I think it's safe to say I will read anything Robin Sloan writes. Sure the idea of a sourdough starter that is somehow alive sounds spooky and weird, but it's actually really cute and lovely, and really not that far of a stretch once you think about it.

I loved this book so much I bought it for my sister who was just as charmed by it as I was! What's not to love about a computer programmer who discovers herself through a sourdough starter gifted to her by her favourite delivery place and in turn, learns more about another group of people???

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https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress.com/

Having loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, my expectations for Sourdough were very high. Unfortunately, those were not met. The plot is very thin. I kept waiting for something that was not stated in the blurb to happen and eventually it did. [ In the final pages. (hide spoiler)] I am looking forward to more books by Robin Sloane but sadly this title really was not to my taste.

I read 'Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore' last year and I really did enjoy the whimsical nature of the bookstore and the story surrounding it. Sloan takes these usually menial ideas and blows them into the realms of the supernatural at times, and this book is no different. However, I don't think it has the same charm as his first novel, which is why my rating is slightly lower, at more of a 3.5 stars.

This novel follows Lois, a young programmer who finds a love of baking sourdough bread after ordering spicy soup and this magical bread from a place near her apartment. When the business goes bust, she is given the tools to make her own and quickly becomes enamoured with the process of breadmaking and just how therapeutic it can truly be.

Sloan's characters always tend to be introverted nerds who pride themselves on being fiercely intelligent and kind of weird, and Lois is no different. She's definitely an individual with a spine, which I was really happy to see, and her relationship with bread and its comforting qualities was wonderful to see. Women don't always get the best relationships with food in popular media- particularly with carbs- and it was so nice to see something different for a change.

However, this book is not perfect. It ends quite quickly with very little at emotional stake for Lois or the sanctity of her bread, and the implied romance between her and the business owner is sort of thrown in at the last moment with very little understanding. There's also lots of other strings that play in that never really impact the plot a huge amount, which makes chapters seem more like separate episodes rather than a full, coherent narrative.

It's sweet and a very easy read, just like Sloan's first book, and I definitely think there's a comforting quality about it that readers of works like his will enjoy.

A wonderful juxtaposition of new, modern robotics and old fashioned artisan skills. Even in the world of food there is a constant sense of moving forward and progress, even while traditional methods are the keystone.
I love the way that Robin Sloan embraces both sides and brings them to together, written in a heartwarming and positive way it is amazing what a little "culture" can add to life.

Ok, I genuinely don’t know what to write. After nearly four years of book reviews a book has me stumped. I cannot for the life of me tell you what Sourdough was about. I mean on a surface level it is about bread but on a deeper level I don’t have a clue.

I can only say that reading it was an experience but to give an opinion over whether or not I liked it is going to be a bit ambiguous. I would have to go with no I did not enjoy reading Sourdough but mainly because I have no idea what the story was about. That is a very different reason than disliking the writing. Sloan is a good writer and tells the story he wants to tell. That I did not enjoy it is not a reflection on his creativity or writing skills. We just didn’t mesh.

Sourdough by Robin Sloan is available now.

For more information regarding Atlantic Books (@AtlanticBooks) please visit www.atlantic-books.co.uk.

Lonely, overworked and underfed, Lois Clary is stuck in a rut. Working long hours programming an artificial arm, her only social interactions are with her “Slurry” eating co-workers and her daily telephone call to her favourite take-away joint, run by two quiet, sweet-tempered brothers. When the two suddenly have to leave the country, Lois is trusted with their precious sourdough starter.
Can sourdough bread change your life? Indeed it can. Lois is plunged into a world of San Francisco Bay Area foodies and demanding farmers’ markets. But her high maintenance starter seems to have a mind of its own.

I really enjoyed this charming, quirky novel. It’s about soul food and high-tech with gentle digs at the foodie scene. Lois, the main character is very likeable and although the plot starts to meander a bit towards the middle, I enjoyed its geeky humour.

This is a quixotic and whimsical magical fantasy teeming with warmth, charm and quirky characters. Lois Clary is a software programmer lured from her home and comfortable job to move to San Francisco with a lucrative financial and benefits package offered by General Dexterity, a robotics company. There she finds she is expected to commit body and soul and every hour in search of cutting edge robotic arm improvements. This takes it toll on her life, health and spirits as she develops a knot in her stomach that persists. She exists on slurry, a nutritive gel, to keep her going until one day she orders the double spicy, a soup and sandwich with sourdough. This has remarkable healing properties as she immediately begins to feel better. Ordering this almost daily, Lois becomes the number one eater of brothers Beoreg and Chaiman's food. To counteract her social isolation, Lois joins the local chapter of the women named Lois group, finding herself friends and a support group.

