Robin Sloan

"A new novel about an underground food community by the author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore"--

A Novel

Sourdough

From Robin Sloan, the New York Times bestselling author of Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, comes Sourdough, "a perfect parable for our times" (San Francisco Magazine): a delicious and funny novel about an overworked and under-socialized software engineer discovering a calling and a community as a baker. Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Southern Living Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers quickly close up shop. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her--feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she's providing loaves to the General Dexterity cafeteria every day. Then the company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer's market--and a whole new world opens up.

karina

“A lot of people have lived in that apartment,” she said, “but none of them ever fed me before you came along.”

Claudine

Here's a thing I believe about people my age: we are the children of Hogwarts, and more than anything, we just want to be sorted.

Robin Sloan's stories have a certain silliness to them -- like sourdough world domination, or a mysterious reading club. And yet, his writing style makes me binge them, and race on through to the end. 

Frederik De Bosschere

Ryan Mateyk

Charming, quirky, fabulously written. Lost me a bit at the end but I’m now one step closer to dropping everything and making a pickle business (even though this book shits on pickles)

Leavened by the same infectious intelligence and lovable nerdiness that made Robin Sloan's Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore such a sensation, Sourdough marks the triumphant return of a unique and beloved young writer. Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighbourhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her - feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she's providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer's market, and a whole new world opens up. When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. But then, an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly? Sourdough is a soup of skilfully balanced ingredients: there's satire, a touch of fantasy, a pinch of SF, all bound up with a likeable narrator whose zest for life is infectious. The novel opens a door on a world that's both comforting and thrillingly odd. - The Guardian

John Manoogian III

An incredibly sweet book from one Michigander → SF transplant to another. I loved it, as would I think most San Franciscans, SF-curious, bakers, and curious collectors of food and stories. This is a one-day read.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is also great.

was pulled in by the mention of food (bread!) and the joy of eating/making something with your hands but stayed because everything else was slightly alive — in more ways than one. i think there’s a lot that is reflected in modern society (everything is an allegory but also not!) in this book, and some social commentary too that felt. distinctly silicon valley. it was fun and quick read and a little bit weird. 

Sophie Wang

4.25 stars rounded down; a very quick read that that covered lots of ground. it's about bread-making, it's about working in a world whose goal is your obsoletion and rediscovering individuality despite that, it's about lost civilizations, it's a metaphor of symbiotic relationships we have with community, ourselves, and companions along the way--all of those all at once wrapped up in a blanket of weirdness that you just have to suspend all belief and get wrapped up in. 

despite the vast weight of the subject matter and themes, the book is lighthearted and goes by quickly and the prose also touched on many more smaller topics (non-recurring) so fleetingly it felt almost like a stream of consciousness, which all in all made for a delightful read.

Cristian Garcia

I looooved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Robin Sloan's 1st book. I devoured it in 2 days, the blending of technology, secret societies and silicon valley was intoxicating that's why I jumped straight away to Sourdough and I really liked it as well. Louis is a great character, her story is extremely unique, funny and interesting. Again, I finished the whole book in 2 days, however this time, I did not enjoyed the ending that much. 
Im definitely waiting for Robin Sloan's 3rd novel whenever is ready.

Meghan Navoy

could not get into this one! had to abandon it, maybe I'll try again one day

This is a fun read with an engaging mix of bread making, foodie culture, coding, and San Francisco vibes.  

Lee Schneider

anna near

Nicholas Charriere

I took a break from harder non fiction with my second Robin Sloan book (I read and loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore), and like the first one, this was a wonderfully entertaining read.

The story is fast paced, the writing brilliant and funny. We follow Lois, a software programmer, burned out by the San Francisco pace of life, that discovers baking through a mysterious culture. The introduction to bread baking, oven building and starter management was by far the best part of the book, and I think that the author could have centered the story even more around it.

The book disappointed a little more with he end of the story arc, which seemed unnecessary and far fetched, as well as the over simplification of software (maybe this is visible to me only because I write software, therefore understand that you can't "remove code to increase the confidence of a robot").

I still would recommend the read, it is a quick and delightful read, which inspired me to introduce myself to bread baking, an old dusty item on my bucket list.

Alexandra Sklar

Premise, characters, over-simplification....robot bakers...I couldn't get there.

lovely and flowing prose, very nice read, but the story fizzles out in the second part of the book, leaving some questions unanswered.

Elizabeth Neill

This book got me out of a reading slump and just helped me get out of my head. It also made me want to bake bread, I have to make my own starter now.  I have felt like Lois Clary before and I still feel like her. I will be reading more from Robin Sloan soon.

Samantha Holmes

Love that this made me think of a simple thing like bread making in a new way. But it was so much more than that, with a sci-fi twist. It made me think about what the future holds, about treating yourself right, improving, and finding what makes you happiest. 

Magical realism is truly becoming my favorite and I loved the beautiful writing.

Melanie Richards

Liz Carpenter

jam 🍯

A fun and fast read that took me approximately 2 hours on different days. I wish Lois were more interesting, but at least she had agency and made decisions throughout the novel.

Maria

наверное, больше всего меня в этой книге возмутило, что робин слоан наскоро придумал цыганоподобный народ, который кочует по миру со своей закваской, и наскоро же, в трех абзацах, набросал им совершенно неправдоподобную бэкстори. пока другие писатели проводят ресеч и вытаскивают наружу настоящие истории настоящих людей, а третьи писатели выдумывают сложные миры, этот просто такой хуяк-хуяк и в продакшен. ridiculous

сама история тоже ridiculous - начиная с героини с микроскопическим внутренним миром и заканчивая сюжетом без конфликта и поворотов.

Than Tibbetts

Luke Kanies

I *loved* this book. It was fast, fun, thought-provoking without being unnecessarily challenging, freeing, inspiring, and just fun.

It’s in a slightly magical world, with fun, great characters, a little bit of mystery, a bit of tech dystopia at the edges, and some messy stinky bread biology.

This was a great escape from the pandemic, while also reminding me of our early travels through the world of sourdough early on.

Yanelle Ruby

From Robin Sloan, the New York Times bestselling author of Mr.Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, comes Sourdough, "a perfect parable for our times" (San Francisco Magazine): a delicious and funny novel about an overworked and under-socialized software engineer discovering a calling and a community as a baker. Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Southern Living Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers quickly close up shop. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her—feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves to the General Dexterity cafeteria every day. Then the company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market—and a whole new world opens up.

or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market: A Novel

Olivera Mitić

3.75🌟 ako ćemo u sitna crevca.

Nije nešto što ću ceo život pamtiti, ali je jako originalno i slatko i čita se ekstremno brzo.

Takođe, sad želim da sama umesim hleb i/ili bar pojedem neki.

Nikolay Bachiyski

Robin Sloan’s style is like a bacon avocado sourdough toast – filling in a hipster kind of way, not too greasy, screams “California”.

The topic was also something close to my mind – our relationship with food and technology. From boutique restaurants through farmer's markets and robots helping in the kitchen, to 100% artificial gel-like foods.

What disappointed me was the depth – maybe I had the wrong expectations, but it barely scratched the surface of the human side of the story, of how much we know about food, what it means to us.

Still it was a fun read and I want to eat some sourdough bread now :)

Sourdough A Novel

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