsontheCover
“Your little venture begins with a ramshackle cart at the outermost corner of a far-flung farmers market. The Market of the Dead. In a year or two, having established your dedication, you are invited to the Ferry Building. This is your audition. The right person sees you, and the right person is assuredly here, canvassing stalls, and you are springboarded, granted a small storefront in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.”
so-soI have mixed feelings about this one. It started out delightful and whimsical, then turned so odd. Like cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs odd. 🤷🏻♀️ It was well-written though and beautifully narrated.
#Booked2021 #BakedGoodsOnCover
#MountTBR2021
pickThis is a wonderfully weird little novel. Being John Malkovich meets The Great British Bake Off (loosely speaking). It will also make you want to eat and learn to bake a good sourdough bread.
Meh. I didn't love this audiobook, though the narration was fine. It's a story of a woman who is given a special sourdough starter and what happens to her in her tech life with the starter. Implausible stories are not for me, so maybe this is why I didn't care for it. This is a fast read/listen. #litsyAtoZ challenge
pickLOVED this book!!! I finished it at music lessons, cackling like a crazy person. Strega Nona! 😂❤
Lois finds excitement in the monotony of the tech world when she's given an unruly sourdough starter of mythic proportions!
#Booked2021 #winter #BakedGoodsOnCover @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
I'm really enjoying this. It's so funny and whimsical and technical all at the same time! This reminds me so much of 2am At the Cat's Pajamas and all I want to do is plow through as fast as I can! Yoga and the frat house need to be taken care of first but I got a solid half hour with my coffee and Lois. 👍🍞
#Booked2021 #BakedGoodsOnCover @cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
The one chapter that stuck with my most after reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was the one about "the bitch." I lost it because sourdough seems like an actual, living and thinking creature. It does what it wants, not what you expect it to! In culinary school, ours kind of slumped off the shelf we left it on overnight. ?
Made a library trip with the little guy & came back with these. Tagged for #Booked2021 #BakedGoodsOnCover. I decided to give Brennert a second shot because Palisades Park has stuck with me for the last 5-ish years and I've been dying for a reread. I think about that book so often, it's crazy!!!
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
My next round of #Booked2021 recommendations tackles the #Winter #bakedgoodsoncover prompt.
If you're a fan of cozy mysteries, this should be easy-peasy. I tried to include as many non-cozies as possible (although one or two snuck in!), when coming up with some options for this prompt.
The Secret, Book & Scone Society is written by a regional author I discovered a few years ago, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book!
pickSuch a great book! Once you get used to our MC Lois (took me a couple chapters) it‘s a fun and fast ride :).
A nice contemporary with a sudden sic-go twist that I adored. 5 star? Possibly 4⭐️ (also: very few cuss words!)
Only a bit more to read of this one and I‘ll finish up by the lake. #24b4monday #andrew66
So much sand. Reading on the beach.
When your purchases are based on the books you read. 😁
All that talk of soup and sourdough bread made me buy this. 🍞🧈🍵
pickWhat a quirky fun read! After reading another book by this author recently, I had to try this one out too. #BlameItOnLitsy
This book is definitely not for everyone, but if you enjoy weird, unique novels give this one a try. I loved it. Sourdough literally takes on a life of its own and it makes for an exciting read.
📗Sourdough
✒️ Robin Sloan
🎥 Strangers on a Train/The Shape of Water/The Shining
📺 Sherlock
🎸 Sex Pistols/Smiths/Smog/Simon&Garfunkel/Elliot Smith
🎧 Surrender-Cheap Trick/Sabotage - Beastie Boys/Suffragette City - Bowie/Should I Stay or Should I Go - Clash/Shattered - Stones/7 Nation Army - White Stripes/Stockholm Syndrome - Yo La Tengo
If I could only have #LetterS things, looks like I‘d be okay 😂 #ManicMonday
pickThis is the other book I finished yesterday & it is quite a different tone from Making Faces!! Sloan flirts with the idea of scifi so well - this isn't actually scifi, but we are on the cusp of it so to speak.
Lois works for a company that is perfecting robotic arms. She likes her work but feels like she is in a bit of a rut. When the brothers who own her favorite carry-out have to move away, they entrust her with their special sourdough ⬇️
Getting new tires on the truck this morning... hopefully I'm prepared enough!! May have to tuck the Kindle in just in case! 😂
Next up! My library e-book is due in two days so let‘s see if I can knock this out before it expires. I started dabbling with sourdough during the pandemic so I am interested in the topic.
so-soThe writing was very good. I was into the story in the beginning but became less interested by the end. It wasn‘t terrible but not great either. I appreciated some book club discussion about this book and it made me appreciate it more. All in all - it was okay.
Woke up with Vertigo and realized pretty quickly it was a lie still in bed morning... so I decided to throw on a comfort re-read. I think this one is a big hit or big miss for ppl, but it's an all the way hit for me.
so-soThis was a strange, quick read. I mean I enjoyed it, but not sure i could really tell you exactly what it was about or the point 🤷🏻♀️
Helped clean out a classroom at school this morning, now it‘s time for snuggles and reading!
PopSugar used my recommendation in their article and now I feel like a rock star.
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/books-to-read-during-quarantine-47410790?...
#popsugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #sourdough #quaranreads #robinsloan
Kalli and I are not sure about this day...but at least we can read! 📚💜
pickThis book may be perfect. The food descriptions were beautiful and made me so hungry, and the scientific parts (both baking-wise and robotic) were awesome and often hilarious! #quaranreads #nowiwantbread
pickThis novel is completely charming, funny, weird, and sweet. It also really, really, really made me want a big crusty loaf of warm sourdough bread. I did find a couple of the “twists” to be predictable. But that is a very minor issue compared with the comfort I got from Lois and her bread.
Ever since I read Sourdough by Robin Sloan I‘ve been wanting to try to bake sourdough. Since I have extra time on my hands, I figured now is as good a time as any! I‘m working on making my own starter and so far it looks good! I can‘t wait to taste the finished product!!
pickThis book was a TASTY TREAT! Robin Sloan is a genius at writing fast-paced stories that are at once relatable and otherworldly. If you love baking, this book is for you. Actually, even if you don‘t, this book is for you!
Tbh I might have written the ending a little differently, but still, this is a new favorite 👏🏻
