Sourdough by Robin Sloan

Lois Clary is a programmer. Her job is just one of many at General Dexterity, working to make robot arms as good as the real thing. But the long days and lonely nights have left Lois with a twisted up stomach and no real friends.

All of that changes when she finds the Clement Street Soup and Sourdough menu taped to her door. They serve two things: a spicy soup or a spicy sandwich, which you can order as a combo (double spicy) that comes with sourdough bread for dunking. And it's amazing! Life changing amazing! Lois orders so often the brothers who run Clement Street Soup and Sourdough call her their #1 eater.

But then the brothers announce that they're leaving, their visas have run out. Before they go, though, they gift Lois with their starter - a living, breathing thing that needs to be cared for an fed! It's the start of a new adventure for Lois, one that'll change her life in ways she couldn't imagine!

Lois, who's never baked and has barely managed to keep a cactus alive, has to take care of a sourdough starter. But it's not just any sourdough starter. This one has to be kept happy and fed like any other, but she's also been instructed to play it music. And the bread that results from this starter, when Lois tries her hand, has faces in it!

But it's a magnificent bread, one that Lois shares and eventually sells. But the bread, and the brothers who gave it to her, have an odd history. Chaimen and Beoreg call themselves Mazg, something Lois has never heard of and can't really find anything about online. In an age when everything is available online!

This is such a lovely book! There's really no better word to describe it, it's just absolutely delightful! And it's weird - the kind of book that doesn't really easily fit into a category. Annalee Newitz listed it on this Sci Fi and Fantasy list, so Imma go with it being sci fi. And it does certainly have elements of that, not least of which is the market that Lois eventually becomes part of, which is focused on new innovation in food. But again, genre aside, it's a feel good book that I'm certain will appeal to anyone looking for a read that'll give them the warm and fuzzies!

This was another audio book for me and I just adored it. The narrator, Therese Plummer, was fantastic - wry and charming and the perfect embodiment (through voice, obvs) of Lois. Not only that, but the audio includes the music of the Mazg.

Whichever way you choose to read it, print or audio, Sourdough is unique and fabulous. Definitely one I highly recommend!