Beoreg and Chaiman have to leave suddenly for Europe, and bequeath supplies and their unique live starter with an aroma of bananas to Lois. Lois has never cooked or baked in her life before, but something within her impels her to begin baking the sourdough. After some initial hiccups, she finds she bakes a wonderful sourdough always with faces on the crust, which Chef Kate at work orders on a daily basis. Kate encourages Lois to apply for a stall at the artisan food general market. However, she is turned down but offered an alternative venue at the Marrow Fair by Queen of the Underworld, Lily Belasco. This is a varied experimental biotechnological food community based on a ex-military base which emits low level radiation. It is funded by the remote and mysterious Mr Marrow, about whom there is much speculation and rumours. Lois is in her element, as she researches how to improve a robotic arm that could help her in her business. However, mass producing the sourdough leaves her magical starter in an extreme state of depression and in the doldrums for which Lois tries to find a remedy.

The narrative is interspersed with emails from Beoreg from Edinburgh and Berlin. He tells the personal history of his family, the Mazg culture, the sources of the singing starter, his desire to set up his own restaurant and his brother's forays into making Mazg music. If you like magical realism done with panache, then this is a brilliant and spellbinding book to read. I like the combination of biotechnology with fantasy, Robin Sloan makes this work well in the ideal location of San Francisco and its guiding spirit of the alternative. An enthralling and enchanting read which I highly recommend. Many thanks to Atlantic Books for an ARC.

What a strange, quirky and engaging story!

The novel tells the story of Lois, an IT worker in San Francisco whose job is taking over her life. She works and, in the evenings, has the same spicy soup and sourdough bread made by two brothers at a local restaurant. When the brothers leave her with their sourdough starter, a bubbling and yeasty concoction with a life of its own, Lois' world is changed forever. She embraces baking, caring for her new charge and develops a whole new perspective on life.

I really enjoyed this story, although I really wasn't sure what was going to happen at all; towards the end, it all gets very odd but absolutely compelling as you really want to know what happens to Lois and her sourdough starter!

This is a definite feel-good book, although it steers clear of being cutesy and schmaltzy. Instead it is unusual and engaging and absolutely unlike anything else you will have read.

This tale provides a fascinating mix of two disciplines that do not seem to have a natural affinity. The creation of sourdough bread requires that rules are followed, but doing so does not always assure success, given that the raw materials are organic. Whereas coding is about elegant problem solving that strives to create an apparently natural solution from a limited machine. Each is therefore imperfect. The plot follows the central character through a personal growth process that allows her to enhance one discipline from what is learned of the other.

There is a transition from the IT world to that of the baker with explorations of culture and origins to enrich the story. Despite the number of threads involved this is a coherent story that provides a rich source of information. Technology is initially presented as something that is forced upon the natural world; as the story progresses it changes to something that helps people to understand what is going on. At the same time the basic properties of sourdough culture is seen to adapt from the benign to something that is more complex and antagonistic. This dynamic moves from the real to the surreal. It is very easy therefore for the reader to lose the point at which fact becomes fiction.

It is not a requirement that the reader is familiar with either discipline, but it does help. The writing style is approachable and the pace allows for the various themes to unfold without haste. The story is enjoyable but its merging of disciplines and fantastical elements may deter some readers; I hope not, as it is a good read

I'd not read any books by Robin Stone before so was a little unsure what to expect. Lois, recruited to work for General Dexterity designing software for robotic arms, is not really at ease with the corporate life. She does love her rather unusual takeaway favourite menu though. When the people running that business tell her they are leaving she is unhappy. When they bring her an unusual leaving present it changes her life. This is her story.

There were many entertaining parts to this, it's hard to know where to start. I'm sincerely hoping that some of the humour is very tongue in cheek. The take on corporate culture is wonderful. The Lois folk are excellent. The whole market idea is well done. One of my notes says "ridiculously entertaining"! The whole book flows so easily I found I was consuming it almost as fast as folk were consuming the sourdough bread.

I'm still slightly unsure about how I feel about this book and I finished it a couple of weeks ago. It is very well written indeed and I really got caught up in Louis's story. It has a wry humour and considerable charm. I was entertained by it. I think my issue is with the ending as much as anything. It didn't seem to have the punch that the rest of the tale did. However that feels a little picky - there are plenty of books where the ending hasn't blown me away. Other than that I guess I would have liked to know more about the Mazg - the glimpses were tantalising.

This was a really enjoyable quick read. I hadn't made it through the first chapter before going and buying it for a friend. She dreams of moving from the tech to food industry and this is how I dream her life will be. It was really lovely, however, nothing will ever ever ever make me want to eat slurry over sourdough.

I defy anyone to read this without going to make some toast.

The perfect mix of science & magic to leave you dreaming of sentient bread. A book I wish I had written.

I have to confess Mr Penumbra’s 24 hour bookstore is in my top 10 favourite books so I have been eagerly awaiting the publication of Sourdough.
I’m relieved to say I loved it! So much so I was close to skiving off work to finish it and found it very hard to stop reading it whilst I was there – I could feel it singing to me from my office drawer – very mazg!
Once again it heavily features San Francisco complete with tech-creatives and a cool vibe. Sloan’s writing is refreshing and very tongue in cheek without sounding too hipster.
It should come with a warning that you will become obsessed with nurturing and baking your own sourdough bread after reading it – that’s definitely on the agenda for my weekend.